hoa voted to forbid rentals in condo units- wyoming, oh

We own a condo unit in the Cincinnati, Oh, area (Wyoming Township), and we have rented it for a few years. There have been some very minor issues (ours is the only unit there rented out), with the tenants. These are some very small issues like "They play the tv too loud", "They don't vacuum the common stairs once a month like they are supposed to", "
the tenant smokes and bothers the other owners". These people complain to us about EVERY MINOR THING these people do.

The HOA (owners) just voted to disallow any rentals in the units. We realize that this will not affect our current tenants, but will forbid any future tenants. Is this legal, and do we have any legal recourse? It seems that they may be shooting themselves in the foot, because this will probably lower the values of all of the condos.

Hi Doraine:

Your questions would depend on the situation …

Did the homeowners amend the Declaration of CCR’s or is it just a new Rule & Regulation? If they properly amended the CCR’s following procedures in your documents and state statutes, then the majority have spoken and most courts uphold these changes. If they did not amend CCR’s and it is just a new rule then in some court cases these rules were found to be non enforceable.

There are two sides to the rental issue …

On one side you have those who need to rent their unit to make mortgage payments and HOA fees. Possibly they were transferred and had to move and in the current market cannot sell their home at this time.

On the other side you have HOA’s limiting rental of units because some mortgage lenders will not do loans on units where there is an abundance of rentals. Also, there are issues where those who rent do not follow the rules; therefore, the many become furious and eliminate what they see as a potential problem.

If it was done properly at least in your HOA they did it where it is fair and equitable across the board in that no one can rent in the future. Some HOA’s will limit the number of rentals allowed, and which makes it more difficult regarding equal treatment of all owners in determining who can or cannot rent.

Read your HOA documents and here is a link to your state statutes:
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5311

I manage several associations that are currently trying to forbid and or limit the number of rentals within the Homeowner association. Most of the time it is to keep the value of the individual units up. Lenders do not want to see more than 10-20% of the association containing rentals. If the do, then they COULD pull the funding from the buyer.

For this to be enforceable, the CC&R's need to be amended which requires a vote from the Association. This is a long and difficult process because a lot of associations have a difficult time getting even 50% of the association to vote. Furthermore, there are homeowners that might not want the limitation because they want potentially rent out their unit in the future.

The most successful form I have seen so far in regards to passing is placing a time limit that new homeowners are not able to rent. For example, 5 years. If they choose to rent within those first five years, then they will have to pay a large one time lump sum.

Just some food for thought that you could take to your BoD as an alternative.