Oregon Statutes 94.550 – Definitions for ORS 94.550 to 94.783
As used in ORS § 94.550 to 94.783:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 94.550
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
(1) ‘Assessment’ means any charge imposed or levied by a homeowners association on or against an owner or lot pursuant to the provisions of the declaration or the bylaws of the planned community or provisions of ORS § 94.550 to 94.783.
(2) ‘Blanket encumbrance’ means a trust deed or mortgage or any other lien or encumbrance, mechanic’s lien or otherwise, securing or evidencing the payment of money and affecting more than one lot in a planned community, or an agreement affecting more than one lot by which the developer holds such planned community under an option, contract to sell or trust agreement.
(3) ‘Class I planned community’ means a planned community that:
(a) Contains at least 13 lots or in which the declarant has reserved the right to increase the total number of lots beyond 12; and
(b) Has an estimated annual assessment, including an amount required for reserves under ORS § 94.595, exceeding $10,000 for all lots or $100 per lot based on:
(A) For a planned community created on or after January 1, 2002, the initial estimated annual assessment, including a constructive assessment based on a subsidy of the association through a contribution of funds, goods or services by the declarant; or
(B) For a planned community created before January 1, 2002, a reasonable estimate of the cost of fulfilling existing obligations imposed by the declaration, bylaws or other governing document as of January 1, 2002.
(4) ‘Class II planned community’ means a planned community that:
(a) Is not a Class I planned community;
(b) Contains at least five lots; and
(c) Has an estimated annual assessment exceeding $1,000 for all lots based on:
(A) For a planned community created on or after January 1, 2002, the initial estimated annual assessment, including a constructive assessment based on a subsidy of the association through a contribution of funds, goods or services by the declarant; or
(B) For a planned community created before January 1, 2002, a reasonable estimate of the cost of fulfilling existing obligations imposed by the declaration, bylaws or other governing document as of January 1, 2002.
(5) ‘Class III planned community’ means a planned community that is not a Class I or II planned community.
(6) ‘Common expenses’ means expenditures made by or financial liabilities incurred by the homeowners association and includes any allocations to the reserve account under ORS § 94.595.
(7) ‘Common property’ means any real property or interest in real property within a planned community which is owned, held or leased by the homeowners association or owned as tenants in common by the lot owners, or designated in the declaration or the plat for transfer to the association.
(8) ‘Condominium’ means property submitted to the provisions of ORS Chapter 100.
(9) ‘Declarant’ means any person who creates a planned community under ORS § 94.550 to 94.783.
(10) ‘Declarant control’ means any special declarant right relating to administrative control of a homeowners association, including but not limited to:
(a) The right of the declarant or person designated by the declarant to appoint or remove an officer or a member of the board of directors;
(b) Any weighted vote or special voting right granted to a declarant or to units owned by the declarant so that the declarant will hold a majority of the voting rights in the association by virtue of such weighted vote or special voting right; and
(c) The right of the declarant to exercise powers and responsibilities otherwise assigned by the declaration or bylaws or by the provisions of ORS § 94.550 to 94.783 to the association, officers of the association or board of directors of the association.
(11) ‘Declaration’ means the instrument described in ORS § 94.580 which establishes a planned community, and any amendments to the instrument.
(12) ‘Electric vehicle charging station’ or ‘charging station’ means a facility designed to deliver electrical current for the purpose of charging one or more electric motor vehicles.
(13) ‘Electronic meeting’ means a meeting that is conducted through telephone, teleconference, video conference, web conference or any other live electronic means where at least one participant is not physically present.
(14) ‘Governing document’ means articles of incorporation, bylaws, a declaration or a rule, regulation or resolution that was properly adopted by the homeowners association or any other instrument or plat relating to common ownership or common maintenance of a portion of a planned community that is binding upon lots within the planned community.
(15) ‘Governing entity’ means an incorporated or unincorporated association, committee, person or any other entity that has authority under a governing document to maintain commonly maintained property, to impose assessments on lots or to act on matters of common concern on behalf of lot owners within the planned community.
(16) ‘Homeowners association’ or ‘association’ means the organization of owners of lots in a planned community, created under ORS § 94.625, required by a governing document or formed under ORS § 94.574.
(17) ‘Majority’ or ‘majority of votes’ or ‘majority of owners’ means more than 50 percent of the votes in the planned community.
(18) ‘Mortgagee’ means any person who is:
(a) A mortgagee under a mortgage;
(b) A beneficiary under a trust deed; or
(c) The vendor under a land sale contract.
(19) ‘Owner’ means the owner of any lot in a planned community, unless otherwise specified, but does not include a person holding only a security interest in a lot.
(20) ‘Percent of owners’ or ‘percentage of owners’ means the owners representing the specified voting rights as determined under ORS § 94.658.
(21)(a) ‘Planned community’ means any subdivision under ORS § 92.010 to 92.192 that results in a pattern of ownership of real property and all the buildings, improvements and rights located on or belonging to the real property, in which the owners collectively are responsible for the maintenance, operation, insurance or other expenses relating to any property within the planned community, including common property, if any, or for the exterior maintenance of any property that is individually owned.
(b) ‘Planned community’ does not mean:
(A) A condominium under ORS Chapter 100;
(B) A subdivision that is exclusively commercial or industrial;
(C) A timeshare plan under ORS § 94.803 to 94.945; or
(D) A development established on or after January 1, 2024, in which each residential unit is either:
(i) Subject to an affordability restriction, including an affordable housing covenant, as defined in ORS § 456.270; or
(ii) Owned by a public benefit or religious nonprofit corporation.
(22) ‘Purchaser’ means any person other than a declarant who, by means of a voluntary transfer, acquires a legal or equitable interest in a lot, other than as security for an obligation.
(23) ‘Purchaser for resale’ means any person who purchases from the declarant more than two lots for the purpose of resale whether or not the purchaser for resale makes improvements to the lots before reselling them.
(24) ‘Recorded declaration’ means an instrument recorded with the recording officer of the county in which the planned community is located that contains covenants, conditions and restrictions that are binding upon lots in the planned community or that impose servitudes on the real property.
(25) ‘Special declarant rights’ means any rights, in addition to the rights of the declarant as a lot owner, reserved for the benefit of the declarant under the declaration or ORS § 94.550 to 94.783, including but not limited to:
(a) Constructing or completing construction of improvements in the planned community which are described in the declaration;
(b) Expanding the planned community or withdrawing property from the planned community under ORS § 94.580 (3) and (4);
(c) Converting lots into common property;
(d) Making the planned community subject to a master association under ORS § 94.695; or
(e) Exercising any right of declarant control reserved under ORS § 94.600.
(26) ‘Successor declarant’ means the transferee of any special declarant right.
(27) ‘Turn over’ means the act of turning over administrative responsibility pursuant to ORS § 94.609 and 94.616.
(28) ‘Unit’ means a building or portion of a building located upon a lot in a planned community and designated for separate occupancy or ownership, but does not include any building or portion of a building located on common property.
(29) ‘Votes’ means the votes allocated to lots in the declaration under ORS § 94.580 (2). [1981 c.782 § 3; 1999 c.677 § 1; 2001 c.756 § 5; 2003 c.569 § 3; 2007 c.410 § 1; 2013 c.438 § 1; 2017 c.221 § 5; 2017 c.423 § 4; 2021 c.40 § 9; 2023 c.223 § 9]