Section 4781.01. Manufactured homes definitions

As used in this chapter:

(A) "Industrialized unit" has the same meaning as in division (C)(3) of section 3781.06 of the Revised Code.

(B) "Installation" means any of the following:

(1) The temporary or permanent construction of stabilization, support, and anchoring systems for manufactured housing;

(2) The placement and erection of a manufactured housing unit or components of a unit on a structural support system;

(3) The supporting, blocking, leveling, securing, anchoring, underpinning, or adjusting of any section or component of a manufactured housing unit;

(4) The joining or connecting of all sections or components of a manufactured housing unit.

(C) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as in division (C)(4) of section 3781.06 of the Revised Code.

(D) "Manufactured home park" means any tract of land upon which three or more manufactured or mobile homes used for habitation are parked, either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and includes any roadway, building, structure, vehicle, or enclosure used or intended for use as a part of the facilities of the park. "Manufactured home park" does not include any of the following:

(1) A tract of land used solely for the storage or display for sale of manufactured or mobile homes or solely as a temporary park-camp as defined in section 3729.01 of the Revised Code;

(2) A tract of land that is subdivided and the individual lots are for sale or sold for the purpose of installation of manufactured or mobile homes used for habitation and the roadways are dedicated to the local government authority;

(3) A tract of land within an area that is subject to local zoning authority and subdivision requirements and is subdivided, and the individual lots are for sale or sold for the purpose of installation of manufactured or mobile homes for habitation.

(E) "Manufactured housing" means manufactured homes and mobile homes.

(F) "Manufactured housing installer" means an individual who installs manufactured housing.

(G) "Mobile home" has the same meaning as in division (O) of section 4501.01 of the Revised Code.

(H) "Model standards" means the federal manufactured home installation standards established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 5404.

(I) "Permanent foundation" has the same meaning as in division (C)(5) of section 3781.06 of the Revised Code.

(J) "Business" includes any activities engaged in by any person for the object of gain, benefit, or advantage either direct or indirect.

(K) "Casual sale" means any transfer of a manufactured home or mobile home by a person other than a manufactured housing dealer, manufactured housing salesperson, or manufacturer to an ultimate consumer or a person who purchases the home for use as a residence.

(L) "Engaging in business" means commencing, conducting, or continuing in business, or liquidating a business when the liquidator thereof holds self out to be conducting such business; making a casual sale or otherwise making transfers in the ordinary course of business when the transfers are made in connection with the disposition of all or substantially all of the transferor's assets is not engaging in business.

(M) "Manufactured home park operator" or "park operator" means the person who has responsible charge of a manufactured home park and who is licensed under sections 4781.26 to 4781.35 of the Revised Code.

(N) "Manufactured housing broker" means any person acting as a selling agent on behalf of an owner of a manufactured home or mobile home that is subject to taxation under section 4503.06 of the Revised Code.

(O) "Manufactured housing dealer" means any person engaged in the business of selling at retail, displaying, offering for sale, or dealing in manufactured homes or mobile homes.

(P) "Manufacturer" means a person who manufacturers, assembles, or imports manufactured homes or mobile homes.

(Q) "Retail sale" or "sale at retail" means the act or attempted act of selling, bartering, exchanging, or otherwise disposing of a manufactured home or mobile home to an ultimate purchaser for use as a residence.

(R) "Salesperson" means any individual employed by a manufactured housing dealer or manufactured housing broker to sell, display, and offer for sale, or deal in manufactured homes or mobile homes for a commission, compensation, or other valuable consideration, but does not mean any public officer performing official duties.

(S) "Ultimate purchaser" means, with respect to any new manufactured home, the first person, other than a manufactured housing dealer purchasing in the capacity of a manufactured housing dealer, who purchases such new manufactured home for purposes other than resale.

(T) "Tenant" means a person who is entitled under a rental agreement with a manufactured home park operator to occupy a manufactured home park lot and who does not own the home occupying the lot.

(U) "Owner" means a person who is entitled under a rental agreement with a manufactured home park operator to occupy a manufactured home park lot and who owns the home occupying the lot.

(V) "Resident" means a person entitled under a rental agreement to the use and occupancy of residential premises to the exclusion of others. "Resident" includes both tenants and owners.

(W) "Residential premises" means a lot located within a manufactured home park and the grounds, areas, and facilities contained within the manufactured home park for the use of residents generally or the use of which is promised to a resident.

(X) "Rental agreement" means any agreement or lease, written or oral, that establishes or modifies the terms, conditions, rules, or any other provisions concerning the use and occupancy of residential premises by one of the parties.

(Y) "Security deposit" means any deposit of money or property to secure performance by the resident under a rental agreement.

(Z) "Development" means any artificial change to improved or unimproved real estate, including, without limitation, buildings or structures, dredging, filling, grading, paving, excavation or drilling operations, or storage of equipment or materials, and the construction, expansion, or substantial alteration of a manufactured home park, for which plan review is required under division (A) of section 4781.31 of the Revised Code. "Development" does not include the building, construction, erection, or manufacture of any building to which section 3781.06 of the Revised Code is applicable.

(AA) "Flood" or "flooding" means either of the following:

(1) A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of normally dry land areas from any of the following:

(a) The overflow of inland or tidal waters;

(b) The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;

(c) Mudslides that are proximately caused by flooding as defined in division (AA)(1)(b) of this section and that are akin to a river of liquid and flowing mud on the surface of normally dry land areas, as when earth is carried by a current of water and deposited along the path of the current.

(2) The collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining that is caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels or that is suddenly caused by an unusually high water level in a natural body of water, and that is accompanied by a severe storm, by an unanticipated force of nature, such as a flash flood, by an abnormal tidal surge, or by some similarly unusual and unforeseeable event, that results in flooding as defined in division (AA)(1)(a) of this section.

(BB) "Flood plain" means the area adjoining any river, stream, watercourse, or lake that has been or may be covered by flood water.

(CC) "One-hundred-year flood" means a flood having a one per cent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.

(DD) "One-hundred-year flood plain" means that portion of a flood plain inundated by a one-hundred-year flood.

(EE) "Person" has the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the Revised Code and also includes this state, any political subdivision of this state, and any other state or local body of this state.

(FF) "Substantial damage" means damage of any origin sustained by a manufactured or mobile home that is situated in a manufactured home park located in a flood plain when the cost of restoring the home to its condition before the damage occurred will equal or exceed fifty per cent of the market value of the home before the damage occurred.

(GG) "Substantially alter" means a change in the layout or design of a manufactured home park, including, without limitation, the movement of utilities or changes in established streets, lots, or sites or in other facilities. In the case of manufactured home parks located within a one-hundred-year flood plain, "substantially alter" also includes changes in elevation resulting from the addition of fill, grading, or excavation that may affect flood plain management.

(HH) "Tract" means a contiguous area of land that consists of one or more parcels, lots, or sites that have been separately surveyed regardless of whether the individual parcels, lots, or sites have been recorded and regardless of whether the one or more parcels, lots, or sites are under common or different ownership.

Amended by 129th General AssemblyFile No.127, HB 487, §101.01, eff. 9/10/2012.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.9, HB 1, §101.01, eff. 10/16/2009.

Effective Date: 08-06-2004