Small claims court stays open for Ohio HOA dues
Small claims court stays open for Ohio HOA dues
2026-09-15 · Ohio · Courts
An Ohio municipal court threw out a homeowners association's suit for unpaid dues, reasoning that the Planned Community Law did not give it jurisdiction over such claims. The Fifth District reversed, and in doing so preserved the cheapest collection route Ohio associations have.1
Millbrook Association, Inc. v. Wills, 2025-Ohio-5108, Case No. 25 CAG 05 0035, was decided November 6, 2025 on appeal from Delaware Municipal Court small claims.
The holding
Municipal courts have jurisdiction under R.C. 1901.18(A) over an association's suit to recover money owed under a recorded declaration, and R.C. chapter 5312 does not change that in either direction:
“Ohio's Planned Community Law codifies the requirements for the formation and operation of owners' associations. That law does not, however, expressly limit or expand the jurisdiction of municipal courts to hear suits for money damages for alleged violations of covenants, conditions, or restrictions in deeds. The municipal court's jurisdiction under R.C. 1901.18(A) is not affected by Chapter 5312 of the Revised Code.” (¶ 26)
The court also observed what has been true in practice all along: “Municipal courts have routinely exercised jurisdiction over actions for the recovery of homeowners' association dues and related fees.” (¶ 21)
The statutory chain the court set out
“An owners' association is authorized by statute to collect assessments from property owners to pay for common expenses. R.C. 5312.06(A)(2). An owners' association may also assess individual lots for amounts owed to the association and the expenses incurred in collecting them, including attorney's fees, court costs, and other expenses. R.C. 5312.11(A).” (¶ 24)
That is the whole collection architecture in two sentences: the power to assess, and the power to recover the cost of collecting.
The court also drew on the First District's reasoning in Porter for why these claims belong in a court of law rather than equity — covenants running with the land “were originally creations of the common law, not equity, and plaintiffs at common law could therefore bring actions . . . for damages resulting from their breach.” (¶ 10)
Collection begins with a validly levied assessment. Our Ohio assessment limits page covers how an Ohio association sets one.
Why the cheap forum matters more than it sounds
Most Ohio assessment delinquencies are small, and the cost of collecting them is the whole problem. A $900 arrears collected through common pleas litigation is a loss for everyone. The same arrears collected in small claims is a routine administrative act.
The municipal court's dismissal, had it stood, would have pushed every association collection into common pleas — with higher filing fees, formal pleadings, discovery and counsel. Associations would have responded the way associations always do: by letting small balances age until they were large enough to justify a lawyer, which is exactly how a $900 problem becomes a $9,000 problem with a lien and a foreclosure attached. Our Ohio collections and liens page covers the escalation ladder that follows.
What R.C. 5312.11(A) adds
The court expressly tied the fee and cost recovery to this forum. An association suing in municipal court for dues may also assess “the expenses incurred in collecting them, including attorney's fees, court costs, and other expenses.”
That changes the economics of a defended small-claims case. An owner who contests a $900 assessment and loses is not looking at $900. Ohio's appellate record this year is full of what happens when that compounds — in one transfer-approval dispute a single owner ended up with a $21,537.82 fee award against them across three appeals.
The procedural trap on the other side
A recurring jurisdictional problem runs the opposite way. Where a trial court finds an association entitled to fees under R.C. 5312.11(A)(3) but defers the amount, and the entry carries no Civ.R. 54(B) language, there is no final appealable order.
The Fifth District dismissed exactly such an appeal in Franzmann v. Williamsburg Homeowners Association, Inc., 2026-Ohio-298, decided January 29, 2026: “The May 30, 2025, judgment entry did not include Civil Rule 54(B) language and the issue of the amount of attorney fees remains unresolved. Accordingly, this Court does not have jurisdiction to entertain this appeal.” (¶ 13)
The same trap has caught at least two other Ohio association appeals in this period. It gives a board a practical delay, and it gives an owner a hazard: the appeal clock does not run until the number is set, and an owner who files early loses the filing.
Where a board stands
Collect early and small. The forum that makes that viable is open. Associations that wait for a balance to justify counsel are choosing the expensive path.
Have a written collection policy and follow it. Consistency in collection is the same evidentiary discipline that protects covenant enforcement, and it is what makes a fee request defensible rather than punitive.
Keep the assessment ledger clean. In small claims the association's own records are the case. A ledger that mixes assessments, late fees, fines, interest and legal charges without dates and categories is a ledger a judge cannot award on.
Do not treat the fee provision as a threat. R.C. 5312.11(A) recovers expenses actually incurred in collecting. It reads that way to a court, and an association using it as leverage rather than reimbursement is inviting the scrutiny the Ninth District applied to a fee request earlier this year.
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