Why the carve-out had to be there

Look at what an association's declaration is, measured against the three banned characteristics.

It runs with the land and binds future owners — that is the entire point of it. It lasts far longer than a year. And it creates a lien: R.C. 5311.18 and 5312.12 give an association a lien on the unit or lot for unpaid assessments.

A declaration hits all three. So does an association's long-term landscaping, snow-removal or elevator-maintenance contract, in the sense that it binds the association as a continuing entity whose membership turns over.

Without subsections (C)(4) and (C)(5), the most common recorded instrument in Ohio residential real estate would have been swept into a statute aimed at a predatory listing practice. A board that reads “Ohio just banned agreements that bind future owners” and worries about its own declaration is reading it wrong, and the statute says so by name. Our Ohio governing statute page covers what the declaration does that this statute leaves alone.

Where it does reach an association's members

“Residential real estate” is defined as property of one to four dwelling units, which captures an individual condominium unit. So the protection runs to the owners, not the association — and that is where a board can be useful.

If an owner in your community discovers one of these instruments in their chain of title, the route is a civil action in the county of recording. On a finding, damages, costs and attorney fees are mandatory, and the judgment can be recorded back into the chain of title to clear it.

Since June 16, 2026 county recorders must refuse these at the counter, so the exposure is to instruments recorded before that date. Those are the ones that surface during a resale, usually at the worst moment.

The companion enactment that reaches owners

Senate Bill 155, signed December 1, 2025 and effective March 2, 2026, addresses a related pressure on association owners: the cash-offer wholesaler.

New R.C. 5301.95 requires a wholesaler, before contracting to buy a home, to hand the owner a boldface disclosure stating that “A wholesaler is acting on the wholesaler's own behalf and does not represent the owner in this transaction…The wholesaler may assign the wholesaler's interest in the purchase contract to a third party without the owner's consent before closing. The wholesaler may charge a fee to the third-party buyer separately for profit. The agreed purchase price between the owner and wholesaler may be below market value and is conveyed voluntarily.”

If the disclosure is not given, R.C. 5301.95(C)(1) lets the owner “cancel the contract at any time prior to the close of escrow without penalty,” with earnest money disbursed to the owner within thirty days. And it cannot be contracted around: any waiver is “void ab initio and unenforceable.”

That matters in aging Ohio condominium communities, which is exactly where cash-offer operators concentrate — especially when a special assessment is pending and owners are looking for a fast exit. A board facing a large assessment vote should hand this to the membership as a one-page fact, because the pressure arrives at the same time as the vote.

What to do

Do not let anyone tell you your declaration is now unenforceable. The exception is explicit, by statutory cross-reference, in the text.

Tell owners about the wholesaler disclosure before your next special assessment. The right to cancel without penalty, at any time before closing, is worth more to an owner than any advice a board can give about the assessment itself.