Georgia HOA Assessment Limits

Georgia imposes no statutory percentage cap on assessment increases for either homeowners associations or condominiums. The operative limit on a regular or special assessment comes from the recorded declaration, and which statutory framework supplies the collection and lien mechanics depends on community type — and, for HOAs, on whether the association has opted in to the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act.

Overview: How assessment authority and limits work in Georgia

Georgia runs on contract law when it comes to HOA assessments. No Georgia statute caps how much a board can raise regular assessments, and no statute sets a ceiling on the size of a special assessment. The controlling limit, if one exists at all, lives in the recorded declaration. The Georgia Property Owners' Association Act (POAA), O.C.G.A. § 44-3-220 through § 44-3-235, governs a planned-community HOA only when the association has expressly elected to be governed by it in a recorded declaration under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222.¹ An HOA that has not opted in operates under its covenants, the common law, and the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code (Title 14, Chapter 3). The Georgia Condominium Act, O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 through § 44-3-117, applies automatically to every condominium and is more prescriptive on assessment allocation, lien treatment, and meeting notice.² Special assessments draw their authority and any dollar or percentage ceiling from the declaration as well, with the POAA or the Condominium Act supplying lien treatment once the charge is levied. On the national spectrum of assessment-limit approaches, Georgia belongs to the declaration-driven group rather than the statutory-cap states like California or the owner-veto ratification states in the UCIOA family. The sections below set out the authority to assess, the limits on increases, the procedures in practice, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

The assessment framework

Authority to levy and allocate assessments

For HOAs, the authority to levy assessments starts with the declaration. An HOA that has recorded an election under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 to be governed by the POAA gets the Act's assessment framework at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-225 — covering assessment of common expenses, joint and several liability of a grantee, and exemptions — and an automatic statutory lien at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232.³ An association that has not opted in gets none of those statutory tools; its authority to assess rests on the covenants and on the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, which governs corporate formalities and not assessment amounts. For condominiums, assessment authority arrives automatically under the Condominium Act. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80 directs that common expenses be allocated among units according to the formula in the declaration — by percentage, fraction, or other stated method — and provides that assessments are made annually or more often as the condominium instruments provide.⁴ The condominium lien arises under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109.⁵ The opt-in election matters because it determines which body of rules applies: an HOA can hold the same powers a condominium holds by statute, but only by recording that election. In all cases, the declaration controls the allocation formula that converts a budget into each owner's individual share.

Limits on regular assessment increases

Neither the POAA nor the Condominium Act caps a regular assessment increase by a fixed percentage. The limit, where one exists, is in the declaration. A typical Georgia declaration authorizes the board to adopt the annual budget and set assessments at the level the budget requires, sometimes subject to a member-approval threshold or a stated ceiling above which owner ratification is needed. There is one statute-based qualifier that managers should not overlook: for any condominium instrument recorded on or after July 1, 2015, O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80(g) provides that the board may not impose a monthly maintenance fee increase exceeding the annual rate of inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers without that increase being subject to disapproval by unit owners holding a majority of the association vote, and may not impose a special assessment per unit exceeding one-sixth of the annual common expense assessment without the approval of a majority of unit owners.⁶ This is an owner-approval and owner-disapproval trigger tied to a benchmark, not a flat percentage cap on the dollar amount of an increase, and it reaches only condominiums whose instruments postdate July 1, 2015. For HOAs, the POAA opt-in changes collection and lien mechanics, not the size of a permissible increase: it adds the automatic lien, statutory late-charge and interest ceilings, and a streamlined foreclosure path, but it caps nothing about the assessment itself. A board that raises assessments beyond what its declaration permits, or without the member approval the declaration requires, exposes the increase to challenge by owners.

Special assessments, emergency assessments, and the declaration

Special assessments get their authority and their limits from the declaration, with the POAA (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232) or the Condominium Act (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109) governing lien treatment once the charge is levied. Many Georgia declarations let the board levy a special assessment up to a stated amount and require a member vote — often a majority or two-thirds — above that amount or for capital projects. For condominiums whose instruments were recorded on or after July 1, 2015, the one-sixth-of-annual-assessment threshold in O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80(g) operates as a statutory default member-approval trigger when the declaration is silent. Emergency handling is also a creature of the declaration; the Georgia statutes define no emergency-assessment category and set no numeric ceiling for one. The practical result: a Georgia board cannot point to a statute for a percentage limit on a special assessment. The authority to levy one and the limit on its size come from the covenants, and a board that levies outside those covenants risks having the assessment voided.

Assessment limits and procedures in practice

Regular assessment increase procedure

The declaration controls budget adoption and the resulting assessment for all community types. The statutes prescribe no percentage step and no uniform adoption method, and O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80 confirms that condominium assessments are made in the manner the condominium instruments provide — for condominiums, POAA-opted-in HOAs, and non-POAA HOAs alike.⁴ Any member-approval step or notice period for a regular increase is declaration-defined, except for condominium instruments recorded on or after July 1, 2015, where O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80(g) allows owners holding a majority of the vote to disapprove a monthly maintenance fee increase that exceeds CPI — for condominiums only.⁶

Special assessment procedure

Board action to levy a special assessment, and any member-approval threshold, are declaration-defined with no statutory percentage rule for HOAs of either type — POAA-opted-in or non-POAA. For condominiums whose instruments were recorded on or after July 1, 2015, a special assessment exceeding one-sixth of the annual common expense assessment per unit requires majority owner approval under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80(g).⁶ Notice of the assessment follows the declaration in every case.

Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Georgia supplies no statutory percentage cap on regular or special assessment increases for any community type; where a numeric cap exists, it is declaration-defined — across condominiums, POAA-opted-in HOAs, and non-POAA HOAs. The POAA opt-in adds lien and collection mechanics — an automatic lien under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232, late charges capped at the greater of $10 or 10 percent of the overdue amount, and interest capped at 10 percent per year — but no cap on the assessment amount itself, with parallel charge ceilings for condominiums under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109(b).^{3, 5}

Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

Meeting and assessment notice is set by the declaration and, for opted-in and condominium associations, by the statutory meeting-notice provisions. On written request, the association must furnish a statement of the amount of past-due assessments, late charges, and interest against a lot or unit — under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(d) for HOAs and O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109(d) for condominiums — and failure to mail or furnish that statement within five business days extinguishes the lien as to the requesting purchaser or lender, for both POAA-opted-in HOAs and condominiums.⁷

Recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Georgia's 2025-2026 legislative session produced one significant piece of HOA law: the Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act, which Governor Brian Kemp signed in May 2026 and which takes effect in phases through 2027.

Recent appellate rulings

Georgia's courts continue to hold associations to the terms of their own declarations. The most recent reported appellate decision makes a basic but consequential point: documented records win cases, and nonpayment finds no shelter in disagreement.

Active legislative debates

With SB 406 now enacted, the near-term work is administrative rather than legislative. The Secretary of State must build the registration and complaint-review machinery ahead of the January 1, 2027 effective date. No pending Georgia bill would create a percentage cap on assessment increases or replace the declaration-driven model.

National positioning and related coverage

Georgia belongs to the declaration-driven group of states. Statutory-cap states, led by California, put a hard numeric ceiling in the code: Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) provides that "the board may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members."¹⁰ Ratification-mechanism states in the UCIOA family — including Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Vermont, and Washington — control increases through an owner veto on the board-adopted budget. Georgia, alongside Alabama and Arkansas, leaves the assessment limit almost entirely to the recorded declaration and supplies no percentage ceiling, though Georgia adds the opt-in POAA framework for HOAs that elect it and the automatic Condominium Act for condominiums. For a multi-state operator entering Georgia, compliance turns on reading each association's declaration rather than applying a single statewide percentage rule. The 2026 enactment of SB 406 signals that Georgia's current legislative momentum runs toward registration, disclosure, and collection guardrails — not toward a statutory cap on assessment increases.

1. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (creation of property owners' development; affirmative election to be governed by article) ↩
2. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq., Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Georgia Condominium Act) ↩
3. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-225 and § 44-3-232, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (assessment of expenses; assessments as lien; additional charges; foreclosure) ↩
4. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (allocation of and liability for common expenses; how assessments made) ↩
5. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (lien for assessments; personal obligation of unit owner; notice and foreclosure) ↩
6. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-80(g), Official Code of Georgia Annotated (limits on board-imposed special assessments and maintenance increases for condominium instruments recorded on or after July 1, 2015) ↩
7. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(d) and § 44-3-109(d), Official Code of Georgia Annotated (obligation to provide statement of amounts due; five-business-day deadline) ↩
8. SB 406, "Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act," 2025-2026 Regular Session, Georgia General Assembly (Act 715, signed May 12, 2026) ↩
9. A Crystal Enterprises, ACE, LLC v. The River West Condominium Association, Inc., No. A22A1604 (Ga. Ct. App. Mar. 14, 2023) ↩
10. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605 (assessment increases; requirements and limitations) ↩