To enact section 5312.01 of the Revised Code to define and establish requirements for residential community association developments.

Section 1. That section 5312.01 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 5312.01.  (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Common areas and facilities" means all property, facilities, and improvements that homeowners in a residential community association development own or lease in common or that are held in trust or otherwise for the common benefit or use of the residents in the development and for which the homeowners have responsibility to repair, replace, and maintain.

(2) "Developer" means any person who develops real estate as a residential community association development.

(3) "Homeowners association" means an association of homeowners or other designated persons with the authority to assess fees to replace, maintain, and repair the common areas and facilities in a residential community association development.

(4) "Residential community association development" means a grouping of two or more homes developed pursuant to a common plan that provides for common areas and facilities for which the homeowners are responsible due to a covenant in the deed or other condition of ownership. A condominium development, as defined in section 5311.01 of the Revised Code, is not a residential community association development.

(B)(1) No developer, agent, or person associated with a developer shall convey any home or real property in a residential community association development unless the developer has furnished, at a minimum, a two-year warranty covering the full cost of labor and materials for the completion, repair, or replacement of any aspect of the common areas and facilities that the developer represents is included in the development or that the developer otherwise is responsible for providing. The warranty shall cover any completion, repair, or replacement that is necessitated by a defect in material or workmanship, the failure to complete an improvement or facility, or the failure to complete an improvement or facility in a workerlike manner.

(2) The warranty shall be effective for at least two years following the time at which the developer no longer has a controlling interest in the homeowners association and relinquishes the management responsibilities for the common areas and facilities to the homeowners association and for a longer time as needed so that any facility or improvement for which a warranty is required is covered for at least two years following its completion.

(3) The developer shall furnish a bond to accompany the warranty with good and sufficient surety, conditioned on the developer completing construction of the common areas and facilities and making any repairs or replacement as this section requires. The sole beneficiary or obligee of any default payment shall be the homeowners association, which shall use the payment to make necessary completions, repairs, or replacements, or to reimburse the homeowners in proportion to the amount each paid toward the completion, repair, or replacement.

(C) The owner of each platted lot in a residential community association development shall be assessed fees and charges for the development's common areas and facilities in an amount equivalent to the fees and charges assessed to the owner of a lot that contains an occupied residential structure. A developer, as the owner of a platted lot, shall be assessed fees and charges pursuant to this division.