1. Overview — How HOAs are governed in Kentucky

Kentucky operates a hybrid governance framework: comprehensive statutory coverage of condominiums combined with the absence of any older, comprehensive planned-community statute for non-condo associations.¹ Condominiums created in Kentucky before January 1, 2011 are governed by the Kentucky Horizontal Property Law at KRS § 381.805 to § 381.910, a bespoke 1962 statute that supplies the statutory architecture for condominium property regimes, master deeds, bylaws, common elements, assessments, and liens.² Condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011 are governed by the Kentucky Condominium Act at KRS § 381.9101 to § 381.9207, which modernized portions of the framework while leaving the Horizontal Property Law in force for older regimes.³

Non-condominium associations — single-family subdivisions, townhome communities, and most other planned developments — have historically operated without a dedicated HOA statute. They are governed primarily by recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs), the bylaws and articles of the association, and Kentucky's nonprofit corporation laws at KRS Chapter 273 and KRS Chapter 273A.⁴ The General Assembly enacted a Planned Community Act in 2023 (Senate Bill 120, codified at KRS § 381.785 to § 381.801). Under KRS § 381.786(1), “all planned communities in this Commonwealth are subject to” the Act; what it grandfathers is a provision that was already in a governing document recorded before June 29, 2023, which the Act does not invalidate unless it specifically says so. Only subsection (2)’s requirement to file and record a declaration is limited to communities formed after that date, and under subsection (3) a development with no homeowners’ association falls outside the Act.⁵

Kentucky has never enacted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA); it is instead one of 14 states (alongside Alabama, Arizona, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia) that adopted the 1978 Uniform Condominium Act, on which the 2011 Kentucky Condominium Act is modeled.⁶ Property managers, board members, and community association counsel operating in the Commonwealth must therefore identify the form of the community before applying any statutory rule.

2. The statutory framework

Footnotes

1. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 381 (statutes index) ↩
2. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.805, Short title (Horizontal Property Law) ↩
3. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9103, Application and construction of KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207 ↩
4. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 273 (Nonprofit Corporations, statutes index) ↩
5. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.786 (Planned Community Act, applicability) ↩
6. Community Associations Institute, Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (advocacy overview, listing UCIOA and Uniform Condominium Act states) ↩
7. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.805, Short title (Horizontal Property Law) ↩
8. Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 381 (2024), Justia ↩
9. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.805, Short title ↩
10. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9103, Application and construction ↩
11. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9103(2) ↩
12. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.810 (definitions) ↩
13. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.815, 381.835, 381.840 (master deed, floor plans, unit conveyances) ↩
14. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.860 (administration governed by bylaws) ↩
15. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.870 (maintenance; replacement reserve) ↩
16. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.883 (assessment liens; foreclosure) ↩
17. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.885, 381.890 (insurance; destruction; reconstruction) ↩
18. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.865 (repealed 2012) ↩
19. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.905 (supplemental application) ↩
20. Ky. Att'y Gen., Open Records Decision 15-ORD-145 (Aug. 6, 2015) ↩
21. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 273.161–273.390 (Nonprofit Corporation Acts) ↩
22. Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 273A, Kentucky Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act (2025), Justia ↩
23. Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 273 (statutes index) ↩
24. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 273.161–273.390 (Nonprofit Corporation Acts) ↩
25. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 273.187, 273.215, 273.217, 273.223, 273.300 et seq. (member meetings, fiduciary duties, board notice, dissolution) ↩
26. 31 C.F.R. § 1010.380, Reports of beneficial ownership information (current text on eCFR) (ecfr.gov) (domestic-entity exemption for entities created by filing with a U.S. secretary of state or similar office). ↩
27. Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 273A (Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act; certificate of association), Justia ↩
28. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9115 (supplemental principles of law and equity) ↩
29. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.905 (supplemental application; statute-over-rest precedence) ↩
30. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.9165, 381.9169, 381.9170, 381.9177, 381.9197 (association formation, board standards, meetings, records) ↩
31. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9107 (variation by declaration) ↩
32. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.860 (administration governed by bylaws) ↩
33. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9103(2) (retroactive application to pre-2011 condominiums) ↩
34. Ky. Rev. Stat. ch. 273 (corporate procedural requirements; minimum of three directors) ↩
35. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.787, 381.792, 381.793 (Planned Community Act governance defaults) ↩
36. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.870 (mandatory pro rata replacement reserve) ↩
37. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.883 (assessment liens; foreclosure as a mortgage) ↩
38. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.9167, 381.9169, 381.9193, 381.9197 (association powers, budget ratification, assessment liens, financial records) ↩
39. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9103(2) (application regardless of formation date) ↩
40. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.790, 381.799 (Planned Community Act budget/assessment and lien defaults) ↩
41. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9203 (resale certificate) ↩
42. Kentucky Real Estate Commission, Form 404, Condominium Seller's Certificate (Oct. 2019) ↩
43. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9201 (applicability of resale provisions regardless of formation date) ↩
44. Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 381.790, 381.794 (Planned Community Act financial reporting and resale-related disclosures) ↩
45. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.9123 (obligation of good faith) ↩
46. Ky. Att'y Gen., Open Records Decision 15-ORD-145 (Aug. 6, 2015) (HOAs not public agencies) ↩
47. Community Associations Institute, State and Federal Regulation of Community Associations; Kentucky Real Estate Commission ↩
48. 2024 Ky. HB 472, official record; Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.803 ↩
49. 2025 Ky. HB 27, official record; Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.800 ↩
50. Strause v. Bradford Grove Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. 2024-CA-0788-MR (Ky. Ct. App. Aug. 22, 2025) ↩
51. Ky. Rev. Stat. § 381.786 (all planned communities subject to the Act; provisions in documents recorded before June 29, 2023 not invalidated; declaration-recording requirement limited to communities formed after that date) ↩