Georgia HOA Governing Statute

1. Overview — How HOAs are governed in Georgia

Georgia is one of the few states whose planned-community statute is opt-in while its condominium statute is mandatory. That produces a split regulatory landscape — one that demands per-community statutory verification before any compliance decision.

The Georgia Property Owners' Association Act (POAA), codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-220 through § 44-3-235, governs planned-community associations only after a community affirmatively records a declaration electing to be governed by the Act under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222.¹ The Georgia Condominium Act, codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 through § 44-3-117, applies mandatorily to every condominium created in Georgia on or after October 1, 1975.² Condominium projects created earlier remain under the predecessor Apartment Ownership Act of 1963 unless they have amended their instruments to submit to the current Condominium Act.³

The practical effect is a divided framework. Opted-in planned communities operate under a detailed statutory regime that supplies statutory liens, foreclosure procedures, perpetual covenant duration, and supermajority amendment authority. Non-opted-in planned communities operate primarily under their recorded covenants, the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, and common-law contract and property doctrine — a posture much like CC&R-primary states such as Alabama and Arkansas. Condominiums, by contrast, sit under a mandatory statutory framework whether the declarant intended that result or not.

Georgia is not a Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) state. The statutory architecture is bespoke, and importing UCIOA features — owner budget ratification, formal reserve studies, standardized resale certificates — produces incorrect compliance advice. The framework that applies to any specific community in Georgia is a factual question answered by the recorded declaration, not an assumption.

2. The statutory framework

The Georgia Property Owners' Association Act, codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-220 et seq., was enacted in 1994 (Ga. L. 1994, p. 1879, § 1) and modeled on the Condominium Act.⁴ Unlike most state HOA statutes, the POAA does not apply automatically. Section 44-3-222 provides that a planned community comes into existence under the Act only upon recordation of a declaration (or amendment of an existing declaration) that, in the words of the section, must “state an affirmative election to be so governed.”⁵ The election must be properly executed and recorded in the county where the property sits.

Once a community has opted in, the Act supplies a detailed statutory regime across 17 sections. Article 6 covers creation and submission (§§ 44-3-220 through 44-3-222), association governance and powers (§§ 44-3-223 through 44-3-231), assessments and liens (§ 44-3-232), and statutory construction and applicability (§§ 44-3-233 through 44-3-235).⁶ Key defined terms appear in § 44-3-221 and include “common area,” “common expenses,” “declarant,” “lot,” and “property owners' association instrument.”⁷

The opted-in framework carries several notable features: perpetual covenant duration that overrides the 20-year sunset rule of O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60(d) for pre-1993 covenants; a statutory lien for unpaid assessments that arises the moment the assessment becomes due, with no separate filing (§ 44-3-232(a)); judicial foreclosure authority once the lien reaches $2,000 (§ 44-3-232(c)); statutory caps — the greater of $10 or 10% on late charges and 10% per annum on interest (§ 44-3-232(b)); supermajority amendment authority requiring at least two-thirds of the association's votes (§ 44-3-226); and authority to enforce covenants through injunctive or other relief (§ 44-3-231(a), as amended in 2024).⁸

So the first compliance question for any Georgia planned community is whether it has opted in. You verify that by pulling the recorded declaration and any amendments from the county Superior Court Clerk's land records and looking for express language electing POAA governance under § 44-3-222. Industry counsel report that most Georgia developers do not submit their original covenants to the POAA — often because the developer prefers the looser amendment posture of a common-law association, and because the POAA bars waiver of assessments on developer-owned lots.⁹ Treating the POAA as universally applicable is a recurring error in multi-state compliance memos and a frequent source of unenforceable lien filings.

The Court of Appeals confirmed in Vaughn v. Windfield Homeowners Association, Inc. (2025) that an older common-law association may amend its 1987 declaration to convert to a mandatory POAA association, and that the POAA's substantial-compliance and liberal-construction rule under O.C.G.A. § 44-3-233 will cure earlier defects in the declaration.¹⁰

The Georgia Condominium Act, codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 through § 44-3-117 (Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, § 1), is the mandatory framework for every condominium created in Georgia on or after October 1, 1975.¹¹ Section 44-3-113 provides that “no condominium shall be established under the ‘Apartment Ownership Act’ on or after October 1, 1975,” and that the predecessor Apartment Ownership Act of 1963 (Ga. L. 1963, p. 561) continues to govern pre-1975 condominiums unless those projects have amended their instruments to submit to the current Act.¹²

The Condominium Act is more prescriptive than the POAA. Its 49 sections cover creation and recordation (§§ 44-3-70 through 44-3-75), declaration contents and the allocation of units and common elements (§§ 44-3-76 through 44-3-85), expansion, conversion, and termination (§§ 44-3-86 through 44-3-99), association governance and finances (§§ 44-3-100 through 44-3-109), restraints on alienation, resale disclosure, and escrow (§§ 44-3-110 through 44-3-112), and applicability (§§ 44-3-113 through 44-3-117).¹³ Key defined terms appear in § 44-3-71 and include “association,” “common elements,” “common expenses,” “condominium instruments,” “limited common elements,” and “unit.”

The differences from the POAA matter operationally. The Condominium Act requires the association to carry fire and extended-coverage insurance on the structure under § 44-3-107 and caps the property-insurance deductible at $5,000 per casualty under § 44-3-94; the POAA imposes no parallel insurance mandate.¹⁴ The Condominium Act imposes resale disclosure obligations on sellers under § 44-3-111, including a buyer rescission right, with no POAA counterpart.¹⁵ And it authorizes termination of the condominium and partition for sale on a four-fifths vote under § 44-3-98 — a feature with no POAA analog, and one that has drawn academic constitutional critique.¹⁶ Lien procedures under § 44-3-109 track POAA § 44-3-232 closely, including the $2,000 foreclosure threshold and the 30-day pre-foreclosure notice.

For planned communities that have not opted in to the POAA, the governing framework is the recorded Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions; the association's articles of incorporation and bylaws; the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code at O.C.G.A. § 14-3-101 et seq. (or, less often, the Georgia Business Corporation Code at Title 14, Chapter 2); and the common-law doctrines of contract, restrictive covenant, and real property.¹⁷ No HOA-specific statutory framework supplements these documents.

Order of precedence in the non-opted-in framework runs this way: the Declaration as a recorded real-property instrument — subject to the rule that restrictions on the use of land are strictly construed against the drafter, with any ambiguity resolved in favor of the free use of land — then the articles of incorporation, then the bylaws, then board-adopted rules and regulations. The Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code supplies default rules for entity governance, member rights, and director duties where the documents are silent.¹⁸ Within an opted-in POAA community, the POAA supersedes any inconsistent provision of the declaration it expressly governs; within a condominium, the Condominium Act does the same.

Two practical consequences set non-opted-in communities apart. First, O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60(d)(4) provides that a covenant amendment imposing a greater restriction on the use or development of land is not enforceable against any owner who did not consent in writing.¹⁹ The Court of Appeals applied that rule in Marino v. Clary Lakes Homeowners Ass'n, holding that a use restriction adopted with only majority approval — in a community that was simultaneously opting in to the POAA — was enforceable only against consenting owners, because § 44-5-60(d)(4) applied until the POAA submission took effect.²⁰ Second, pre-1993 covenants with no renewal provision expire 20 years after recordation under the Georgia Supreme Court's reading of § 44-5-60, and only POAA submission reliably eliminates that risk.²¹ The result is a CC&R-primary posture that resembles Alabama and Arkansas, and HOA Weekly classifies non-opted-in Georgia communities accordingly for cross-state compliance purposes.

3. Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

The duties an association owes its owners depend on which of the three frameworks applies. Here is how governance, financial, disclosure, and dispute-resolution obligations differ across them.

Governance obligations

Under the POAA, O.C.G.A. § 44-3-230 requires an annual meeting where the association must give owners comprehensive reports on its affairs, finances, and budget projections. As amended by HB 220 in 2024, the statute also lets 5% to 25% of the voting power call a meeting if the association fails to hold one by the end of the fiscal year.²² Section 44-3-231(d) requires the association to keep detailed minutes of member and board meetings, itemized records of every receipt and expenditure, and any other books the law requires. Section 44-3-227 makes incorporation a prerequisite to submission and sets out board structure. These are statutory minimums — the declaration may add to them, but it cannot waive them.

The Condominium Act sets parallel governance rules: § 44-3-100 (incorporation), § 44-3-101 (declarant control and turnover), § 44-3-102 (meetings and notice), § 44-3-103 (quorums), and § 44-3-104 (director and officer eligibility). It requires written notice of meetings and imposes a transition of declarant control to owners that runs more prescriptively than the POAA's.

In non-opted-in communities, the only statutory governance baseline is the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code. It gives members a right to inspect corporate records on reasonable notice under § 14-3-1602 and imposes director standards of conduct — including the duties of care and loyalty — under § 14-3-830 et seq.²³ Everything else is contractual, set by the declaration and bylaws, and it varies.

Financial obligations

Under the POAA, § 44-3-225 makes every lot owner personally liable for assessments and bars anyone from escaping that liability by abandonment, non-use, or waiver. Section 44-3-232 creates the statutory lien for unpaid assessments, caps statutory late charges and interest, allows recovery of collection costs and reasonable attorney fees actually incurred, and authorizes judicial foreclosure once the lien reaches $2,000, with 30 days' prior notice by certified mail. The Act does not require reserve studies or a minimum reserve contribution; budget content is largely left to the declaration and bylaws.

Under the Condominium Act, § 44-3-80 governs how common expenses are allocated and § 44-3-109 supplies the parallel lien and foreclosure regime — the same $2,000 threshold and 30-day notice. Section 44-3-107 also requires fire and extended-coverage insurance and certain liability coverage, an obligation the POAA does not impose.²⁴

In non-opted-in communities, the entire assessment and lien regime is contractual. In Northside Bank v. Mountainbrook of Bartow County (2018), the Court of Appeals held that a common-law association whose declaration sets no interest rate on delinquent assessments may charge only the 7% statutory rate, and that late-fee covenants delegating the amount to the board are unenforceable as penalties.²⁵ That decision is one of the strongest practical arguments for submitting to the POAA.

Disclosure obligations

The Condominium Act imposes the most prescriptive disclosure regime. Section 44-3-111 requires sellers of residential condominium units to give the buyer a defined disclosure package — the declaration, bylaws, association budget, and most recent financial statement — and gives the buyer a seven-day right to rescind after delivery. Section 44-3-110 requires the association to provide a statement of unpaid assessments on request; if it fails to respond, the lien is extinguished as to the party who asked. Section 44-3-112 governs escrow of pre-closing deposits.

Under the POAA, § 44-3-232(d) carries the parallel statement-of-amounts-due obligation: a buyer, owner, or lender who asks is entitled to a statement within five business days, and a failure to furnish it extinguishes the lien as to that transaction.²⁶ The POAA does not require a Condominium Act-style resale disclosure package.

In non-opted-in communities, no statutory resale disclosure obligation applies. Disclosure depends entirely on the declaration, bylaws, and the contract of sale.

Dispute resolution obligations

HB 220 (Act 388 of 2024) reshaped enforcement across all three frameworks. As amended, POAA § 44-3-223 and Condominium Act § 44-3-76 let an association pursue injunctive relief after 10 days' written notice, without first attempting self-help or any other remedy — overriding the prior rule of Deerlake Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Brown.²⁷ POAA § 44-3-231(a) and Condominium Act § 44-3-106(a) now expressly authorize injunctive relief “without regard to whether other remedies may exist or be adequate,” subject to that notice. HB 220 also added owner protections: fines may not impair an owner's voting rights, and an association may suspend voting only for unpaid regular or special assessments, not for unpaid fines.²⁸

For non-opted-in communities, HB 220 amended O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60 to let an association in any planned subdivision of at least 15 lots pursue injunctive relief without first using self-help. The 10-day statutory notice does not apply there; the underlying covenants control the notice process. No statute requires ADR under any of the three frameworks — that, too, is set by the declaration.

4. Georgia's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Two measures define Georgia's current direction on community-association law — one already in force, one signed this spring and now phasing in.

Recent court rulings

Georgia's appellate courts have spent recent terms clarifying how covenants get amended, enforced, and strictly construed against the drafter.

Active legislative debates

With the headline bill now signed, attention turns to implementation — and to one structural question lawmakers left unresolved.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Georgia occupies a category of one. No other state pairs a fully optional planned-community statute with a mandatory condominium statute, and no other state produces the resulting split between statutorily governed POAA communities and contract-and-common-law-governed subdivisions that never opted in. The opt-in POAA effectively creates two classes of planned community within the same state, and because Georgia never adopted UCIOA, out-of-state checklists are unreliable here. For a multi-state operator, the takeaway is direct: every Georgia planned community in your portfolio needs a per-community declaration review to confirm POAA opt-in status before you take any compliance position. Treat Georgia as a uniform jurisdiction and you will produce unenforceable lien filings, defective amendments, and incorrect resale disclosures.

6. Closing note

HOA Weekly's Georgia Governing Statute coverage updates quarterly to reflect new legislation, appellate rulings, and Secretary of State implementation guidance under SB 406. Federal frameworks also apply across all three Georgia frameworks — among them the Fair Housing Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the Condominium and Cooperative Conversion Protection and Abuse Relief Act of 1980.

Footnotes

1. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 (Creation of property owners' development) ↩
2. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq. (Georgia Condominium Act) ↩
3. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-113 (Applicability of article; effect on existing condominiums) ↩
4. Ga. L. 1994, p. 1879, § 1 (codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-220 et seq.) ↩
5. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 (affirmative election to be governed), Georgia Property Owners' Association Act (full text) ↩
6. O.C.G.A. §§ 44-3-220 to 44-3-235 (Article 6, Property Owners' Associations) ↩
7. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-221 (Definitions) ↩
8. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-231 (Powers and duties of association), as amended by HB 220 (Act 388, 2024) ↩
9. Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, The Reasons Why a Community Should Adopt the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act ↩
10. Vaughn v. Windfield Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. A24A1751 (Ga. Ct. App. 2025) ↩
11. Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, § 1 (codified at O.C.G.A. § 44-3-70 et seq.) ↩
12. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-113; Homeowners Protection Bureau, Georgia HOA Laws ↩
13. O.C.G.A. §§ 44-3-70 to 44-3-117 (Article 3, Condominiums) ↩
14. O.C.G.A. §§ 44-3-107, 44-3-94; Villa Sonoma Perimeter Summit Condo. Ass'n v. Mainor, 356 Ga. App. 794, 849 S.E.2d 226 (2020) ↩
15. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-111 (Sales of residential condominium units; buyer's right to void contract) ↩
16. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-98 (Termination of condominium); Tyler Gaines, The Georgia Condominium Act's Authorization of Private Takings, 55 Ga. L. Rev. 395 (2021) ↩
17. O.C.G.A. § 14-3-101 et seq. (Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code) ↩
18. O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60(d) (Covenants running with the land; renewal of certain covenants) ↩
19. O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60(d)(4) ↩
20. Marino v. Clary Lakes Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 331 Ga. App. 204, 770 S.E.2d 289 (2015); see also 322 Ga. App. 839, 747 S.E.2d 31 (2013) ↩
21. Bickford v. Yancey Dev. Co., 276 Ga. 814, 585 S.E.2d 78 (2003); Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, Duration of Covenants: A Survey of Georgia Law ↩
22. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-230 (Frequency of meetings; notice), as amended by HB 220 (Act 388, 2024) ↩
23. O.C.G.A. § 14-3-1602 (Inspection of records by members); § 14-3-830 et seq. (Standards of conduct for directors) ↩
24. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-107 (Insurance coverage) ↩
25. Northside Bank v. Mountainbrook of Bartow County Homeowners Ass'n, 344 Ga. App. 240, 809 S.E.2d 489 (2018) ↩
26. O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(d) ↩
27. Deerlake Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Brown, 361 Ga. App. 860, 864 S.E.2d 202 (2021) ↩
28. HB 220 (Act 388 of 2024), full text, Georgia General Assembly ↩
29. NowackHoward, Georgia HB 220 (Act 388) Signed into Law ↩
30. SB 406 final passage and signature; Capitol Beat, Georgia Legislature Backed Bill Giving Residents New Rights Against Homeowner Associations ↩
31. Community Associations Institute, 2026 Georgia End of Session Report (SB 406 delinquency threshold and hearing-officer process) ↩
32. Community Associations Institute, Protect Georgia Communities (call to action on SB 406) ↩
33. Vaughn v. Windfield Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. A24A1751 (Ga. Ct. App. 2025) ↩
34. Simms v. Stewart, 369 Ga. App. 373, 893 S.E.2d 780 (2023) (No. A23A0633) ↩
35. Moye v. NorthHaven Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 370 Ga. App. 544, 897 S.E.2d 604 (2024) (No. A23A1709), cert. denied, No. S24C0719 (Ga. 2024) ↩
36. SB 361 (2025), Georgia General Assembly; Atlanta News First, Georgia Senate Committee Holds First Hearing on HOA Oversight Legislation (Sept. 16, 2025) ↩