The irony that makes this a story

While Georgia's legislature declined to let condominium associations charge larger per-unit deductibles, the secondary mortgage market capped them anyway — at a figure far above what Georgia law allows, and with a consequence Georgia law cannot match.

Fannie Mae's Lender Letter LL-2026-03 and Freddie Mac's Bulletin 2026-C, issued the same day in March 2026 and expressly developed in alignment with one another, provide that where a master property insurance policy includes a per-unit deductible, that deductible may not exceed $50,000 per unit — effective for loan applications received on or after 1 July 2026.³

So a Georgia condominium now sits between two ceilings that do different work:

• $5,000 — the most the association may charge one owner, under state law. Exceeding it is unlawful.
• $50,000 — the most the master policy may carry per unit, under GSE rules. Exceeding it makes the units unfinanceable.

The binding constraint for most Georgia condominiums is the first, and the consequence of it is not a violation but a cost transfer: the association absorbs the gap and spreads it across all owners.

What a Georgia condominium board is left with

Because SB 230 died, the position is unchanged. Boards have three levers and none is comfortable.

Absorb the gap. Budget for the difference between the carrier's per-unit deductible and the $5,000 the association may pass through. This is what most Georgia associations do, and it is why insurance now consumes a substantial share of condominium operating budgets.

Buy the deductible down. Freddie Mac's Bulletin 2026-C expressly permits condominium HOAs, PUDs, ground-lease communities and cooperatives to purchase deductible buy-back policies to meet the deductible requirement. That is a premium cost rather than a contingent one, but it converts an unpredictable exposure into a line item.

Require owner HO-6 coverage. Both GSEs now require the lender to document that a borrower carries a unit-owners policy where the master policy includes a per-unit deductible. An association whose documents do not require HO-6 coverage is leaving the gap uninsured at the owner level too.

What the Act that did pass does to this problem

Nothing directly — but two provisions of SB 406 touch it obliquely and both are worth a board's attention.

First, § 43-17A-7(2) gives every owner the right, on written demand, to a copy of the association's certificate of insurance for coverage obtained for the owner's benefit “that may apply to a potential claim or submitted claim.” From January, an owner can find out what the master-policy deductible is without filing a claim first.

Second, and more sharply, the Court of Appeals certified a class this year against a Georgia condominium association that levied a special assessment for balcony repairs without first submitting a claim to its insurers. In 1280 West Condominium Association, Inc. v. Allan, No. A25A2111 (Ga. Ct. App. 12 Mar. 2026), the court affirmed certification on all seven grounds the association raised.⁴

Read together: a Georgia board facing a large deductible has a statutory duty to disclose the coverage on request, and certified-class exposure if it decides to assess instead of claim.

What to watch next

Whether SB 230 returns in 2027. It is the strongest candidate on the reintroduction list — it already cleared one chamber and one committee in the other, it has industry backing, and the market pressure behind it has not eased. The biennium reset means it starts over with a new number.

The harder question for its sponsors is political rather than technical. A legislature that has just made it harder for associations to collect from delinquent owners will be asked, in the same breath, to let associations charge individual owners five-figure deductibles. Those two propositions are not contradictory — they concern different money — but they will be debated in the same room.