LAW
Writer®
Ohio Laws and Rules
As used in sections 323.65 to 323.78 of the Revised Code:
(A) “Abandoned land” means delinquent lands or delinquent vacant lands, including any improvements on the lands, that are unoccupied and that first appeared on the abandoned land list compiled under division (C) of section 323.67 of the Revised Code, or the delinquent tax list or delinquent vacant land tax list compiled under section 5721.03 of the Revised Code, at whichever of the following times is applicable:
(1) In the case of lands other than agricultural lands, at any time after the county auditor makes the certification of the delinquent land list under section 5721.011 of the Revised Code;
(2) In the case of agricultural lands, at any time after two years after the county auditor makes the certification of the delinquent land list under section 5721.011 of the Revised Code.
(B) “Agricultural land” means lands on the agricultural land tax list maintained under section 5713.33 of the Revised Code.
(C) “Clerk of court” means the clerk of the court of common pleas of the county in which specified abandoned land is located.
(D) “Delinquent lands” has the same meaning as in section 5721.01 of the Revised Code.
(E) “Delinquent vacant lands” means all lands that are delinquent lands and that are unimproved by any structure.
(F) “Impositions” means delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties, interest, costs, reasonable attorney’s fees of a certificate holder, applicable and permissible costs of the prosecuting attorney of a county, and other permissible charges against abandoned land.
(G)(1) “Unoccupied,” with respect to a parcel of abandoned land, means any of the following:
(a) No building, structure, land, or other improvement that is subject to taxation and that is located on the parcel is physically inhabited as a dwelling;
(b) No trade or business is actively being conducted on the parcel by the owner, a tenant, or another party occupying the parcel pursuant to a lease or other legal authority, or in a building, structure, or other improvement that is subject to taxation and that is located on the parcel;
(c) The parcel is uninhabited and there are no signs that it is undergoing a change in tenancy and remains legally habitable, or that it is undergoing improvements, as indicated by an application for a building permit or other facts indicating that the parcel is experiencing ongoing improvements;
(d) In the case of delinquent vacant land, there is no permanent structure or improvement affixed on the land.
(2) For purposes of division (G)(1) of this section, it is prima-facie evidence and a rebuttable presumption that may be rebutted to the county board of revision that abandoned land is unoccupied if, at the time the county auditor makes the certification under section 5721.011 of the Revised Code, the abandoned land is not agricultural land, and two or more of the following apply:
(a) At the time of the inspection of the abandoned land by the county, municipal corporation, or township in which the abandoned land is located, no person, trade, or business inhabits, or is visibly present from an exterior inspection of, the abandoned land.
(b) No utility connections, including, but not limited to, water, sewer, natural gas, or electric connections, service the abandoned land, and no such utility connections are actively being billed by any utility provider regarding the abandoned land.
(c) The abandoned land is boarded up or otherwise sealed because, immediately prior to being boarded up or sealed, it was deemed by a political subdivision pursuant to its municipal, county, state, or federal authority to be open, vacant, or vandalized.
(H) “Community development organization” means a nonprofit corporation that is formed or organized under Chapter 1702. or 1724. of the Revised Code and to which both of the following apply:
(1) The organization is in good standing under law at the time the county auditor makes the certification under section 5721.011 of the Revised Code and has remained in good standing uninterrupted for at least the two years immediately preceding the time of that certification.
(2) As of the time the county auditor makes the certification under section 5721.011 of the Revised Code, the organization has received from the county, municipal corporation, or township in which abandoned land is located official authority or agreement by a duly authorized officer of that county, municipal corporation, or township to accept the owner’s fee simple interest in the abandoned land and to the abandoned land being foreclosed, and that official authority or agreement had been filed with the county treasurer or county board of revision in a form that will reasonably confirm the county’s, municipal corporation’s, or township’s assent to transfer the land to that community development organization under section 323.74 of the Revised Code.
(I) “Certificate holder” has the same meaning as in section 5721.30 of the Revised Code.
Effective Date: 09-28-2006