Georgia HOA Foreclosure

1. Overview: How HOA foreclosure works in Georgia

Georgia handles community-association foreclosure through two separate statutes, and which one applies depends entirely on the community. The Georgia Condominium Act governs every condominium in the state.¹ A second law, the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act, governs planned communities — but only the ones whose declaration expressly chooses to opt in.² The Condominium Act creates an automatic assessment lien at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109,³ and the POA Act creates a parallel lien at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232.⁴ When a planned community's declaration makes an affirmative election under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222, the POA Act takes over. When it doesn't, that community operates under its recorded covenants, the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, and common law — and it holds no statutory lien at all.⁵ Associations foreclose their assessment liens judicially, through superior court, under §§ 44-3-109 and 44-3-232. The non-judicial power-of-sale machinery at O.C.G.A. § 44-14-160 et seq. governs security deeds and any association sale conducted under an express power of sale written into the declaration.⁶ If a lender or association wants to pursue a deficiency after a non-judicial sale, it must get court confirmation under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-161 — reported within 30 days and approved only when the court finds the property brought its true market value.⁷ Here is the point lenders and managers should hold onto: Georgia is not a UCIOA state, and it grants no super-priority that primes a first mortgage. The association lien sits junior to the first recorded security interest.³ Federal rules — the FDCPA, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy automatic stay — sit on top of all of this. The result is a contract-heavy, court-supervised system in which lien rights and procedure turn on which statute, if any, the community elected.

2. The statutory framework

2A. Lien creation and priority

For condominiums, O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109(a) makes every lawfully assessed sum two things at once: the personal obligation of the unit owner and a lien on the unit, effective from the moment the money becomes due and payable. No separate claim of lien is required, because recording the declaration already serves as record notice.³ The POA Act mirrors this for opted-in planned communities at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(a).⁴ Planned communities that never opted in have no statutory lien; their claims are contractual under recorded covenants, and the association has to record a separate lien instrument in the county land records to perfect a claim.⁸ Both statutes secure unpaid assessments and, to the extent the instrument provides, the additional charges that O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(b) spells out verbatim: "(1) A late or delinquency charge not in excess of the greater of $10.00 or 10 percent of the amount of each assessment or installment thereof not paid when due; (2) At a rate not in excess of 10 percent per annum, interest on each assessment or installment thereof ... ; (3) The costs of collection, including court costs, the expenses required for the protection and preservation of the lot, and reasonable attorney's fees actually incurred; and (4) The fair rental value of the lot from the time of the institution of an action until the sale," along with fines.⁴ Priority is where lenders and managers should focus. Each lien is expressly subordinate to ad valorem tax liens, the lien of any first-priority mortgage, the lien of any mortgage recorded before the declaration, and certain secondary purchase-money mortgages.⁴ Georgia confers no super-priority. The six-month priority window that lawyers cite from UCIOA jurisdictions simply does not exist here, and the handful of secondary sources suggesting otherwise are wrong. Under the current statute, the lien lapses four years after the assessment first became due, and that lapse functions as the enforcement limitation; SB 406 extends it to six years for POA Act communities effective January 1, 2027.⁹ One more threshold matters: a condominium or POA Act association must clear a statutory $2,000 minimum lien before it can bring a foreclosure action.³

2B. Foreclosure procedure: judicial lien foreclosure and non-judicial power of sale

Georgia uses two distinct mechanisms, and keeping them separate is essential. The association assessment lien is foreclosed judicially. Sections 44-3-109(c) and 44-3-232(c) provide that, no less than 30 days after the association sends notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, it may foreclose the lien "by an action, judgment, and foreclosure in the same manner as other liens for the improvement of real property," subject to superior liens.³ Since 2004, the statutes have let an association pursue this judicial foreclosure without first paying off the senior mortgage — though that mortgage survives the sale.⁴ The separate non-judicial power-of-sale framework at O.C.G.A. § 44-14-160 et seq., which rests on the power of sale in a security deed under O.C.G.A. § 23-2-114, governs mortgage foreclosures and any association sale conducted under an express power of sale granted in the declaration.¹⁰ That non-judicial process imposes two independent notice duties, and you cannot conflate them. First, O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162.2 requires written notice of the initiation of proceedings to the debtor by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, no later than 30 days before the sale; the notice must name the party with authority to modify the debt and give its address and telephone number.¹¹ Second, O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162 requires the foreclosing party to advertise the sale once a week for four weeks in the county legal organ.¹² Sales take place on the courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of the month, in the manner of sheriff's sales.¹² A deficiency after a non-judicial sale requires confirmation under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-161. The foreclosing party must report the sale to the superior court within 30 days, and the court confirms only if it is satisfied the property brought its true market value — after a hearing on the legality of the notice, the advertisement, and the regularity of the sale.⁷ The Georgia Supreme Court drove this home in PNC Bank National Ass'n v. Smith, 298 Ga. 818 (2016), holding that compliance with § 44-14-161 "is a condition precedent to the lender's ability to pursue a guarantor for a deficiency after foreclosure has been conducted, but a guarantor retains the contractual ability to waive the condition precedent requirement" — a waiver the Court affirmed in York v. RES-GA LJY, LLC, 300 Ga. 869 (2017).¹³ Judicial foreclosure of a mortgage exists, but lenders rarely use it.

2C. Federal overlays and interactions

Three federal regimes constrain how associations collect. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act governs pre-foreclosure dunning by third-party collectors and by association attorneys acting as debt collectors; demand letters and collection calls stay fully subject to the FDCPA. In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019), a unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Breyer, held that "a business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a 'debt collector' under the FDCPA, except for the limited purpose of §1692f(6)." The decision does not exempt pre-sale collection communications, which remain covered.¹⁴ The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act requires a court order before anyone may non-judicially foreclose on property owned by a protected servicemember whose obligation predates active duty. Under 50 U.S.C. § 3953(c), a "sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property ... shall not be valid if made during, or within one year after, the period of the servicemember's military service except ... upon a court order granted before such sale," or pursuant to a valid waiver agreement.¹⁵ The bankruptcy automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 stops foreclosure and collection the moment an owner files, barring lien enforcement for pre-petition debts until the stay lifts.¹⁶ And because the association lien is junior, a senior mortgage foreclosure can wipe out the association's interest, while an association foreclosure leaves the first mortgage in place against the property.⁴

3. The procedural sequence

3A. Lien establishment and priority

The lien attaches automatically the moment assessments become due — for condominiums under § 44-3-109(a) (the Condominium Act, covering all condominiums) and for opted-in planned communities under § 44-3-232(a) (the POA Act).³ Recording the declaration counts as record notice, so these statutory liens need no separate claim of lien; perfection is automatic.⁴ Planned communities that never opted in — the CC&Rs-only communities — get no automatic lien and must record a lien instrument to give notice and protect priority.⁸ The lien secures assessments plus authorized late charges, interest, collection costs, attorney fees, fines, and fair rental value.³ For all three categories, the lien stays junior to the first mortgage and tax liens, and in a non-judicial mortgage foreclosure the senior security deed is unaffected by the association's claim.⁴

3B. Notice requirements and cure period

Before foreclosing the assessment lien, condominiums and opted-in planned communities must send the statutory pre-foreclosure notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, at least 30 days before action. The notice goes to the unit or lot address and any other designated address, and it must state the amount due (§§ 44-3-109(c), 44-3-232(c)).³ Covenant-violation enforcement carries its own 10-day written-notice requirement under HB 220, for both condominiums and POA Act communities (§§ 44-3-76, 44-3-223).¹⁷ When a sale proceeds non-judicially under an express power of sale, both the § 44-14-162.2 registered or certified mail notice at least 30 days before sale and the § 44-14-162 publication once a week for four weeks in the county legal organ apply.¹¹ FDCPA validation-notice duties under 15 U.S.C. § 1692g overlay the state notice whenever a third-party collector or association attorney is involved, requiring debt validation if a consumer disputes the debt in time.¹⁴ Communities that never opted in follow the notice steps written into their covenants.⁸

3C. Foreclosure sale procedure

For the statutory assessment lien — condominiums and opted-in planned communities — the association gets a judgment and an order of judicial foreclosure in superior court, and then the sheriff conducts the sale on the courthouse steps, customarily on the first Tuesday of the month, with the proceeds applied to the association's lien.⁴ Both statutes let the association bid at the sale and then acquire, hold, lease, encumber, and convey the unit or lot.³ Associations frequently bid at or below the judgment so they can keep pursuing the owner for the balance. The $2,000 minimum lien applies before any foreclosure action.³ Where a non-judicial power of sale applies — security deeds, and any declaration that grants the power — the sale runs under § 44-14-162's manner-and-place rules, SCRA compliance is required for protected servicemembers, and a deficiency requires the § 44-14-161 confirmation petition, filed within 30 days, with a true-market-value hearing.⁷ These rules apply to condominiums, opted-in, and non-opted-in communities alike whenever a power of sale is exercised.

3D. Post-sale rights

A deficiency after a non-judicial sale is barred unless the foreclosing party obtained court confirmation under § 44-14-161 within 30 days — and that applies to all three community types when a power of sale is used.⁷ Georgia provides no statutory right of redemption after a non-judicial sale; redemption exists only after a tax sale, unlike Alabama's one-year mortgage redemption.⁷ Surplus funds from any sale get distributed by priority, with junior lienholders and then the former owner taking whatever remains after the senior claims are paid.⁴ The foreclosure purchaser — including an association that takes title — must make a demand for possession and then bring a dispossessory proceeding to evict the former owner. Possession is not automatic.⁸

4. Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Georgia's recent legislative activity centers on two measures: a sweeping new owners' rights law signed in 2026, and a 2024 enforcement amendment already in effect.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Two recent Court of Appeals decisions sharpen how Georgia associations recover fees and how far a covenant can shield a board from suit.

C. Active legislative debates

The dominant debate right now is how to implement SB 406. Associations and their counsel are contesting the scope of owners' records-inspection rights and the duplicate Secretary of State registration ahead of the January 1, 2027 effective date.⁹ No qualifying bill in the past 24 months added a months-delinquent threshold for the Condominium Act, and no Georgia appellate decision in the past 36 months has squarely revisited assessment-lien priority under §§ 44-3-109 or 44-3-232, as of June 15, 2026.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Georgia sits among the Southern states that lead with recorded covenants and partial statutes rather than the uniform UCIOA model. Its condominium statute is mandatory, but its planned-community statute is opt-in — so two communities on the same street can carry very different lien and enforcement rights, depending entirely on whether the declaration elected the POA Act. The distinctive features stand out: non-judicial power of sale dominates for mortgages, judicial foreclosure governs association assessment liens, no super-priority ever primes the first mortgage, and a confirmation-of-sale requirement gates every deficiency claim. For a multi-state operator moving into Georgia, the practical lesson is simple — you cannot run the portfolio on a single national template. Lien perfection, notice periods, and foreclosure routing have to be set community by community, based on the recorded declaration and the statute it elected.

HOA Weekly updates its Georgia foreclosure coverage quarterly to track statutory amendments, new appellate decisions, and Secretary of State rulemaking under SB 406. Federal frameworks — the FDCPA, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy automatic stay — also apply alongside the state statutes described here.

Footnotes

1. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq., Georgia Condominium Act, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
2. O.C.G.A. §§ 44-3-220, 44-3-222, Georgia Property Owners' Association Act and affirmative election, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
3. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-109, condominium assessment lien, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
4. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232, POA Act assessment lien, additional charges, and foreclosure, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
5. O.C.G.A. § 14-3-101 et seq., Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
6. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-160 et seq., foreclosure under power of sale, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
7. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-161, confirmation of sale and deficiency judgments, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
8. O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60, covenants running with the land for common-law associations, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
9. Georgia SB 406 (2025-2026), Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act, Georgia General Assembly ↩
10. O.C.G.A. § 23-2-114, power of sale in security deeds, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
11. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162.2, notice to debtor at least 30 days before sale, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
12. O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162, manner of advertisement and conduct of sale, official Georgia Code (LexisNexis) ↩
13. PNC Bank National Ass'n v. Smith, 298 Ga. 818 (2016); York v. RES-GA LJY, LLC, 300 Ga. 869 (2017), Supreme Court of Georgia ↩
14. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019), U.S. Supreme Court slip opinion ↩
15. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3953, U.S. Department of Justice, Servicemembers and Veterans Initiative ↩
16. 11 U.S.C. § 362, bankruptcy automatic stay, Legal Information Institute ↩
17. Georgia HB 220 (2023-2024), as passed, Georgia General Assembly ↩
18. Ellington Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Ibrahim, A25A0707 (Ga. Ct. App. May 19, 2025) ↩
19. Kinnaird v. Morningview Homeowners Association, Inc., A25A1083 (Ga. Ct. App. Sept. 10, 2025) ↩