2026-09-10 · Indiana · Legislation

What happened. Until this summer, an Indiana homeowners association that wanted to fine a member for a covenant violation had to find the authority somewhere in its own recorded documents, and hope a court agreed it was there. House Enrolled Act 1115 (Public Law 155-2026) added IC 32-25.5-3-12 — the first Indiana statute to hand planned communities an express fining power.¹

It is a grant with a precondition, and the precondition is the whole design.

The schedule comes first

The board may fine only after it has adopted and published a written schedule of fines. The statute specifies what the schedule must contain:

• The violations that may be fined, identified.
• The amount for each violation.
• Whether and how a fine may recur — and if it can, a stated maximum aggregate cap per violation.

Adoption requires notice to members. And the statute gives members a lever back: they may use the special-meeting demand mechanism to petition to amend the schedule, which is then decided by majority vote. A board's fine schedule is therefore not the board's last word on the subject.

Separately, the section imposes notice requirements to the member before a fine is imposed.

Who this binds

Everyone. IC 32-25.5-3-12 was added by HEA 1115 to the list in IC 32-25.5-1-1(b) of provisions applying “to all homeowners associations… regardless of whether the members… have elected… to be governed by this article.”

That matters more here than anywhere else in the 2026 package. A pre-2009 Indiana association that never elected into the HOA Act, and which has been fining members under its covenants for twenty years, is inside this section as of 1 July 2026.

The change to what happens next

HEA 1115 also amended IC 32-25.5-5-4 and IC 32-25.5-5-10 to pull fine claims out of the “exempt claim” category. Straightforward assessment and dues collection remains exempt from the article's pre-suit notice-and-cure process. Fine disputes no longer are — they now run through that process first.

1. House Enrolled Act 1115 (2026), P.L. 155-2026 — SECTION 6 adding IC 32-25.5-3-12, and SECTIONS amending IC 32-25.5-5-4 and 5-10 ↩
2. Office of the Governor, 2026 Bill Watch — HEA 1115 signed Mar. 12, 2026 ↩