Wishnosky v. Harbour Light 1 Condominium Assn., Inc.

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 2453

Syllabus

Condominium association; governing documents; amendment; contract; ordinary meaning; purchase; transfer; consideration. Unit owner in a residential subdivision sued condominium association for legal fees that the association had assessed against him. The association incurred these fees in attempting to evict the unit owner for violating a \no-leasing\ amendment in the association's governing documents. The amendment prevented owners that \purchase[d]\ their units after the amendment went into effect in 1990 from leasing their units to non-owners. Unit owner, who purchased his unit in 1979 and consistently leased his unit in the decades that followed, argued the leasing amendment did not apply to him. Though the unit owner had transferred the unit several times after the amendment, all transfers were between him, his wife, and corporate entities they shared for purposes of financial planning. The transfers were not purchases, applying de novo the ordinary meaning of the word, for lack of consideration. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding no consideration was exchanged, where county recorder documents showed no sales or conveyance fee was exchanged during the unit transfers, the deed recited only nominal consideration of $10.00, and the unit stayed in the family's ownership. Because the transfers of the unit were not purchases, the no-leasing amendment did not apply to the unit owner. Therefore, the unit owner was entitled to legal fees the association assessed when it tried to evict him.