What acceleration was doing, and what replaces it

Acceleration is a standard remedy in Georgia declarations: on default, the balance of the year's assessments becomes immediately due. It is the mechanism that turns a missed quarterly payment into a four-figure demand, and it is one of the reasons Georgia collection balances grow so fast.

From 1 January 2027 it is prohibited outright — not capped, not conditioned on notice. An association may pursue what is actually due and unpaid, instalment by instalment, and nothing more.

This sits alongside the six-year lien lapse period introduced by the same Act. Georgia associations lose the ability to make the whole year come due at once, but gain two additional years to enforce each instalment as it matures. The Act shifts association collections from acceleration toward patience.

The partial-payment rule is not a minor administrative point

Subsection (b)(1) forbids refusing a payment “in any amount.” Two practices this reaches directly:

• Payment portals that lock on referral. Georgia homeowners told a Senate committee in 2025 that once an account went to collections, the association's online payment system would no longer accept their money — so the balance kept growing while they were unable to pay it. On the enacted text, that is now unlawful.
• Returning cheques that do not clear the full balance. An association that sends back a partial payment because it does not satisfy the account is refusing payment in an amount.

Note how (b)(1) and (a) work together. Because the association must accept any amount, and must apply it to regular assessments first, an owner who can pay only their dues can now keep their dues current no matter what else the ledger says — and keeping dues current is what keeps the account below the foreclosure threshold.

What a board and manager have to change

• The accounting software's application rules. This is a configuration change in the management system, not a policy memo. Most Georgia portfolios are configured to the declaration's order, which is now the wrong order.
• The declaration's payment-application clause. It does not need amending to be overridden — the statute governs — but leaving a contrary clause in the recorded instrument invites disputes, and the association will be enforcing the statute against its own document.
• Every collection letter that recites acceleration. Template demand letters that declare the year's remaining assessments due should be withdrawn before January.
• Late-fee logic. If dues are credited first, an account may be current on dues while carrying a fine balance. Systems that assess a late charge on any outstanding balance will generate late charges on fines, which are not assessments.

The question the section leaves open

Section 43-17A-8 says how remitted funds “shall be applied.” It does not say whether an owner may direct otherwise. An owner who wants a payment credited to a special assessment for a capital project, rather than to regular dues, has no express route to say so — the ranking is mandatory in form and admits no owner election.

Nor does the section address partial payments made by a third party, such as a mortgage servicer advancing assessments to protect its security. Those are “funds remitted by an owner” only by a stretch.

What to watch next

Whether the Secretary of State's rulemaking under § 43-17A-9 addresses application order at all, and whether Georgia's community-association bar reads the ranking as mandatory in every case or as a default an owner can vary by written direction. Until one or the other resolves it, the safe course for a manager is to follow the statutory order and document any owner instruction that departs from it.