Chapter 5312: What It Means For Your Association (part Ii)

As many of you know, on September 10, 2010, the Planned Community Act went into effect. Over the next few newsletters, each will contain an article highlighting some of the key points of the new statute. In this edition of the newsletter we will start with §5312.02, which subjects all planned communities in Ohio the Act.

For all planned communities, a Declaration and Bylaws must be recorded at the county recorder in which the community is located.

The Declaration must include Bylaws that provide for the operation of the community, including provisions regarding election of board members, the number of board members that the community will have along with their terms, the qualifications to serve on the board, and procedures for removal. The documents will set forth the duties of the board and procedures for amending the documents. Specifics with regard to holding, calling and noticing meetings must also appear. The documents must also provide for the manner of imposing and collecting assessments.

Subsection (C) of §5312.02, provides that if there is a conflict between any governing documents recorded prior to September 10, 2010 and the statute, that the prior filed documents will control. If your governing documents are silent on an issue, then the provisions of the statute will control.

Subsection (D) dictates that the current Board is required to file and record their Association’s Bylaws (or Code of Regulations) for the community, if they are not already filed, with the county recorder within 180 days of September 10, 2010, or in other words, by March 9, 2011.

If an Association adopts a set of Bylaws after September 10, 2010, then that Association must record those Bylaws within 90 days after the document is adopted. If the existing Bylaws are amended by an Association, then the amendment must be recorded within 60 days of the amendment being adopted.

This recordation requirement does not mandate that an Association that existed prior to September 10, 2010, adopt Bylaws, it just requires that if they do, that said Bylaws must be recorded to be effective.

No Board or Association that existed prior to September 10, 2010, can pursue any civil litigation based on any Bylaw provision that is unrecorded. So any provisions in your Bylaws that you rely on for collection purposes (foreclosure) cannot be relied upon in Court if the Bylaws are not recorded.

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