(a) No person, agent, firm or corporation shall, in a bona fide sale for a good and valid consideration, transfer or convey any interest in a dwelling structure, commercial building structure or other building, or land upon which such buildings are located, without first providing the purchaser or prospective purchaser with a current certificate of inspection or an exact copy thereof as provided in this chapter.
(b) The seller shall deposit in escrow a statement signed by the purchaser acknowledging receipt of the certificate of inspection, and such signed statement shall list thereon the date the certificate was given to the purchaser.
(c) If, under the terms of the contract of sale, the seller is obligated to correct all violations listed on the certificate of inspection, the seller shall deposit in escrow, before transfer of title to the purchaser, either a compliance document as described in Section 1464.03 and/or a written statement agreed upon by the seller and the purchaser filed with the escrow agent setting forth an agreed upon sum of money that is sufficient to cover the costs of correcting those specific violations listed on the certificate of inspection which remain uncorrected.
(d) If, under the terms of the contract of sale, the purchaser's obligation for the correction of violations listed on the certificate of inspection is limited to the contribution of a specifically stated dollar amount, or is limited to the purchaser's obligation to correct specific, but not all, Code violations, then the seller shall deposit in escrow either a compliance document as described in Section 1464.03(a), if, in fact, all such violations have been corrected, or a compliance document as described in Section 1464.03(b), together with a written statement agreed upon by the seller and the purchaser filed with the escrow agent setting forth an agreed upon sum of money that is sufficient to cover the costs of correcting the violations listed on the certificate of inspection which remain uncorrected and for which the seller is responsible.
(e) If, under the terms of the contract of sale, the seller has either not agreed to correct all violations as provided in subsection (c) hereof, or the purchaser's obligation is not limited to the payment of a stated sum of money or to the correction of specific violations as provided in subsection (d) hereof, then the contract of sale between the seller and the purchaser shall be conditional upon the seller and the purchaser agreeing in writing after the certificate of inspection has been exhibited to the purchaser, as to their respective obligations for the correction of the remaining uncorrected violations listed on such certificate. The seller and the purchaser shall thereafter deposit in escrow, before transfer of title to the purchaser, their written agreement as to each party's respective responsibility for the correction of those violations listed on the certificate of inspection remaining uncorrected, and such agreement may have attached thereto a compliance document as described in Section 1464.03(b) evidencing the seller's correction of those violations for which he or she is responsible, and/or an agreed upon sum of money that is sufficient to cover the cost of correcting those violations remaining uncorrected for which the seller is responsible.
(f) This chapter sets forth requirements and procedures applicable to relationships between the seller and the purchaser at the time of the sale of real estate, as to Code violations. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the City, at any time, from proceeding against the owner of property to require the correction of Code violations, as the owner of property is defined in these Codified Ordinances.
(g) This chapter shall not apply to the individual transfer of property through inheritance or gift where no bona fide sale is intended or completed. Further this chapter shall not apply to transfers of property in the following situations:
(1) To or from the United States, this State, or any instrumentality, agency, or political subdivision of the United States or this State;
(2) Solely in order to provide or release security for a debt or obligation;
(3) To confirm or correct a deed previously executed and recorded;
(4) To evidence a gift, in trust or otherwise and whether revocable or irrevocable, between husband and wife, or parent and child or the spouse of either;
(5) Pursuant to court order, to the extent that such transfer is not the result of a sale effected or completed pursuant to such order;
(6) Pursuant to a reorganization of corporations or unincorporated associations or pursuant to the dissolution of a corporation, to the extent that the corporation conveys the property to a stockholder as a distribution in kind of the corporation's assets in exchange for the stockholder's shares in the dissolved corporation;
(7) By a subsidiary corporation to its parent corporation for no consideration, nominal consideration, or in sole consideration of the cancellation or surrender of the subsidiary's stock;
(8) By lease, whether or not it extends to mineral or mineral rights, unless the lease is for a term of years renewable forever;
(9) When the value of the real property or interest in real property conveyed does not exceed one hundred dollars;
(10) Of an occupied residential property being transferred to the builder of a new residence when the former residence is traded as part of the consideration for the new residence;
(11) To a grantee other than a dealer in real property, solely for the purpose of, and as a step in, the prompt sale of the real property to others;
(12) To or from a person when no money or other valuable and tangible consideration readily convertible into money is paid or to be paid for the real estate and the transaction is not a gift;
(13) Pursuant to Ohio R.C. 317.22(B) or 2113.61, between spouses or to a surviving spouse pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5302.17 as it existed prior to April 4, 1985, between persons pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5302.17 or 5302.18 on or after April 4, 1985, to a person who is a surviving, survivorship tenant pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5302.17 on or after April 4, 1985, or pursuant to Ohio R.C. 5309.45;
(14) To a trustee acting on behalf of minor children of the deceased;
(15) Of property sold to a surviving spouse pursuant to Ohio R.C. 2106.16;
(16) To or from an organization exempt from Federal income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 100 Stat.2085, 26 U.S.C.A.1, as amended, provided such transfer is without consideration and is in furtherance of the charitable or public purposes of such organization;
(17) Among the heirs at law or devisees, including a surviving spouse, of a common decedent, when no consideration in money is paid or to be paid for the real property;
(18) To a trustee of a trust, when the grantor of the trust has reserved an unlimited power to revoke the trust;
(19) To the grantor of a trust by a trustee of the trust, when the transfer is made to the grantor pursuant to the exercise of the grantor's power to revoke the trust or to withdraw trust assets; or
(20) To the beneficiaries of a trust if the fee was paid on the transfer from the grantor of the trust to the trustee or if the transfer is made pursuant to trust provisions which became irrevocable at the death of the grantor. (Ord.97-O-13. Passed 12-9-97; Ord. 2010-O-01. Passed 2-9-10.)