## Facts

- Worthinglen is a condominium development governed by a recorded declaration and by-laws and administered by a unit owners’ association.
- Jacqueline L. Brown owned a unit and leased it to tenants.
- On March 10, 1988, the association recorded an amendment requiring owner occupancy and prohibiting owners from creating leasehold interests or general tenancies.
- The amendment included a grandfather clause preserving the term of any lease in effect when the amendment was recorded.
- Brown’s then-existing lease continued under the grandfather clause, but her tenants later moved out.
- Brown sought to lease the unit to new tenants; the association asserted the amendment barred any new lease after expiration of the grandfathered lease.
- The association sued for injunctive relief to prevent Brown from leasing her unit to new tenants.

## Issues

1. Whether condominium rules, regulations, and declaration amendments are valid only if reasonable under the surrounding circumstances.
2. Whether an amendment prohibiting leasing is per se unenforceable against owners who acquired their units before adoption of the amendment, or instead must be tested for reasonableness.

## Decision

- The appellate court reversed the trial court’s judgment for Brown and remanded.
- The court held condominium rules, regulations, and declaration amendments are invalid if unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious under the surrounding circumstances.
- The court held a declaration amendment prohibiting leasing is not per se unenforceable against owners who purchased before the amendment.
- The trial court erred by applying a categorical rule rather than conducting a case-specific reasonableness inquiry.

## Legal Principles

- Condominium rules, regulations, and declaration amendments must be reasonable under the surrounding circumstances; measures that are unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious are invalid.
- A leasing prohibition adopted by amendment may be enforceable against pre-amendment owners if it satisfies the reasonableness standard.
- Enforceability of a leasing ban turns on context, including the association’s asserted purposes, the restriction’s impact on owners, and mitigating features such as grandfather clauses.

## Conclusion

The court rejected a categorical rule shielding pre-amendment purchasers from later leasing prohibitions and required that such amendments be evaluated for reasonableness under the surrounding circumstances; the case was remanded for that assessment.


Worthinglen Condo. Unit Owners’ Ass’n v. Brown, 57 Ohio App. 3d 73, 566 N.E.2d 1275 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989)