2026-09-10 · Georgia · Compliance

What happened. While Georgia associations plan for a January 2027 registration deadline, the piece of the Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act that most directly changes day-to-day collections has already been law for more than two months.

Section 9(b) of the Act is explicit: “Section 7 of this Act shall become effective on July 1, 2026, and shall apply to all actions filed on or after such date.”¹

What Section 7 requires

It adds two new subsections. The first sets three preconditions:

“Except under circumstances necessitated by emergency conditions involving public safety or the preservation of property by the association, before an association may collect or be awarded attorney's fees, it shall provide:

(1) An initial written notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery to the lot owner from the association or its agent identifying any outstanding fines or delinquent fees;

(2) Lot owners with 30 days from the receipt of the notice… to pay such outstanding fines or delinquent fees; and

(3) An itemized list of reasonable attorney's fees claimed.”

The second adds a judicial gate:

“Judges conducting bench trials for an action to recover sums assessed against a lot owner shall review such claims of attorney's fees for reasonableness and shall enter an order stating whether the attorney's fees were reasonable before an association can be awarded such attorney's fees.”

Three details that are easy to get wrong

It reaches collection, not just litigation. The trigger is “before an association may collect or be awarded” fees. A demand letter that adds counsel's fee to the balance is a collection. The notice requirement is not confined to courtrooms.

The clock runs from receipt, not mailing. The statute says “30 days from the receipt of the notice.” That makes the certified-mail return receipt a compliance record the association has to keep, not merely a mailing formality.

The reasonableness order is a separate act. Subsection (g) is not a direction to consider reasonableness in passing. It requires the judge to enter an order stating whether the fees were reasonable, and to do it before the association can be awarded them.

Which Code section it lives in

Section 7 begins “Said Code section is further amended…” The preceding section of the Act amended O.C.G.A. § 44-3-235, so the reference is, on its face, ambiguous. The subsection lettering resolves it: § 44-3-235 runs only to subsection (c), while § 44-3-232 — the Property Owners' Association Act's assessment-lien and foreclosure section — currently ends at subsection (e). New subsections (f) and (g) fit § 44-3-232 and nowhere else, and their subject matter (recovering sums assessed against a lot owner) is § 44-3-232's subject matter.

1. Senate Bill 406, as passed (26 LC 49 2879S) — signed copy, Office of the Governor ↩
2. Ellington Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Ibrahim, No. A25A0707 (Ga. Ct. App. 19 May 2025) — slip opinion ↩