Two sessions, 4,224 bills, and Iowa still has no HOA act
Two sessions, 4,224 bills, and Iowa still has no HOA act
2026-09-10 · Iowa · Legislation
Iowa's association law is what it was two years ago, plus two paragraphs about records. That is the whole legislative output of the 91st General Assembly on the subject. We checked this rather than assumed it, and the negative space is more informative than the enactment.
What Iowa actually has
Not a common-interest-community act. Iowa's association law is assembled from four unrelated places.
Chapter 499B, the Horizontal Property Act, governs condominiums. It dates from the 1960s and has not been amended since 2017.
Chapter 499A governs multiple housing cooperatives. Not amended since 2018.
Chapter 504, the Revised Iowa Nonprofit Corporation Act, is what most Iowa HOAs actually run on — not because it was written for them, but because they incorporate under it. Last touched by 2024 Iowa Acts ch. 1048, before this window.
Chapter 499C, “Unit Owners Associations — Access to Records,” is the only Iowa statute written about community associations as such. It was created in 2023 and runs to two sections. It is about records.
Everything else — what a board may do, how directors are elected, whether fines are enforceable, how assessments are collected, what reserves must be held — lives in each association's own declaration, or nowhere.
The two-session audit
The 91st General Assembly introduced 3,155 bills and 1,069 study bills across its 2025 and 2026 sessions. Screening them by title and subject index against association topics produces a short list and a long list of absences.
Enacted, squarely: SF 2448, adding a dues-status certification and a transfer-fee schedule to chapter 499C's ten-business-day list. Signed April 30, 2026, effective July 1, 2026.1
Enacted, preserving association authority rather than changing it: the ADU pair, SF 592 and SF 2369, which mandate accessory dwelling units statewide and expressly except deed restrictions and common-interest-community rules.
That is the list.
What no bill addressed — in either session
Not one bill of any kind, introduced or study, reached: a comprehensive Iowa HOA or planned-community act; chapter 499B condominium reform (zero title matches for “condominium,” “horizontal property” or “apartment ownership”); chapter 504 changes affecting associations; assessments, association liens, or foreclosure by an association; board elections, proxies, quorums or executive-board vacancies; fines or enforcement procedure; any HOA due-process or hearing requirement; solar access against an association; EV charging in common-interest communities; flag or political-sign display within an association; rental caps or leasing restrictions; condominium safety inspections, milestone inspections or reserve studies; association insurance; or HOA dispute resolution, mediation or an ombudsman.2
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Related Iowa HOA Topics
- Iowa Code ch. 499C, Unit Owners Associations — Access to Records ↩
- All bills of the 91st General Assembly, Iowa Legislature (complete introduced-bill listing) ↩
- HSB 748 bill history, Iowa General Assembly (subcommittee meeting cancelled Mar. 11, 2026) ↩
- 2026 Iowa End of Legislative Session Report, Community Associations Institute ↩
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