Ohio HOA ADUs & Modifications

Section 1: Overview — ADUs and modifications in Ohio

Ohio runs its community associations through two statutes that never overlap, plus one rule from 2022 that changes the picture on rooftop solar. Senate Bill 61 lets an owner install a solar energy collection device unless the declaration specifically prohibits it, and the association may still set reasonable rules on size, place, and manner. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) sit outside that framework: they remain a municipal-zoning question, and no confirmed state law preempts what an association's documents say about them.¹

Start with which statute applies, because that answer decides everything else. The Ohio Condominium Act (O.R.C. Chapter 5311) governs condominiums; the Ohio Planned Community Law (O.R.C. Chapter 5312) governs planned communities, the everyday homeowners associations. The two never overlap — a condominium property, as Section 5311.01 defines it, is not a "planned community" — and Ohio has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA).² Solar runs through a pair of parallel sections, 5311.192 for condominiums and 5312.16 for planned communities, and each sets the same default: the owner may install unless the declaration specifically prohibits it, and the association keeps the power to regulate size, place, and manner within reason.³ An ADU turns on two things — municipal zoning and the declaration — and no Ohio statute overrides an association's governing documents on that question.⁴ Four federal rules bind every Ohio association no matter what the state does: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 for the U.S. flag, the FCC's OTARD Rule for antennas and satellite dishes, the Fair Housing Act for reasonable disability modifications, and ADA Title III for common-area facilities that operate as public accommodations.⁵ The sections that follow lay out the framework, the duties it creates, and the recent moves in the legislature and the courts.

Section 2: The legal framework

2A. The two statutes and their boundary

The Ohio Condominium Act, O.R.C. Chapter 5311, governs condominium property. It fixes the powers of condominium boards, spells out unit-owner rights, and sets the rules for enforcement, assessments, common-area management, recordkeeping, meeting notice, and insurance.⁶ Section 5311.05 covers the condominium declaration and tells the board when it may amend that document for defined events.⁷ The Ohio Planned Community Law, O.R.C. Chapter 5312, is the newer of the two; the 128th General Assembly added it through Senate Bill 187, effective September 10, 2010, and it governs planned communities.⁸ Section 5312.03 organizes how a planned community runs and requires the owners association to incorporate as a nonprofit under Chapter 1702, while Section 5312.11 governs individual lot assessments, including the enforcement assessments and charges an association may levy.⁹

The statute itself draws the line between the two chapters. Section 5312.01 states that "a condominium property as defined in section 5311.01 of the Revised Code is not a 'planned community.'"¹⁰ So the first move for any Ohio community is to figure out which chapter applies. A condominium — individual ownership of a unit plus an undivided interest in the common elements, submitted to the condominium form under Chapter 5311 — answers to Chapter 5311. A planned community — individually owned lots with an owners association that holds common property or collects fees — answers to Chapter 5312.¹¹

In both forms, architectural-review authority comes mainly from the declaration and bylaws, not from the statute. Ohio courts read a declaration and bylaws as a contract between the association and the owner, apply the ordinary rules of contract interpretation, and enforce a reasonable restriction as a matter of law when its meaning is clear.¹² A restriction loses its force only through waiver or abandonment, and the courts test that by asking whether the restriction still gives the community substantial value.¹³

2B. Solar and EV charging

Solar anchors Ohio's modification framework. Senator Louis W. Blessing III (R-Cincinnati) and Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) sponsored Senate Bill 61; the Senate passed it unanimously, 32-0, on June 1, 2022, Governor Mike DeWine signed it on June 14, 2022, and it took effect September 13, 2022. The bill amended both chapters, adding Section 5311.192 for condominiums and Section 5312.16 for planned communities.¹⁴ Note the vehicle: Senate Bill 61, not House Bill 442. Each section sets the same default permission. Unless the declaration specifically prohibits solar energy collection devices, an owner may install one — provided either of two cost-responsibility conditions applies.¹⁵ In a planned community, the owner may place a device on the dwelling unit or elsewhere on the owner's lot if (A)(1) the owner, not the association, carries the cost to insure, maintain, repair, and replace the roof or alternative location, or (A)(2) the declaration specifically allows and regulates the types and installation of devices and assigns cost responsibility.¹⁶ The condominium version at Section 5311.192 works the same way through paired conditions at (A)(1) and (A)(2), but it reaches only a "solar appropriate unit" — one with no other unit directly above or below it.¹⁷

Even with that default permission, subsection (B) of each section lets the association set reasonable restrictions on the size, place, and manner of placement.¹⁸ Section 5311.192 defines a "solar energy collection device" as any device manufactured and sold for the sole purpose of collecting and putting solar energy to beneficial use, and Section 5312.16(D) adopts that definition by reference.¹⁹ The practical effect is worth stating plainly: Ohio grants a default permission that a specific prohibition in the declaration can override. This is not a void-any-prohibition rule — a declaration that specifically bans solar devices still stands.²⁰

EV charging follows a different path. Neither Chapter 5311 nor Chapter 5312 says anything specific about electric-vehicle charging stations, so the declaration and the board's general architectural-review authority govern. Practitioners advise that an association generally may not unreasonably restrict an installation once the request meets the declaration and applicable law and the board approves it.²¹ The larger point for modifications: solar is a default-permitted category, subject to a specific-prohibition override and reasonable placement rules, while everything else — EV charging included — turns on the declaration and the federal overlays.

2C. ADUs and federal overlays

Ohio has no confirmed statewide statute that overrides an association's governing documents on accessory dwelling units. An ADU depends on two layers: the locality's zoning code decides whether an ADU may go on the parcel, and the community's declaration decides whether it may go up within the association.²² Cincinnati moved first, when City Council voted unanimously in June 2023 to legalize ADUs outright, effective October 2, 2023; Columbus followed with Ordinance 2526-2025, effective December 24, 2025, allowing ADUs by right in all residential and apartment residential districts. Both actions make the same point — Ohio sets ADU rules locally, not statewide.²³ That keeps Ohio out of the HOA-preemption camp. California (Civ. Code § 4751) and Colorado (HB 24-1152) limit what an association may do about ADUs, but Ohio's ADU question stays a municipal-zoning matter, and a valid restriction in the declaration keeps its grip inside a community.²⁴

Flags, political signs, and landscaping answer mostly to the declaration, with two statutory exceptions carved out for flags. Section 5311.191 makes a condominium declaration unenforceable to the extent it bans display of the U.S. flag or the POW/MIA flag, and Section 5301.072 sets the parallel rule for deed restrictions and homeowner-association documents, reaching the state flag and service flags as well.²⁵ No enacted Ohio statute protects political signs in associations; a 2024-2025 proposal to stop associations from restricting political yard signs is still pending and is not law.²⁶ Four federal overlays bind every association no matter what Ohio law says: the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, which stops an association from restricting a member's display of the U.S. flag, subject to reasonable time, place, and manner rules; the OTARD Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, which bars restrictions that impair antennas and satellite dishes one meter or less within an owner's exclusive-use area; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3), which requires reasonable disability modifications at the resident's expense; and ADA Title III, which reaches common-area facilities that qualify as public accommodations.²⁷

Section 3: Compliance obligations created by the framework

A. Architectural review process obligations

An association's review authority arises from the declaration and bylaws, applied under the relevant chapter — Chapter 5311 for condominiums, Chapter 5312 for planned communities (DECLARATION plus STATE STATUTE; BOTH). Ohio courts enforce these documents as contracts, so a board that follows its own review procedures and applies unambiguous restrictions reasonably will generally win.²⁸ For planned communities, records access is a state-statute duty: Section 5312.07 lets an owner examine and copy association books, records, and minutes under reasonable standards, but it caps what an owner may see absent board approval — records more than five years old before the request are off-limits, as are protected categories such as attorney-client communications and enforcement records against other owners (STATE STATUTE; PLANNED COMMUNITIES, Chapter 5312).²⁹

B. Modifications the association must permit

Solar. An association must permit solar energy collection devices under Section 5311.192 for condominiums and Section 5312.16 for planned communities, unless the declaration specifically prohibits them, and always subject to the cost-responsibility conditions and to reasonable size, place, and manner rules (STATE STATUTE; BOTH, through paired sections).³⁰ This is a default permission with a specific-prohibition override, not an unconditional right — a declaration that specifically bans solar is preserved. U.S. flag. An association may not prohibit display, under Section 5311.191 and Section 5301.072 (STATE STATUTE) and the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (FEDERAL; BOTH).³¹ Antennas and satellite dishes. An association may not impose restrictions that impair a covered device within the owner's exclusive-use area, under the OTARD Rule (FEDERAL; BOTH).³² Disability modifications. An association must permit reasonable modifications at the resident's expense under the Fair Housing Act, and must keep common-area public accommodations compliant with ADA Title III (FEDERAL; BOTH).³³

C. ADU obligations and limits on HOA authority

Neither Chapter 5311 nor Chapter 5312 requires an association to permit an ADU against its declaration. Municipal zoning binds the locality and decides whether an ADU may be built at all, while the declaration governs whether an ADU may exist within the community. Where the declaration prohibits or restricts secondary dwellings, that restriction controls — even if local zoning would allow the ADU (DECLARATION plus MUNICIPAL ZONING; BOTH).³⁴

D. Enforcement, dispute resolution, and appeal obligations

For planned communities, Section 5312.11 sets both the association's charge-and-assessment authority and a mandatory notice-and-hearing process. Before it imposes an enforcement assessment or a charge for damages, the board must send written notice that describes the violation, states the proposed amount, spells out the right to a hearing, and gives a cure date; the owner has through the tenth day to request a hearing; and the board must give at least seven days' notice of that hearing and may not levy the charge before it happens (STATE STATUTE; PLANNED COMMUNITIES).³⁵ The condominium counterpart on board enforcement powers sits in Section 5311.081, with liens for common expenses under Section 5311.18 and planned-community liens under Section 5312.12 (STATE STATUTE; respective chapters).³⁶ A declaration may add procedures of its own — mandatory mediation or arbitration, for instance. When a dispute goes to court, it starts in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, moves to the Ohio Courts of Appeals, organized in twelve appellate districts, and may reach the Ohio Supreme Court on discretionary review (STATE; BOTH).³⁷ Ohio keeps no dedicated HOA or condominium regulator and licenses no community-association managers; enforcement runs through the association's own procedures and the courts (STATE; BOTH).³⁸

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Two measures frame Ohio's current picture: one already on the books and reshaping how associations handle solar, and one still working its way through the statehouse.

B. Recent appellate rulings

One recent decision defines the current landscape for architectural enforcement in Ohio.

C. Active legislative debates

Beyond H.B. 16 on political signs, legislators have floated reviving condominium and planned-community "super-lien" priority — an idea that earlier rode House Bill 226 in a prior General Assembly — along with mandatory reserve-study requirements. Both remain proposals, not enacted law.⁴² A 2025 idea touching holiday decorations and expression reportedly never made it into written form, and it too is not law.⁴³

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Ohio belongs to the bespoke two-statute states, set apart by its parallel condominium and planned-community chapters and by a 2022 solar provision that reaches both forms through paired sections, 5311.192 and 5312.16, while still honoring a declaration's specific prohibition. On ADUs, Ohio parts ways with the preemption states: California (Civ. Code § 4751) and Colorado (HB 24-1152) rein in association authority over accessory dwelling units, but Ohio treats the ADU question as municipal zoning layered over the declaration. It also parts ways with the void-any-prohibition solar states, because Ohio lets an association keep a solar ban through a specific prohibition rather than wiping out every restriction. For a multi-state operator, the takeaway is compact: in Ohio, the applicable chapter turns on community type, solar is permitted unless the declaration specifically prohibits it and subject to reasonable placement rules, and ADUs stay a zoning-and-declaration question.

HOA Weekly updates its Ohio ADUs and Modifications coverage quarterly, as the General Assembly and the Ohio courts act. The federal frameworks noted throughout — the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, the OTARD Rule, the Fair Housing Act, and the ADA — bind Ohio associations no matter what the state framework does.

1. O.R.C. § 5312.16, Solar energy collection devices (Ohio Laws, codes.ohio.gov) ↩
2. O.R.C. § 5312.01(M), Definitions ("A condominium property as defined in section 5311.01 of the Revised Code is not a 'planned community'") ↩
3. O.R.C. § 5311.192, Solar energy collection devices; O.R.C. § 5312.16 ↩
4. O.R.C. Chapter 5312, Ohio Planned Community Law (no ADU-preemption provision) ↩
5. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243; FCC Over-the-Air Reception Devices (OTARD) Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000; Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3) ↩
6. O.R.C. Chapter 5311, Condominium Property ↩
7. O.R.C. § 5311.05, Condominium declaration ↩
8. O.R.C. § 5312.01 (Added by 128th General Assembly, S.B. 187, eff. 9/10/2010) ↩
9. O.R.C. § 5312.03, Administration; owners association; board of directors; O.R.C. § 5312.11, Individual lot assessments ↩
10. O.R.C. § 5312.01(M) ↩
11. O.R.C. § 5311.01, Condominium property definitions; O.R.C. § 5312.01 ↩
12. Francis v. Signature of Solon Home Owners Assn. Bd. of Trustees, 2024-Ohio-6017 (8th Dist.), ¶¶ 22-23 (citing Nottingdale Homeowners' Assn. v. Darby, 33 Ohio St.3d 32 (1987) and Elam v. Woodhawk Club Condominium, 2019-Ohio-457) ↩
13. Francis, 2024-Ohio-6017, ¶¶ 40-45 (waiver/abandonment "substantial value" test) ↩
14. Senate Bill 61, 134th General Assembly (Ohio Legislature); Ohio Senate, Antonio press release (June 1, 2022 concurrence); O.R.C. § 5312.03 (Effective September 13, 2022; Latest Legislation: Senate Bill 61 – 134th General Assembly) ↩
15. O.R.C. § 5312.16(A) ↩
16. O.R.C. § 5312.16(A)(1)-(2) ↩
17. O.R.C. § 5311.192(A) and (C)(1) (definition of "solar appropriate unit") ↩
18. O.R.C. § 5311.192(B); O.R.C. § 5312.16(B) ↩
19. O.R.C. § 5311.192(C)(2); O.R.C. § 5312.16(D) ↩
20. Ohio Legislative Service Commission, "Solar Panels in Planned Communities and Condominium Properties," Members Brief (S.B. 61 preserves right to ban solar by specific prohibition) ↩
21. O.R.C. Chapter 5311 and Chapter 5312 (no dedicated EV-charging provision) ↩
22. O.R.C. Chapter 5312 (no statewide ADU preemption reaching association documents) ↩
23. City of Cincinnati, Ordinance 0266-2023 (ADUs; effective October 2, 2023); Columbus Ordinance 2526-2025 (ADUs by right in all residential districts, effective December 24, 2025) ↩
24. Cal. Civ. Code § 4751 (ADU/HOA); Colorado HB 24-1152 (Accessory Dwelling Units) ↩
25. O.R.C. § 5311.191, Condominium declaration prohibiting placement of flag unenforceable; O.R.C. § 5301.072, Deed restrictions prohibiting placement of flag unenforceable ↩
26. House Bill 16, 136th General Assembly (Ohio Legislature) — pending, not enacted ↩
27. Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243 (4 U.S.C. § 5 note); FCC OTARD Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000; 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3); Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181-12189 ↩
28. Francis v. Signature of Solon, 2024-Ohio-6017 (declaration and design guidelines enforced as a contract) ↩
29. O.R.C. § 5312.07, Examination of books and records ↩
30. O.R.C. § 5311.192; O.R.C. § 5312.16 ↩
31. O.R.C. § 5311.191; O.R.C. § 5301.072; Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 ↩
32. FCC OTARD Rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000 ↩
33. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3) (reasonable modifications); ADA Title III ↩
34. O.R.C. Chapter 5312 (no duty to permit ADUs against the declaration) ↩
35. O.R.C. § 5312.11(C)-(D), Individual lot assessments (notice and hearing) ↩
36. O.R.C. § 5311.081, Powers and duties of board of directors; O.R.C. § 5311.18, Lien for common expenses; O.R.C. § 5312.12, Liens ↩
37. Ohio Judicial System — Courts of Appeals (twelve appellate districts) and Supreme Court of Ohio ↩
38. O.R.C. Chapter 5312 (no HOA regulator or manager-licensing provision) ↩
39. Senate Bill 61, 134th General Assembly (amending §§ 5311.05, 5311.081, 5311.16, 5311.18, 5312.07, 5312.11 and enacting 5311.192, 5312.16) ↩
40. House Bill 16, 136th General Assembly (introduced Jan. 23, 2025; House General Government Committee; third hearing Apr. 29, 2025; not passed) ↩
41. Francis v. Signature of Solon Home Owners Assn. Bd. of Trustees, 2024-Ohio-6017 (8th Dist. Dec. 26, 2024) ↩
42. House Bill 226, 131st General Assembly (condominium/planned-community lien priority — "super lien"; not enacted) ↩
43. Ohio Legislature (no enacted 2025 decorations/expression statute; H.B. 16 political-sign proposal pending) ↩