Legislation Proposed for Ohio HOA's

H. B. No. 220 has been introduced to provide HOA's with many of the rights and protections that H. B. 135 gave to condo owners. This includes protection from unexpected 'Special Assessments' by requiring a fully funded reserve fund and something the condo's don't have:

A mortgage on a lot may contain a provision that secures the mortgagee's advances for the payment of the portion of the common expenses chargeable against the lot upon which the mortgagee holds the mortgage.

To see the entire bill: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=127_HB_220

Roger how many posts have we seen or Associations have we heard about that get hit with special assessments to repair things because Declarants or BOD have low-balled assessments to sell homes or kept them low to keep their "jobs" or for their own selfish interests? This takes that choice away from them and gives it to the homeowners. You can only not fund the reserves if a majority of homeowners vote each year to allow it and face a possibility of special assessments. The only difference from the condo statute is that it specifies that at least 10% of the annual budget must go into reserves but usually condos have larger reserve requirements.

Annually adopt and amend an estimated budget for revenues and expenditures. Any budget shall include reserves in an amount adequate to repair and replace major capital items in the normal course of operations without the necessity of special assessments, unless the owners, exercising not less than a majority of the voting power of the owners association, waives the reserve requirement annually.