As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session S. B. No. 366

2025-2026

To amend sections 317.22 and 319.20 and to enact section 319.204 of the Revised Code to sometimes require payment of delinquent property taxes and assessments when a lot is transferred.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 317.22 and 319.20 be amended and section 319.204 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 317.22. No deed of absolute conveyance of land or any conveyance, absolute or otherwise, of minerals or mineral rights shall be recorded by the county recorder until:

(A) The conveyance presented to the county recorder bears the stamp of the county auditor stating the conveyance has been examined and the grantor has complied with ~~section~~ sections 319.202 and 319.204 of the Revised Code;

(B) Such conveyance has been presented to the county auditor, and by the county auditor indorsed "transferred," or "transfer not necessary."

Before any real estate, the title to which has passed under the laws of descent, is transferred from the name of the ancestor to the heir at law or next of kin of such ancestor, or to any grantee of such heir or next of kin; and before any deed or conveyance of real estate made by any such heir or next of kin is presented to or filed for record by the recorder, the heir or next of kin, or that person's grantee, agent, or attorney shall present to the auditor the affidavit of such heir or next of kin, or of two persons resident of this state, each of whom has personal knowledge of the facts. Such affidavit shall set forth the date of the ancestor's death, and the place of residence at the time of death; the fact that the ancestor died intestate; the names, ages, and addresses, so far as known and can be ascertained, of each of such ancestor's heirs at law and next of kin, who, by the ancestor's death, inherited such real estate, the relationship of each to the ancestor, and the part or portion of such real estate inherited by each. Such transfers shall be made by the auditor in accordance with the statement contained in the affidavit, and the auditor shall indorse upon the deed or conveyance the fact that such transfer was made by affidavit. The affidavit shall be filed with the county recorder of the county in which such real estate is situated, at or before the time such deed or conveyance is filed with the county recorder, and shall be recorded by the county recorder of the county in the official records and indexed in the direct and reverse indexes in the county recorder's office, in the name of such ancestor as grantor and of each such heir or next of kin as grantee, in the same manner as if such names occurred in a deed of conveyance from the ancestor to such heirs at law. The county recorder shall receive the same fees for such indexing and recording as provided by section 317.32 of the Revised Code.

(D) No county recorder shall record a conveyance if the indorsement, indorsements, or stamps of indorsement of a county auditor indicating compliance with section 319.202 of the Revised Code on the conveyance are in whole or in part defaced, illegible, or incomplete.

Sec. 319.20. After complying with sections 315.251, 319.202, ~~315.251, and~~ 319.203, and 319.204 of the Revised Code, and on application and presentation of title, with the affidavits required by law, or the proper order of a court or the county board of revision, bearing the last known address of the grantee, or of any one of the grantees named in the title, and a reference to the volume and page of the recording, or other means of identifying the recording, of the next preceding recorded instrument by or through which the grantor claims title, the county auditor shall transfer any land or town lot or part thereof, minerals therein, or mineral rights thereto, charged with taxes on the tax list, from the name in which it stands into the name of the owner, when rendered necessary by a conveyance, partition, devise, descent, or otherwise. If by reason of the conveyance or otherwise, a part only of a tract or lot, minerals therein, or mineral rights thereto, as charged in the tax list, is to be transferred, the auditor shall determine the tax value of the part of a tract or lot of real estate, minerals therein, or mineral rights thereto, so transferred, and the value of the remaining part compared with the value of the whole.

Whenever section 319.204 of the Revised Code does not apply, and a part only of a tract or lot of real estate has been transferred by the auditor and the tract or lot bears unpaid taxes, penalties, interest, or special assessments, the unpaid taxes, penalties, interest, or special assessments shall immediately be apportioned, upon demand or request by the transferee or remaining owner, in the following manner:

(A) The auditor shall allocate to the part so transferred, and to the remaining part, amounts of any current or delinquent taxes, interest, or penalties that have accrued against the parcel as a whole, proportionate to their respective values.

(B) The lien of taxes, penalties, interest, and special assessments, as levied against the original tract, shall extend to the part so transferred and the part remaining only to the extent of the amounts so allocated to the respective parts.

This section does not change the total amount of taxes, special assessments, or other charges as originally levied, or the total amount of the balance due. The auditor shall certify such apportionments to the county treasurer.

Whenever the state acquires an entire parcel or a part only of a parcel of real property in fee simple, the county auditor, upon application of the grantor or property owner or the state, which application shall contain a description of the property as it appears on the tax list and the date of transfer of ownership, shall prepare an estimate of the taxes that are a lien on the property, but have not been determined, assessed, and levied for the year in which the property was acquired. The county auditor shall thereupon apportion the estimated taxes proportionately between the grantor and the state for the period of the lien year that each had or shall have had ownership or possession of the property, whichever is earlier. The county treasurer shall accept payment from the state for estimated taxes at the time that the real property is acquired. If the state has paid in full in the year in which the property is acquired that proportion of the estimated taxes that the tax commissioner determines are not subject to remission by the county auditor for such year under division (D) of section 5713.08 of the Revised Code, the estimated taxes paid shall be considered the tax liability on the exempted property for that year.

Section 319.42 of the Revised Code applies to the apportionment of special assessments.

Complaint against such values as determined by the auditor or the allocation of assessments by the certifying authority may be filed by the transferee or the remaining owner, and if filed, proceedings including appeals shall be had in the manner and within the time provided by sections 5717.01 to 5717.06 and 5715.19 to 5715.22 of the Revised Code, for complaints against valuation or assessment of real property.

The auditor shall endorse on the deed or other evidences of title presented to the auditor that the proper transfer of the real estate described in the deed has been made in the auditor's office or that it is not entered for taxation, and sign the auditor's name to the deed. The address of the grantee, or any one of the grantees, set forth in the deed or other evidences of title shall be entered by the auditor on the transfer sheets and on the general tax list of real property prepared pursuant to section 319.28 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 319.204. Upon transfer of a lot or tract of real estate, in whole or in part to a person other than the grantor of the lot or tract, the grantor shall pay, and the treasurer shall accept, all delinquent taxes, as that term is defined in section 323.01 of the Revised Code, charged and payable at the time of transfer.

This section does not apply to any transfer of a lot or tract when any of the following apply:

(A) The state or a political subdivision is the grantee or grantor.

(B) The transfer is made by deed in lieu of foreclosure.

(D) The transfer is made in connection with a settlement.

(E) The transfer is made pursuant to a transfer on death designation affidavit as defined in section 5302.22 of the Revised Code.

(F) The transfer is made pursuant to a certificate of transfer issued under section 2113.61 of the Revised Code.

(G) The transfer is made by a settlor to a trustee as part of a pre-existing trust.

(H) The transfer is made in accordance with a statement contained in an affidavit required by section 317.22 of the Revised Code.

(I) The transfer is made by an individual to the grantor and one or more other individuals and results in a survivorship tenancy.

Section 2. That existing sections 317.22 and 319.20 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.

Section 3. The amendment or enactment by this act of sections 317.22, 319.20, and 319.204 of the Revised Code applies to transfers, in whole or in part, of tracts or lots of real estate occurring on or after the effective date of this section.