1. Overview — How HOAs are governed in Alabama

Alabama governs its community associations with three separate statutes, not one. The state has a current condominium law, an older condominium law that still controls the buildings it was written for, and — despite a common misconception — a dedicated statute for planned-community homeowners' associations. That HOA statute is real, though it runs far thinner than the comprehensive codes you find in California, Florida, or Texas.

The main condominium law is the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991, Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 et seq. The Legislature passed it as Act 90-551, and it governs every condominium created on or after January 1, 1991.¹ Condominiums built before that date stay under the older Alabama Condominium Ownership Act, Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq., which lawmakers first enacted in 1964 and overhauled in 1973. A short list of "reach-back" sections in § 35-8A-102 reaches those older buildings anyway.²

Planned-community HOAs created on or after January 1, 2016 answer to the Alabama Homeowners' Association Act, Ala. Code § 35-20-1 et seq.³ Older associations can opt in if a majority of members vote to. Underneath all of this sits Title 10A, the Alabama Business and Nonprofit Entity Code, which sets the board duties, member meetings, and dissolution rules for every association, condominium or not. Title 10A changed in 2026. Act 2026-495, effective August 1, 2026, amended §§ 10A-3A-1.60, -2.02, -2.07, -4.02, -4.03, -4.04, -8.26 and -8.60 and § 10A-17-1.02, added §§ 10A-3A-6.14, -8.61 and -8.62 and Division G (§ 10A-3A-8.70), and repealed § 10A-3A-4.20; as amended, § 10A-3A-2.07 still bars bylaws that force internal corporate claims out of Alabama courts or into arbitration, but permits forum selection for claims that are not internal corporate claims. Under Section 7 of the act, a nonprofit corporation governed by Chapter 3A and in existence before August 1, 2026 may elect, on or before December 31, 2026, to amend its certificate of incorporation to be governed by Chapter 3A as in effect immediately before that date.⁴ Separately, Act 2026-325 (SB 277), effective October 1, 2026, adds Article 2 (§§ 10A-17-2.01 to -2.28) to Chapter 17 of Title 10A, the default law for an association that never incorporated, and redesignates the existing §§ 10A-17-1.01 to -1.18 as Article 1.⁵

Alabama has not adopted UCIOA, the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Chapter 8A is the older 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, and it covers condominiums only. Chapter 20 is a homegrown Alabama statute that runs alongside it without incorporating UCIOA. That puts Alabama in the middle: it is neither a comprehensive-statute state like California, Florida, or Texas, nor a bare CC&R state like Mississippi or Arkansas. The recorded declaration still does most of the day-to-day work, but a thin statutory floor now exists for condominiums and for planned communities formed after 2015. The sections below walk through each statute, the obligations it creates, and what the Legislature and the courts have done lately.

Footnotes

1. Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991, Ala. Code §§ 35-8A-101 to -417 (1975) (enacted by Act No. 90-551, 1990 Ala. Acts 858). ↩
2. Ala. Code § 35-8A-102 (1975) (applicability). ↩
3. Homeowners' Associations, Ala. Sec'y of State (Act No. 2015-292, eff. Jan. 1, 2016). ↩
4. Ala. Act 2026-495 (HB 248, 2026 Regular Session), enrolled text, Alabama Legislature (effective Aug. 1, 2026; amends Title 10A, Chapter 3A and § 10A-17-1.02; Section 7 opt-out election by Dec. 31, 2026) ↩
5. Ala. Act 2026-325 (SB 277, 2026 Regular Session), enrolled text, Alabama Legislature (effective Oct. 1, 2026; adds Article 2 to Title 10A, Chapter 17 and redesignates §§ 10A-17-1.01 to -1.18 as Article 1) ↩
6. Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 (1975) (short title). ↩
7. Ala. Code § 35-8A-302 (1975) (powers of unit owners' association) (amended by Act No. 2018-403). ↩
8. Ala. Code §§ 35-8A-101 to -417 (1975) (arts. 1–4). ↩
9. Ala. Code § 35-8A-103 (1975) (definitions). ↩
10. Ala. Code §§ 35-8-1 to -22 (1975) (enacted by Acts 1964, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 206; amended by Acts 1973, No. 1059). ↩
11. Homeowners' Associations, Ala. Sec'y of State (enacted June 2, 2015, eff. Jan. 1, 2016). ↩
12. Ala. Code § 35-20-3 (1975) (applicability). ↩
13. Ala. Code § 35-20-5 (1975) (organization as nonprofit corporation). ↩
14. Ala. Sec'y of State, Domestic HOA Certificate of Formation and Supplement (Jan. 2024). ↩
15. Ala. Code § 35-20-8 (1975) (priority of declaration). ↩
16. 31 C.F.R. § 1010.380, Reports of beneficial ownership information (current text on eCFR) (ecfr.gov) (domestic-entity exemption for entities created by filing with a U.S. secretary of state or similar office). ↩
17. Ala. Code §§ 35-20-9 to -13 (1975). ↩
18. Ala. Code § 35-8A-308 (1975) (meetings). ↩
19. Ala. Code § 35-8A-303 (1975) (board members and officers). ↩
20. Ala. Code § 35-8A-318 (1975) (association records) (amended by Act No. 2018-403). ↩
21. Ala. Code § 35-8A-316 (1975) (lien for assessments). ↩
22. Ala. Code § 35-8A-408 (1975) (purchaser's right to cancel) (amended by Act No. 2018-403). ↩
23. Ala. Code § 35-20-13 (1975) (records). ↩
24. Ala. Code § 12-3-10 (1975) (appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Civil Appeals over civil cases not exceeding $50,000). ↩
25. S.B. 344, 2024 Reg. Sess. (Ala. 2024) (introduced text). ↩
26. Bill Search, Ala. Legis. Info. Sys. Online (ALISON) (2025 & 2026 Reg. Sess.). ↩
27. Ex parte Caribe Resort Condo. Ass'n Bd. of Dirs., Nos. SC-2023-0624 & SC-2024-0762 (Ala. Dec. 13, 2024) (plurality opinion). ↩
28. Phoenix E. Ass'n v. Perdido Dunes Tower Condo. Ass'n, No. SC-2023-0481 (Ala. Mar. 29, 2024) (substituted opinion on reh'g ex mero motu). ↩
29. Bull v. Salsman, 435 So. 2d 27, 29 (Ala. 1983). ↩
30. Cmty. Ass'ns Inst., Advocacy (listing 1982-version UCIOA adopters Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada & West Virginia and 2008-version adopters Connecticut, Delaware, Vermont & Washington). ↩