The online versions of legislation provided on this website are not official. Enrolled bills are the final version passed by the Ohio General Assembly and presented to the Governor for signature. The official version of acts signed by the Governor are available from the Secretary of State's Office in the Continental Plaza, 180 East Broad St., Columbus.
|
H. B. No. 437 As IntroducedAs Introduced
127th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2007-2008 |
| |
Cosponsors:
Representatives Adams, Flowers, Gibbs, Jones, Stebelton, Zehringer
A BILL
To enact sections 4722.01 to 4722.07 of the Revised
Code to establish the Ohio Home Improvement
Contractor Law, to deem that specified violations
of the law constitute a violation of the Ohio
Consumer Sales Practices Act, and to provide civil
remedies for owners who are damaged by a
contractor who violates the law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 4722.01, 4722.02, 4722.03, 4722.04,
4722.05, 4722.06, and 4722.07 of the Revised Code be enacted to
read as follows:
Sec. 4722.01. As used in this chapter:
(A) "Home improvement" means any repair, alteration, or
addition to any one-, two-, or three-family residential structure
or to any dwelling unit in any type of structure. "Home
improvement" does not include any of the following:
(1) Construction of a new one-, two-, or three-family
residential structure;
(2) Work performed on a structure that contains four or more
dwelling units, except for work on an individual dwelling unit
within that structure;
(3) Work performed on the common area of a condominium
property.
(B) "Home improvement contractor" means any person who
performs any home improvement or offers to perform any home
improvement for compensation.
(C) "Owner" means the person who contracts with a home
improvement contractor for a home improvement. "Owner" may include
the owner of the property, a tenant who occupies the dwelling unit
on which the home improvement is performed, or a person the owner
authorizes to act on the owner's behalf to contract for a home
improvement, and any other person who contracts for a home
improvement.
Sec. 4722.02. (A) No person shall perform any home
improvement unless that person enters into a written contract with
the owner. The contract shall include all agreements and
conditions related to the home improvement, including all of the
following:
(1) The contractor's name, business street address, and
telephone number;
(2) The owner's name, address, and telephone number;
(3) The address of the property where the home improvement is
to be performed;
(4) A detailed description of the home improvement, including
the goods and services to be furnished as part of the home
improvement;
(5) The date or time period the home improvement is to begin
and the date or time period it is to be completed;
(6) The total cost of the home improvement;
(7) Any cost of installation, delivery, or other cost that
the total cost does not cover;
(8) The dated signatures of the owner and the contractor.
(B)(1) To determine the type of notice an owner requires when
the costs of a home improvement exceed the estimate provided in
the contract, the contract shall include a statement in
substantially the following language:
IF AT ANY TIME A HOME IMPROVEMENT REQUIRES EXTRA COSTS ABOVE
THE COST SPECIFIED OR ESTIMATED IN THE CONTRACT, AND THE TOTAL OF
ALL EXTRA COSTS TO DATE EXCEEDS TEN PER CENT OF THE CONTRACT COST,
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO AN ESTIMATE OF THOSE EXCESS COSTS BEFORE THE
CONTRACTOR BEGINS WORK RELATED TO THOSE COSTS. INITIAL YOUR CHOICE
OF THE TYPE OF ESTIMATE YOU REQUIRE:
..... written estimate ..... oral estimate"
(2) If the total amount of excess costs of a home improvement
at any time exceeds ten per cent of the cost estimated or
specified in the contract, prior to performing the work related to
the excess costs, the contractor shall provide an owner with the
type of notice the owner has designated in the contract.
(3) If the contract stipulates that the specified cost of the
home improvement is a firm price and the contractor will not
charge the owner with any excess costs, the contractor need not
comply with the notice requirements of this division.
(4) An owner is not liable for any excess costs unless the
contractor complies with this section's notice requirements.
Sec. 4722.03. (A) No home improvement contractor shall do any
of the following:
(1) Prior to commencing work related to the home improvement,
fail to enter into a written contract that complies with this
chapter;
(2) Prior to commencing any work that is related to an excess
cost, fail to provide an estimate of the excess costs as this
chapter requires;
(3) Make the performance of any home improvement contingent
upon a consumer's waiver of any rights this chapter provides;
(4) Fail to disclose, prior to the owner's acceptance of any
goods or work related to an excess cost, that in failing to
approve an excess cost, completion of the work may not be possible
and a charge may be imposed for any disassembly, reassembly, or
partially completed work, which shall be directly related to the
actual labor or parts involved;
(5) Charge for any excess cost that the owner has not
approved;
(6) Represent that repairs, services, or work is necessary
when such is not the fact;
(7) Represent that repairs or work have been performed when
such is not the fact;
(8) Represent that an item of goods or any part thereof that
is being inspected or diagnosed for a home improvement is in a
dangerous condition, or that its continued use may be harmful,
when such is not the fact;
(9) Materially understate or misstate the estimated cost of
the home improvement;
(10) Fraudulently misrepresent any aspect of the transaction
or the nature or the quality of the work or materials;
(11) Fail to provide the owner with a written itemized list
of repairs performed or services rendered, including a list of
parts or materials and a statement of whether they are used,
manufactured, or rebuilt, if not new, the cost to the owner, the
amount charged for labor, and the identity of the individual
performing the repair or service;
(12) Fail to tender to the owner any replaced parts, unless
the parts are to be rebuilt or sold by the contractor, or returned
to the manufacturer in connection with a warranted repair or
service, and the intended reuse or return is made known to the
owner prior to commencing any repair or services;
(13) Fail to provide to the owner, upon the owner's request,
a written, itemized receipt for any item of goods that are left
with, or turned over to, the contractor for repair or services.
The receipt shall include all of the following:
(a) The identity of the person who will perform the repair or
services;
(b) The name and dated signature of the person or
representative who actually accepts the goods;
(c) A description including make and model number or other
features that will reasonably identify the goods that are turned
over and the repair or services that are to be performed.
(14) Fail at the time any owner signs or initials any
document to provide the owner with a copy of the document;
(15) Fail to disclose to the owner prior to the commencement
of any repair or service, that any part of the repair or service
will be performed by a person other than the home improvement
contractor or employee of the contractor if the contract disclaims
any warranty of the repair or service that the other person
performs;
(16) Represent that repairs or services must be performed
away from the property on which the home improvement is being
performed when that is not the fact.
(B) A violation of this section is deemed to be a violation
of the Ohio consumer sales practices act, sections 1345.01 to
1345.13 of the Revised Code, notwithstanding any provisions of
those sections to the contrary. All the penalties and remedies
available under that act are available to an owner who is harmed
by a violation of this section.
Sec. 4722.04. A home improvement contractor shall begin work
on the date or within the time period the contract specifies and
shall complete the home improvement pursuant to any agreed-upon
schedule if the owner makes payments as the schedule requires. In
no case shall a contractor fail to complete the amount of work
that is in proportion to the payments an owner has made unless the
delay is due to reasonable cause beyond the contractor's control.
Sec. 4722.05. (A) If a home improvement contractor fails to
fulfill any obligation this chapter imposes, the owner may deliver
a written notice of that failure to the contractor, specifying the
act or omission that constitutes noncompliance and the specific
obligation that was not met. The notice shall state that if the
contractor does not fulfill the obligation, the owner has
authority to terminate the contract upon the date specified in the
notice, to be not less than thirty days after the delivery of the
notice.
(B) If the contractor fails to remedy the condition or
fulfill the obligation specified in the notice by the date
specified in the notice, the owner may terminate the contract by
delivering a notice of termination to the contractor, specifying
that the contract is terminated. At any time prior to delivery of
the notice of termination, the contractor may remedy the condition
and the owner may not subsequently terminate the contract.
(C) If a contractor who receives a notice pursuant to
division (A) of this section believes that the obligation
described in that notice has been fulfilled, the contractor may
initiate a civil action for injunctive relief or damages in a
court of common pleas.
Sec. 4722.06. A home improvement contractor shall maintain an
adequate
amount of general liability insurance.
Sec. 4722.07. (A) An owner may initiate a civil action in a
court of common pleas for damages due to any breach of contract or
for breach of any duty this chapter imposes. The court may grant
an injunction, a temporary restraining order, actual damages, or
other appropriate relief for a violation of this chapter.
(B) The court may award the owner treble damages if it finds
a home improvement contractor fraudulently committed an act or
practice that violates this chapter.
(C) In any action pursuant to this chapter, the court may
award to the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee limited
to the work reasonably performed, if either of the following
applies:
(1) The owner complaining of the act or practice that
violated this chapter has brought or maintained an action that is
groundless, and the owner filed or maintained the action in bad
faith;
(2) The home improvement contractor knowingly committed an
act or practice that violates this chapter.
|
|