Kentucky · Statute

Kentucky Horizontal Property Law

The Horizontal Property Law is Kentucky's original condominium statute, on the books since 1962. It still governs the state's older condominiums — the Kentucky Condominium Act tells you why, because § 381.9103(5) says this law does not apply to any condominium created after January 1, 2011. It works in a vocabulary of its own: a condominium property regime, a master deed, a council of co-owners, and shares measured by floor area rather than by unit count. The full statutory text, hosted for reference, with a plain-language guide for homeowners.

KRSKRS Ch. 381KRS 381.805 – 381.91026 SectionsKRS through the 2026 Regular Session
What this means for homeowners

The Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805 to 381.910) is Kentucky's first condominium statute. Section 381.805 gives it its name in one line: “KRS 381.805 to 381.910 shall be known as the Horizontal Property Law.” It was created by 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, amended by 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, and substantially rewritten by 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381. The name is the old civil-law term for dividing a building horizontally into separately owned layers; the thing it creates is what everyone now calls a condominium, and the Act itself calls a “condominium property regime”.

Twenty-six section numbers sit in that range and four of them are repealed. They are reproduced below as repeal stubs rather than dropped, because a reader who arrives at a citation in an old declaration, an old title opinion or an old court opinion needs to see that the section is gone and when it went.

Which condominiums this law governs

Nothing inside this Act tells you when it stopped applying — the cut-off is in the other statute. Section 381.9103(5) of the Kentucky Condominium Act provides that “KRS 381.805 to 381.910 shall not apply to condominiums created after January 1, 2011.” So the dividing line is the date the condominium was created:

  • Created after January 1, 2011 — the Condominium Act governs, and this page is history rather than law for you.
  • Created before January 1, 2011 — this Act governs, plus the twelve sections of the Condominium Act that § 381.9103(2) reaches back (together with the definitions in § 381.9105 so far as needed to construe them). Those sections apply “only to the extent of events or circumstances occurring after January 1, 2011” and “do not invalidate existing provisions of the declaration, bylaws, plats, or plans” of the older condominium.

Three more routes are worth knowing, all in § 381.9103. Under subsection (3) an older condominium can opt in to the modern Act wholesale, by the vote of owners holding one hundred percent of the association's votes or whatever lesser percentage the declaration sets for termination. Under subsection (4), notwithstanding anything to the contrary in an older declaration, the executive board may rely on the Condominium Act to deal with a situation presenting a public safety or public health issue to one or more unit owners. And the rest of subsection (5) — beyond the sentence quoted above — preserves a middle path: an older condominium may amend its declaration, bylaws, plats or plans to adopt something the Condominium Act permits, and this Act will not invalidate that amendment, so long as it is adopted under the procedures in those instruments and in KRS 381.805 to 381.910. If such an amendment grants anyone a right or power under that Act, all its correlative obligations, liabilities and restrictions come with it.

One caution on how the two Acts sit together. Section 381.905 says this Act is supplemental to the rest of the Kentucky Revised Statutes and that where they conflict, KRS 381.805 to 381.910 prevails — language written in 1962. The Condominium Act answers with § 381.9117, which directs that no part of it be treated as impliedly repealed by later legislation where that reading can reasonably be avoided, and with § 381.9103(2), which speaks directly and by name to condominiums created before 2011. On the specific question of what reaches an older condominium, § 381.9103(2) is the later and more particular statement. Where a real conflict shows up in your own documents, that is a question for a Kentucky attorney rather than for a summary.

This Act is about condominiums only. It has nothing to say about a subdivision homeowners' association with lots and covenants — that is the Kentucky Planned Community Act, enacted in 2023.

The vocabulary, and why it changes the answers

Section 381.810 carries thirteen definitions and a rule of construction, and three of the definitions do real work:

  • “Unit” is “an enclosed space as measured from interior unfinished surfaces” of one or more rooms occupying all or part of a floor, whatever its use — residence, office, industry, business or any combination — “provided it has a direct exit to a thoroughfare or to a given common space leading to a thoroughfare”.
  • “Council of co-owners” means all the co-owners (§ 381.810(5)). There is no separate association in this Act, and no statutory board: the council is simply the owners acting together. The words “administrator or board of administration” appear in only one section, § 381.883 — twice, as the party who may enforce the lien and as the party who may bid the unit in at the court sale — the Act never sets one up, never says how it is elected and never fixes its term. All of that comes from the master deed and the bylaws.
  • “Majority of co-owners” means “owners of fifty-one percent (51%) of the floor area of units comprising the regime” (§ 381.810(9)). Not fifty-one percent of the units. In a building of mixed unit sizes those are different numbers.

The Act also splits the shared property in two. General common elements are the land, foundations, main walls and roof, halls, lobbies, stairways, entrances and exits, basements, yards and gardens, central service installations, elevators, recreational facilities and easements — including facilities off-site available for common use, and everything else “rationally of common use or necessary to its existence, upkeep and safety” (§ 381.810(7)). Limited common elements are those the co-owners have all agreed to reserve to one unit or to a set of units — a special corridor, stairway, balcony, patio, elevator or a utility serving a particular floor (§ 381.810(8)).

Your share is measured by floor area

This is the structural difference between the 1962 Act and the 2010 one, and it runs through everything else. A unit owner has exclusive ownership of the unit and a common right in the common elements “equivalent to the percentage representing the floor area of the individual unit, with relation to the floor area of the whole property” (§ 381.830(1)(a)). That percentage is fixed when the regime is created, “shall have a permanent character”, and cannot be altered “without the acquiescence of the co-owners representing all the units” except as the Act itself provides (§ 381.830(1)(b)).

Two exceptions are written into that same subsection. The master deed may deal in advance with eminent domain — including reapportioning the common interest after a partial taking. And the master deed of a regime still under construction may provide that percentages are redistributed on an as-built basis once all units are finished — but “the number of units originally constituted in the regime may not be increased during construction.” Each co-owner may use the general common elements for their intended purpose “without hindering or encroaching upon the lawful rights of the other co-owners” (§ 381.830(2)).

How a regime is created, and what gets recorded

A condominium property regime comes into being when a developer, sole owner or the co-owners record a master deed or master lease declaring their desire to submit the property to it (§ 381.815). The master deed must set out the particulars listed in § 381.835(1): the land and building with their areas, a general description and number for each unit with its area and location, and a description of the general common elements. Paragraph (d) adds a rule an owner can rely on — the common elements, general and limited, “shall remain undivided and shall not be the object of an action for partition or division of the co-ownership. Any covenant to the contrary shall be void.”

Floor plans are filed at the same time, showing layout, location, unit numbers and dimensions, and bearing the verified certification of a licensed architect or professional engineer either that they copy the approved building plans or that they accurately depict the units as built. If the plans carry no as-built certification, an amendment with a professional land surveyor's verified statement must be recorded before the first unit is conveyed (§ 381.835(2)).

After that, a unit may be conveyed, encumbered, sold, willed and dealt with as if it were entirely independent of the rest of the building (§ 381.820), and may be jointly or commonly owned by more than one person (§ 381.825). An individual deed describes the unit by reference to the recorded master deed and floor plans, with its designation “followed by the words ‘a condominium unit’” — and the conveyance automatically carries the undivided interest in the common elements, general and limited, without any need to mention it (§ 381.840).

Who runs it: bylaws, and a very short statute

Administration “shall be governed by bylaws approved and adopted by the council of co-owners”, and those bylaws “may be amended from time to time by vote of a majority of the council” (§ 381.860). That is the entire governance provision — one sentence of authority and one of amendment.

Read across all twenty-two live sections, this Act contains no meeting requirement, no notice period, no quorum rule, no proxy rule, no election procedure, no open-meeting rule, no board term, no cap on interest or late fees, no fine power and no fee-shifting provision. Everything of that kind in an older Kentucky condominium comes from the master deed and the bylaws, or from the Condominium Act sections that reach back under § 381.9103(2), or from the corporate statute if the association was incorporated.

Where the Act does speak of a vote it speaks of the council: a majority of the council amends the bylaws (§ 381.860) and authorises borrowing to rebuild (§ 381.890(2)), and a majority of the council of co-owners — unless the master deed provides otherwise — approves a unit subdivision (§ 381.827(3)). None of those three invokes the defined term. “Majority of co-owners” is defined as 51% of floor area (§ 381.810(9)), but that phrase appears nowhere else in the Act, and the three voting provisions all say simply “a majority of the council” without stating how the majority is measured. Check your own master deed and bylaws for how a vote is actually taken — they are where the procedure lives.

Assessments: what you owe, and what you cannot escape

Every co-owner must contribute in accordance with their percentage of common interest toward administration, maintenance, repairs and replacement reserves for the general common elements, and in the proper case the limited common elements, plus anything else lawfully assessed under the master deed or by the council (§ 381.870).

The master deed may permit the council to adjust those contributions on a combination of floor area, number of occupants, demand on public utilities and accessibility to limited common elements — so an unequal-looking assessment is not automatically an improper one.

You cannot opt out by not using the amenities. No owner is exempt “by waiver of the use or enjoyment of the common elements… or by abandonment of the unit”. The one relief the section allows is an abatement or reduction granted by the council for a reasonable period while a unit is uninhabitable as the result of damage or destruction — a grant, not an entitlement.

The lien, and how its priority differs from the modern Act

Sums assessed by the council but unpaid “constitute a lien on such unit prior to all other liens, except only (1) liens for taxes and assessments lawfully imposed by governmental authority against such unit, and (2) all sums unpaid on first mortgages of record” (§ 381.883). It is enforced by suit “in like manner as a mortgage of real property”, brought by the administrator or board of administration on behalf of the unit owners.

Three teeth in the same section. In an enforcement action the unit owner “shall be required to pay a reasonable rental for the unit, if so provided in the bylaws”, and the plaintiff “shall be entitled to the appointment of a receiver” to collect it. The association side may, unless the declaration prohibits it, bid in the unit at the court sale and then hold, lease, mortgage or convey it. And a suit for a plain money judgment for unpaid common expenses may be brought “without lien enforcement or waiving the lien” — the two remedies are not alternatives.

The priority test here is not the modern one, and the difference is practical. This section yields to all sums unpaid on first mortgages of record. The Condominium Act's lien section, § 381.9193(2), yields instead to a mortgage recorded before the date the assessment became delinquent, plus anything recorded before the declaration, plus taxes. Because § 381.9193 is one of the sections that reaches back to a pre-2011 condominium for events after January 1, 2011, both provisions are in play for an older Kentucky condominium, and which one controls a particular delinquency is a question for counsel. What the modern section clearly adds for events after that date is a five-year cutoff on enforcing the lien, record notice and perfection by the recorded declaration with no separate lien filing, costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party, and a recordable payoff statement within ten business days of a written request.

Finally, § 381.875 provides that the exemption laws set out in KRS Chapter 427 apply to an individual unit the same as to any other property. This page hosts the Horizontal Property Law, not Chapter 427, so read that chapter itself — or ask a Kentucky attorney — before relying on any particular exemption.

Records: the section you need is not on this page

This is the most important practical point for an owner in an older Kentucky condominium. The Horizontal Property Law used to carry its own records provision — § 381.865, Books of account — Inspection — Audit or review by independent accountant. It was repealed by 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 14, and nothing was put in its place inside this Act.

That was a consolidation, not a taking-away. The same 2012 act amended § 381.9197 of the Condominium Act, and § 381.9197 is one of the sections § 381.9103(2) applies to condominiums created before 2011. So the records right for an older condominium now reads: “[a]ll financial and other records shall be made reasonably available for examination by any unit owner and his or her authorized agents” — with no enumerated categories the board may withhold — plus an annual financial report prepared by an independent accountant or CPA within 150 days of the fiscal year end — or on whatever annual date the declaration or bylaws set — which must be made available for examination within thirty days of the board receiving it, at a standard that scales with the association's revenue. Cite § 381.9197, not § 381.865, when you ask.

Insurance, damage and rebuilding

The council may — not must — acquire insurance for the regime, including casualty, liability and employee workers' compensation cover, without prejudice to each co-owner's right to insure their own unit. Premiums are common expenses enforceable under the lien, with one fairness rule: where a particular use of a unit raises the premium, the owners of that unit pay the increase (§ 381.885).

After a fire or other loss the insurance indemnity is applied to reconstruct and repair the common elements affected — except in the case covered by subsection (3), below. Where the damage is uninsured or the indemnity falls short, the cost is a common expense, and the council by majority vote may borrow for it and amortize repayment over a period not exceeding the reasonable life of the reconstruction (§ 381.890(1), (2)).

Rebuilding is not always compulsory. Section 381.890(3) provides that reconstruction “shall not be compulsory where two-thirds (2/3) or more of a building is destroyed” — but only if the master deed or bylaws make adequate provision for reasonable compensation to co-owners who lose their interest as a result, and for the recalculation and redistribution of the percentage of common interest. Absent those provisions, the exemption does not open.

Liability, and the cap that protects an individual owner

Where a judgment arising from a risk common to all the co-owners exceeds the liability insurance in force, an individual co-owner's liability “shall not exceed his pro rata share as determined by the percentage the value of his individual unit bears to the value of the property as a whole” — note that this one is measured by value, where the common interest is measured by floor area. And critically: “[a]n uncollected share of a judgment shall not be reassessed among the other co-owners” (§ 381.897(1)). A neighbour who cannot pay does not become your bill.

That cap protects you only from shared risk. An owner remains individually liable for injuries or damages resulting from their own negligence or willful misconduct, or occurring within their own unit, to the same extent as the owner of any other property (§ 381.897(2)).

Taxes: each unit stands alone

Taxes and assessments of the state, any political subdivision, any special improvement district or any other taxing authority are assessed against and collected on each individual unit, each carried on the tax books “as a separate and distinct entity… and not on the property as a whole”; the common elements are valued proportionately among the co-owners. The protection follows: “[n]o forfeiture or sale of the improvements or property as a whole for delinquent taxes… shall ever divest or in anywise affect the title to an individual unit so long as taxes, assessments and charges to said individual unit are currently paid” (§ 381.900). A neighbour's tax delinquency cannot cost you your unit.

Changing the regime: subdividing, and ending it

The Act's subdivision procedure is written for non-residential units. Section 381.827 lets the owner of a unit designed for office, industrial or business use divide it into two or more smaller units, and no interest may be conveyed until the master deed and floor plans have been modified. It takes new floor plans bearing the verified statement of a registered architect or professional engineer, a verified statement from the owner covering six enumerated items, and new percentages of common interest that are “in proportion to the floor area” and that cumulatively total the same percentage the original unit held. It must be approved in writing by a majority of the council of co-owners — unless the master deed provides otherwise — and by any person holding a lien on the units, then recorded as an amendment.

Ending the regime takes everyone. Under § 381.850 all of the co-owners, or a sole owner, may waive the regime and ask the county clerk to merge the unit records back into the property as a whole — but only if the units are unencumbered, or the creditors holding the encumbrances agree to accept the undivided portions as security instead. That merger does not bar re-establishing a regime later (§ 381.855).

The commercial escape hatch at § 381.837

One section rewrites much of the Act for a condominium that is substantially non-residential. Where a condominium contains no unit designed for occupancy by only one family or household, or where such units are ten percent or less of the floor area of all units in the condominium, the master deed may — notwithstanding other provisions — do five things: allocate common profits and common expenses in proportions other than the common-interest percentages; provide that unit owners are not personally liable for their share of common expenses (without affecting the lien); allow a mortgage lien to be subordinated to the common-expense lien notwithstanding the § 381.883 priority; set up arbitration or other impartial determination of disputes arising from administration; and set terms differing from § 381.830 or § 381.890 on rebuilding after casualty, improvements and removing the condominium from the Act — in which case the master deed takes precedence over those sections to the extent they are inconsistent.

If you own a residential unit, that section is almost certainly not yours. If you own a commercial unit, it may be the most important section on this page.

Where this Act stops

Section 381.905 makes the Act supplemental to the rest of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, prevailing where they conflict, and § 381.910 lets a county or municipal planning and zoning commission adopt supplemental rules governing a regime established under it.

Verified from reading all twenty-two live sections: the Horizontal Property Law creates no state regulator, no complaint process and no registry, and gives no state agency jurisdiction over a Kentucky condominium. The one rulemaking power it does create is local — the § 381.910 planning-and-zoning rules just above. There is no administrative remedy in it. Enforcement is by suit, under the master deed and bylaws and the sections above.

The four repealed sections, and what was in them

  • § 381.845 — Designation of apartments — Effect of conveyance. Repealed by 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 19; its subject is now handled by § 381.840.
  • § 381.865 — Books of account — Inspection — Audit or review by independent accountant. Repealed by 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 14. Use § 381.9197 instead, as explained above.
  • § 381.880 — Assessments; priority; exceptions. Repealed by 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, sec. 4 — the same act that created the present lien section, § 381.883.
  • § 381.895 — Reconstruction — Insufficient indemnity — Contribution. Repealed by 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 19; its subject is now in § 381.890.
How it fits with Kentucky's other community laws

Which of Kentucky's three community statutes applies to you turns on what you own and when it was created. A condominium created before January 1, 2011 is governed by this Act, together with the twelve Kentucky Condominium Act sections that reach back under § 381.9103(2). A condominium created after that date is governed by the Condominium Act alone — § 381.9103(5) says this Act does not apply to it. And a planned community — a subdivision with lots, covenants and an association — is governed by the Kentucky Planned Community Act, whose own definition at KRS 381.785(13)(a) excludes condominiums.

The practical consequence of reading this Act alone is that you will under-read your own rights. This statute has no records provision left in it, no financial-report requirement, no meeting or notice rules and no fee-shifting. For a pre-2011 condominium, the sections that supply those — records and the annual report (§ 381.9197), the board and the end of declarant control (§ 381.9169), the association's powers including fines after notice and an opportunity to be heard (§ 381.9167), the lien (§ 381.9193) and the resale certificate (§ 381.9203) — are on the Condominium Act page, and they apply to events after January 1, 2011 without invalidating what your declaration already said.

The corporate layer sits alongside, if your association is incorporated. This Act does not require any entity at all — the “council of co-owners” is just the owners. Where the owners did incorporate, the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act supplies the meeting, notice, record and director machinery this statute never wrote.

Discrimination and debt collection are elsewhere: the Kentucky Civil Rights Act and the federal Fair Housing Act, and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act when a third-party collector pursues unpaid assessments. Return to the Kentucky HOA laws hub for the full set.

Contents · 26 sections ▾
  1. 381.805Short title.
  2. 381.810Definitions for KRS 381.805 to 381.910.
  3. 381.815Establishment of a condominium property regime.
  4. 381.820Conveyance of units -- Recordation.
  5. 381.825Joint or common ownership.
  6. 381.827Requirements for subdividing units.
  7. 381.830Ownership of unit -- Use of general common elements.
  8. 381.835Recording -- Requirements of master deed or lease -- Record of floor plans.
  9. 381.837Master deed exceptions.
  10. 381.840Individual deeds -- Contents.
  11. 381.845Designation of apartments -- Effect of conveyance.repealed
  12. 381.850Waiver of regime -- Effect of encumbrances.
  13. 381.855Subsequent reestablishment of regime.
  14. 381.860Administration of building.
  15. 381.865Books of account -- Inspection – Audit or review by independent accountant.repealed
  16. 381.870Maintenance -- Pro rata contribution -- Adjustments.
  17. 381.875Exemptions.
  18. 381.880Assessments; priority; exceptions.repealed
  19. 381.883Lien for unpaid assessments -- Foreclosure -- Suit.
  20. 381.885Insurance.
  21. 381.890Destruction -- Reconstruction.
  22. 381.895Reconstruction -- Insufficient indemnity -- Contribution.repealed
  23. 381.897Individual and common liabilities for injuries or damages.
  24. 381.900Tax assessments -- Individual liability -- Forfeiture or sale.
  25. 381.905Interpretation of KRS 381.805 to 381.910.
  26. 381.910Planning and zoning.

No sections match that filter.

KRS 381.805 Short title.

KRS 381.805 to 381.910 shall be known as the Horizontal Property Law.

History: Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 1.

KRS 381.810 Definitions for KRS 381.805 to 381.910.

As used in KRS 381.805 to 381.910, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Unit" means an enclosed space as measured from interior unfinished surfaces consisting of one or more rooms occupying all or part of a floor in a building of one or more floors or stories regardless of whether it be designed for residence, for office, for the operation of any industry or business, for any other type of independent use or any combination of the above uses, provided it has a direct exit to a thoroughfare or to a given common space leading to a thoroughfare;

(2) "Condominium" means the ownership of single units in a single unit or a multiple unit structure or structures with common elements;

(3) "Condominium project" means a real estate condominium project; a plan or project whereby two (2) or more apartments, townhouses, rooms, office spaces, or other units in existing or proposed buildings or structures are offered or proposed to be offered for sale;

(4) "Co-owner" means a person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other legal entity, or any combination thereof who owns a unit within the building;

(5) "Council of co-owners" means all the co-owners as defined in subsection (4) of this section;

(6) "Developer" means a person who undertakes to develop a real estate condominium project;

(7) "General common elements" means and includes:

(a) The land whether leased or in fee simple, on which the building or buildings stand;

(b) The foundations, main walls, roof, halls, lobbies, stairways, and entrances and exits or communication ways;

(c) The basements, flat roofs, yards, and gardens, except as otherwise provided or stipulated;

(d) The premises for the lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the building(s), except as otherwise provided or stipulated;

(e) The compartments or installations of central services such as power, light, gas, cold and hot water, refrigeration, reservoirs, water tanks and pumps, and the like;

(f) The elevators, garbage incinerators and, in general all devices or installations existing for common use;

(g) Recreational facilities, easements and other facilities outside the building(s), including facilities off-site, available for the common use, in part or in whole, of the regime; and

(h) All other elements of the property rationally of common use or necessary to its existence, upkeep and safety;

(8) "Limited common elements" means and includes those common elements which are agreed upon by all of the co-owners to be reserved for the use of a particular unit or a certain number of units to the exclusion of the other units, such as special corridors, stairways, balconies, patios, elevators, utilities common to the units of a particular floor or building, and the like;

(9) "Majority of co-owners" means owners of fifty-one percent (51%) of the floor area of units comprising the regime;

(10) "Master deed" or "master lease" means the deed or lease declaring the property to be a horizontal property regime;

(11) "Person" means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust or other legal entity or any combination thereof;

(12) "Property" means and includes the land whether leasehold or in fee simple and all improvements and structures thereon and all easements, rights and appurtenances belonging thereto;

(13) "To record" means to record in accordance with KRS Chapter 382, or other recording statutes;

(14) All pronouns used in KRS 381.805 to 381.910 include the male, female and neuter genders and include the singular or plural numbers, as the case may be.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 35 sec. 1; and ch. 381, sec. 1. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 2.

Legislative Research Commission note (editorial, not part of the statute): Note. This section was amended by two 1974 acts which do not appear to be in conflict and have been compiled together.

KRS 381.815 Establishment of a condominium property regime.

Whenever a developer, the sole owner, or the co-owners of a building or buildings, constructed or to be constructed, expressly declare, through the recordation of a master deed or lease, which shall set forth the particulars enumerated by KRS 381.835, their desire to submit their property to the regime established by KRS 381.805 to 381.910, there shall be thereby established a condominium property regime.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 2. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 3.

KRS 381.820 Conveyance of units -- Recordation.

Once the property is submitted to the condominium property regime, a unit in the building(s) may be individually conveyed and encumbered and may be the subject of ownership, possession or sale and of all types of juridic acts inter vivos or mortis causa, as if it were sole and entirely independent of the other units in the building(s) of which they form a part, and the corresponding individual titles and interest shall be recordable.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 3. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 4.

KRS 381.825 Joint or common ownership.

Any unit may be jointly or commonly owned by more than one (1) person.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 4. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 5.

KRS 381.827 Requirements for subdividing units.

(1) The owner of a unit designed for office, industrial or business use may divide his unit into two (2) or more smaller units. No interest in the unit shall be conveyed until the master deed and floor plans have been modified as provided in this section.

(2) Prior to subdividing his unit, the owner shall prepare a set of floor plans which shall show the changes being made in the unit involved. The plans shall bear the verified statement of a registered architect or professional engineer that they accurately portray the unit involved and the changes being made, and the unit owner shall attach to the plans a verified statement which shall contain:

(a) The name by which the property is known;

(b) A reference to the book and page of the recorded master deed and floor plans of the property and any amendments thereto in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the land described in the master deed is situated;

(c) The original unit number of each unit involved in the division, a description or designation of the building in which the unit is located, and the new unit number of each unit being formed;

(d) A statement of the location, approximate area, number of rooms and the structural changes in the perimeter and interior walls, floors, ceilings, windows and doors of the unit being formed and the immediate common element or limited common element to which the unit has access, and any other data necessary for the proper identification of the units being formed by changes to the original unit;

(e) A description of the percentage of interest of the original unit in the common elements, and a description of the new percentage or percentages of interest in the common elements of the units being formed. The percentage of interest in the common elements of the units being formed shall be in proportion to the floor area of the original unit and shall, when taken cumulatively, total the same percentage of interest in the common elements as that of the original unit;

(f) Any further provisions that would serve to clarify the changes being made.

(3) The floor plans and verified statement shall be approved in writing by a majority, unless otherwise provided by the master deed, of the council of co-owners, and by any person holding a lien on such units, and shall be filed for record with the county clerk in the county in which the land described in the master deed is situated as provided in KRS 381.835. The floor plans and verified statement shall be considered as an amendment to the original master deed and floor plans for the sole purpose of dividing a unit and the corresponding percentage of interest in the common elements.

History: Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 16.

KRS 381.830 Ownership of unit -- Use of general common elements.

(1)

(a) A unit owner shall have the exclusive ownership to his unit and shall have a common right to a share, with other co-owners, in the common elements of the property, equivalent to the percentage representing the floor area of the individual unit, with relation to the floor area of the whole property. This percentage shall be computed by taking as a basis the floor area of the individual unit in relation to the floor area of the property as a whole.

(b) Such percentage of common interest shall be expressed at the time the condominium property regime is constituted, shall have a permanent character, and, except as may be otherwise provided in KRS 381.810 to 381.910, shall not be altered without the acquiescence of the co-owners representing all the units of the building(s). The master deed may, however, contain provisions relating to the appropriation, taking or condemnation by eminent domain by the federal, state or local government, or an instrumentality thereof, including, but not limited to, reapportionment or other change of the common interest appurtenant to each unit, or part thereof remaining after a partial appropriation, taking or condemnation. The master deed of a regime under construction may further provide that by later amendment thereto and upon completion of all units, percentage of common interest shall be redistributed on an as-built basis; provided, however, that the number of units originally constituted in the regime may not be increased during construction.

(2) Each co-owner may use the general common elements in accordance with the purpose for which they are intended, without hindering or encroaching upon the lawful rights of the other co-owners.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 5. -- Amended 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, sec. 1. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 6.

KRS 381.835 Recording -- Requirements of master deed or lease -- Record of floor plans.

(1) The county clerk shall immediately set up the mechanics and methods by which recordation of a master deed or lease and of the individual units may be made. Provisions shall be made for the recordation of the individual units on subsequent resales, mortgages, and other encumbrances, as is done with all other real estate recordation. The master deed or lease to which KRS 381.815 refers shall express the following particulars:

(a) The description of the land, whether leased or in fee simple, and the building, expressing their respective areas;

(b) The general description and the number of each unit, expressing its area, location, and any other data necessary for its identification;

(c) The description of the general common elements of the building; and

(d) The common elements, both general and limited, shall remain undivided and shall not be the object of an action for partition or division of the co- ownership. Any covenant to the contrary shall be void.

(2) Simultaneously with the recording of the declaration, there shall be filed in the office of the recording officer a set of the floor plans of the building or buildings, showing the layout, location, unit numbers, and dimensions of the units, stating the name of the property or that it has no name, and bearing the verified certification by a licensed architect or professional engineer that it is an accurate copy of portions of the plans of the building or buildings as filed with and approved by the county or city and county officer having jurisdiction over the issuance of permits for the construction of buildings, or, in the alternative, certifying that the plans fully and accurately depict the layout, location, unit numbers, and dimensions of the units as built. If the plans do not include a verified statement of a licensed architect or professional engineer that the plans fully and accurately depict the layout, location, unit numbers, and dimensions of the units as built, there shall be recorded prior to the first conveyance of any unit an amendment to the declaration to which shall be attached a verified statement of a professional land surveyor certifying that the plans filed, or being filed simultaneously with the amendment, fully and accurately depict the layout, location, unit numbers, and dimensions of the units as built. The plans shall be kept by the recording officer in a separate file for each property, indexed in the same manner as a conveyance entitled to record, numbered serially in the order of receipt, each designated "condominium ownership," with the name of the property, if any, and each containing an appropriate reference to the recording of the declaration. The record of the declaration shall also contain a reference to the file number of the floor plans of the building or buildings on the property affected.

Effective: January 1, 1999

History: Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 214, sec. 41, effective January 1, 1999. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 6. -- Amended 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, sec. 2. - - Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 7.

KRS 381.837 Master deed exceptions.

If a condominium does not contain any unit which is designed for occupancy by only one family or household, or if the floor area of all those units which are designed for occupancy by only one (1) family or household does not in the aggregate exceed ten percent (10%) of the floor area of all units in the condominium, then the following provisions shall be applicable, notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter: The master deed may provide:

(1) That to any extent specified in the master deed the common profits shall be distributed among, and the common expenses shall be charged to, the unit owners in proportions other than according to their respective percentages of the undivided interest in the common areas and facilities;

(2) That to any extent specified in the master deed the unit owners shall not be personally liable for sums assessed for their share of common expenses, but such provisions shall not adversely affect any lien for said share;

(3) That the priority provided in KRS 381.883 shall not prohibit subordination of a mortgage lien to the lien for common expenses;

(4) A procedure for submitting the disputes arising from the administration of the condominium to arbitration or other impartial determination; and

(5) Terms and conditions differing from those set forth in KRS 381.830 or 381.890 regarding rebuilding made necessary by fire or other casualty loss, the making of improvements and allocation of the costs of such rebuilding or improvements, and the removal of the condominium or portion thereof from the provisions of this chapter; and in such case, the terms and conditions of the master deed shall take precedence over the provisions of KRS 381.830 or 381.890 to the extent they are inconsistent.

Effective: July 15, 1988

History: Amended 1988 Ky. Acts ch. 115, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1988. -- Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 18.

KRS 381.840 Individual deeds -- Contents.

The deed of each individual unit shall describe such unit by making reference to the applicable master deed and floor plans required under KRS 381.835, designating the letter or number or other appropriate designation of the unit, followed by the words "a condominium unit". Any conveyance of an individual unit shall be deemed to also convey the undivided interest of the owner in the common elements, both general and limited, appertaining to said unit without specifically or particularly referring to same.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 7. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 8.

KRS 381.845 Designation of apartments -- Effect of conveyance.repealed

Repealed, 1974.

History: Repealed 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 19. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 9.

KRS 381.850 Waiver of regime -- Effect of encumbrances.

All of the co-owners or the sole owner of a building constituted into a horizontal property regime may waive this regime and request the county clerk to regroup or merge the records of the filial estates with the principal property, provided, that the filial estates are unencumbered, or if encumbered, that the creditors in whose behalf the encumbrances are recorded agree to accept as security the undivided portions of the property owned by the debtors.

History: Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 10.

KRS 381.855 Subsequent reestablishment of regime.

The merger provided for in KRS 381.850 shall in no way bar the subsequent constitution of the property into another horizontal property regime whenever so desired and upon observance of the provisions of KRS 381.805 to 381.910.

History: Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 11.

KRS 381.860 Administration of building.

The administration of the building or buildings constituted into a condominium property regime shall be governed by bylaws approved and adopted by the council of co-owners. The bylaws may be amended from time to time by vote of a majority of the council.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 8. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 12.

KRS 381.865 Books of account -- Inspection – Audit or review by independent accountant.repealed

Repealed, 2012.

History: Repealed 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 99, sec. 14, effective April 11, 2012. -- Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 97, sec. 55, effective January 1, 2011. -- Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 9. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 13.

KRS 381.870 Maintenance -- Pro rata contribution -- Adjustments.

All co-owners are bound to contribute in accordance with their percentage of common interest toward the expenses of administration and of maintenance, repairs and replacement reserves of the general common elements, and, in the proper case, of the limited common elements of the regime, and toward any other expenses lawfully assessed under the master deed and/or by the council of co-owners. Provided, however, that the master deed may provide for adjustments by the council of co-owners for contributions proportioned upon a consideration of a combination of floor area, the number of occupants, demand on public utilities and accessibility to limited common elements. No owner shall be exempt from contributing toward such expenses by waiver of the use or enjoyment of the common elements, both general and limited, or by abandonment of the unit belonging to him; provided, abatement or reduction in an owner's contribution may be granted by the council of co-owners for a reasonable period of time, during which a unit is uninhabitable as the result of damage or destruction.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 10. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 14.

KRS 381.875 Exemptions.

The laws relating to exemptions as set out in KRS Chapter 427 are applicable to the individual units which shall have the benefit of said exemption in those cases the same as in ownership of any other property.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 11. -- Amended 1968 Ky. Acts ch. 152, sec. 156. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 15.

KRS 381.880 Assessments; priority; exceptions.repealed

Repealed, 1966.

History: Repealed 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, sec. 4. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 16.

KRS 381.883 Lien for unpaid assessments -- Foreclosure -- Suit.

All sums assessed by the council of co-owners but unpaid for the unit's share of the common expenses constitute a lien on such unit prior to all other liens, except only (1) liens for taxes and assessments lawfully imposed by governmental authority against such unit, and (2) all sums unpaid on first mortgages of record. Such lien may be enforced by suit by the administrator or board of administration, acting on behalf of the unit owners, in like manner as a mortgage of real property. In any such enforcement action the unit owner shall be required to pay a reasonable rental for the unit, if so provided in the bylaws, and the plaintiff in such enforcement action shall be entitled to the appointment of a receiver to collect the same. The administrator or board of administration, acting on behalf of the unit owners, shall have power, unless prohibited by the declaration, to bid in the unit at court sale, and to acquire and hold, lease, mortgage and convey the same. Suit to recover a money judgment for unpaid common expenses of an owner shall be maintainable without lien enforcement or waiving the lien securing the same.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 12. -- Created 1966 Ky. Acts ch. 245, sec. 3.

KRS 381.885 Insurance.

The council of co-owners may acquire insurance protection for the regime, including, but not exclusively, casualty, liability and employee workers' compensation insurance, without prejudice to the right of each co-owner to insure his own unit on his own account and for his own benefit. The premiums on such insurance shall be considered common expenses, enforceable under lien rights, provided, should the amount of any insurance premium be affected by a particular use of a unit or units, the owners of such units shall be required to pay any increase in premium resulting from such use.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 13. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 17.

KRS 381.890 Destruction -- Reconstruction.

(1) In case of fire or other destruction or damage the regime's insurance indemnity, except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, shall be applied to reconstruct and repair the common elements affected.

(2) Where the destruction and damage is not insured or where the insurance indemnity is not sufficient to cover the cost of reconstruction or repair, the cost (or added cost) shall be paid by the co-owners as a common expense, the council by a majority vote being authorized to borrow funds therefor and to amortize the repayment of same over a period of time, not exceeding the reasonable life of the reconstruction or repairs.

(3) Reconstruction shall not be compulsory where two-thirds (2/3) or more of a building is destroyed provided there are provisions in the master deed or bylaws of the regime making adequate provision for reasonable compensation to those co- owners who are deprived of their interest as the result of the failure to reconstruct and further providing for the recalculation and redistribution of the percentage of common interest.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 14. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 18.

KRS 381.895 Reconstruction -- Insufficient indemnity -- Contribution.repealed

Repealed, 1974

History: Repealed 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 19. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 19.

KRS 381.897 Individual and common liabilities for injuries or damages.

(1) Where a judgment arising from a risk common to all of the co-owners is in excess of the liability insurance in force, the liability of any co-owner shall not exceed his pro rata share as determined by the percentage the value of his individual unit bears to the value of the property as a whole. An uncollected share of a judgment shall not be reassessed among the other co-owners.

(2) Any unit owner shall be individually liable for injuries or damages which result from his own negligence or willful misconduct or which occur within his individual unit to the same extent and degree as the individual owner of any other residential, office, industrial or business property.

History: Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 17.

KRS 381.900 Tax assessments -- Individual liability -- Forfeiture or sale.

Taxes, assessments and other charges of this state, or of any political subdivision, or of any special improvement district, or any other taxing or assessing authority shall be assessed against and collected on each individual unit, each of which shall be carried on the tax books as a separate and distinct entity for that purpose, and not on the property as a whole. The valuation of the general and limited common elements shall be assessed proportionately among the co-owners thereof. No forfeiture or sale of the improvements or property as a whole for delinquent taxes, assessments or charges shall ever divest or in anywise affect the title to an individual unit so long as taxes, assessments and charges to said individual unit are currently paid.

History: Amended 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 381, sec. 15. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 20.

KRS 381.905 Interpretation of KRS 381.805 to 381.910.

The provisions of KRS 381.805 to 381.910 shall be in addition to and supplemental to all other provisions of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, provided that wherever the application of the provisions of KRS 381.805 to 381.910 conflict with the application of such other provisions, KRS 381.805 to 381.910 shall prevail.

History: Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 21.

KRS 381.910 Planning and zoning.

Whenever they deem it proper, the planning and zoning commission of any county or municipality may adopt supplemental rules and regulations governing a horizontal property regime established under KRS 381.805 to 381.910 in order to implement this program.

History: Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 205, sec. 22.

Source. Reproduced from the official text of the Kentucky Revised Statutes, the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805 to 381.910), as published by the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission and including enactments through the 2026 Regular Session. General information, not legal advice; the statutes are amended every session, so confirm the current text against the official source.

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