Kentucky HOA Mediation & Dispute Resolution

Section 1: Overview

Kentucky settles community-association disputes the old-fashioned way: through contracts and the courts. No statute forces owners and associations into mediation or arbitration before they sue. And the rules that govern a given condominium turn on a single question — which of two condominium statutes applies. Older condominiums answer to the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805 to 381.910).¹ Condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011 answer to the Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207), a statute the legislature built on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act rather than UCIOA.² Several sections of that newer act reach back to pre-2011 condominiums whenever the event in question happened after 2011.³ Non-condominium planned communities follow a different path altogether: their recorded CC&Rs, the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS Chapter 273), common law, and — since 2023 — the Kentucky Planned Community Act (KRS 381.785 to 381.801).⁴ Arbitration clauses in a declaration hold up, but here Kentucky adds a twist. Under the Kentucky Uniform Arbitration Act, a Kentucky court can compel arbitration under the state act only when the agreement calls for arbitrating inside Kentucky.⁵ The Federal Arbitration Act, though, gives a separate route to compel whenever the contract touches interstate commerce.⁶ Kentucky trial courts, for their part, may send civil cases to mediation whenever they choose, under the Rules of Civil Procedure.⁷ Step back, and the national picture comes into focus: Kentucky is a Uniform-Condominium-Act state for its condominiums, not a UCIOA state, running a split condominium framework and a limited planned-community statute rather than a full common-interest code. The sections that follow trace the statutory, contractual, and court-based paths a dispute actually travels.

Section 2: The dispute resolution framework

2A. Statutory dispute resolution under the condominium framework

The Kentucky Condominium Act governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011, and it hands those associations the machinery they need to enforce their rules.³ Under KRS 381.9167(1)(k), an association may impose late charges and, "after notice and an opportunity to be heard, levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the association" — and it may recover the reasonable fees and costs, attorney fees included, that enforcement runs up.⁸ KRS 381.9167(1)(d) lets the association sue, defend, or intervene in litigation or administrative proceedings under its own name.⁸ Delinquency disputes travel through the assessment lien in KRS 381.9193. That lien secures the assessments plus collection costs, attorney fees, fines, and interest; it may be foreclosed "in like manner as a mortgage on real estate"; recording the declaration gives record notice and perfects the lien; and the lien dies unless the association enforces it within five years after the full amount comes due.⁹ KRS 381.9103 extends several key sections — KRS 381.9167, 381.9169, 381.9183, and 381.9193 among them — to condominiums created before January 1, 2011, but only for events or circumstances that arise after that date.³ Otherwise, those older condominiums stay under the Horizontal Property Law, which carries its own assessment-lien and foreclosure remedy in KRS 381.883.¹⁰ The creation date decides which statute controls. Non-condominium planned communities fall under neither condominium act; their CC&Rs, the Nonprofit Corporation Act, common law, and the 2023 Planned Community Act govern them instead.⁴ None of these statutes forces the parties into mediation or arbitration before suit. That sets Kentucky apart from California, whose Davis-Stirling Act requires internal dispute resolution and alternative dispute resolution before certain enforcement suits (Cal. Civ. Code Sections 5900 to 5910 and 5930), and from Florida, which mandates presuit mediation for covenant-enforcement and use-of-property disputes under Fla. Stat. Section 720.311(2)(a).¹¹

2B. General civil ADR and arbitration

A declaration may demand arbitration, and Kentucky honors those agreements — but the Kentucky Uniform Arbitration Act (KRS Chapter 417) hides a jurisdictional trap. KRS 417.200 says that an agreement "providing for arbitration in this state" is what gives a Kentucky court jurisdiction to enforce it.⁵ In Ally Cat, LLC v. Chauvin, the Kentucky Supreme Court drew the line sharply: "[s]ubject matter jurisdiction to enforce an agreement to arbitrate is conferred upon a Kentucky court only if the agreement provides for arbitration in this state. Thus, an agreement to arbitrate which fails to include the required provision for arbitration within this state is unenforceable in Kentucky courts." The court followed the earlier Court of Appeals decision in Tru Green Corp. v. Sampson.¹² That does not make arbitration clauses dead letters. The Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq.) supplies its own basis to compel arbitration for contracts that involve interstate commerce, and it preempts the state-law limit.⁶ In Hathaway v. Eckerle, the Kentucky Supreme Court applied the FAA and put it plainly: "Ally Cat has no applicability to an arbitration agreement governed exclusively by the Federal Arbitration Act." When the FAA governs, in other words, the court never asks whether the agreement clears KRS 417.200.¹³ Separately, KRS 417.140 bars arbitrators from awarding attorney fees unless the written agreement allows it.¹⁴ Court-annexed mediation is on the table, too: rule changes effective February 1, 2022 let Kentucky trial courts refer all or part of a civil case to mediation and appoint a mediator, subject to the Code of Conduct in Civil Rule 100, with confidentiality guarded by Civil Rule 99.11.⁷ Referral is discretionary, not mandatory, and the parties usually split the mediator's fees. For smaller assessment disputes, the District Court handles civil matters up to $5,000 under KRS 24A.120,¹⁵ and its small claims division takes claims up to $2,500 under KRS 24A.230.¹⁶

2C. CC&R-based dispute resolution and order of precedence

For planned communities, the recorded declaration does most of the heavy lifting. CC&Rs usually carry a dispute-resolution clause — one that may make mediation a condition precedent, set an arbitration provision (venue selection included, which matters a great deal under Kentucky law), and name a prevailing party or award attorney fees. Governing documents may also spell out internal grievance procedures or architectural-review appeals that an owner has to exhaust before any decision counts as final. The order of precedence starts at the top with the applicable condominium statute — or, for a planned community, the Planned Community Act and nonprofit corporation law — then moves to the recorded declaration, then the bylaws, then the board's rules. In practice, the venue point decides more cases than anything else: name a Kentucky venue, and a Kentucky court can compel under the state act; leave it out, and the state-act path may close — though the FAA still opens a route to compel for any association contract that touches interstate commerce.

Section 3: Dispute resolution pathways and obligations

A. Internal / association-level resolution

Before a fine or any other adverse action becomes final, a condominium association has to give the owner notice and a chance to be heard under KRS 381.9167(1)(k) (statutory; newer and older condominiums alike, since that section reaches pre-2011 condominiums for post-2011 events).⁸ For planned communities, KRS 381.797 requires the board to give written notice and an opportunity to be heard before it imposes a fine, a damages charge, or an individual assessment (statutory; planned communities).¹⁷ Architectural appeals and internal grievance steps generally come from the declaration itself (contractual; all community types). Kentucky runs no administrative agency or ombudsman for HOA disputes, so the internal procedures and the courts are the only forums.

B. Mediation

Kentucky trial courts may send a civil case, in whole or in part, to mediation under the Rules of Civil Procedure as amended effective February 1, 2022 (rule-based; all community types).⁷ Referral is discretionary, not mandatory; the parties usually share the mediator's fees; and their communications stay confidential under Civil Rule 99.11. A declaration may also make mediation a condition the owner must meet before filing suit (contractual; all community types).

C. Arbitration

A declaration's arbitration clause is enforceable, but a Kentucky court can compel arbitration under the Kentucky Uniform Arbitration Act only where the agreement provides for arbitrating in Kentucky (statutory; KRS 417.200; all community types), as Ally Cat, LLC v. Chauvin makes clear.¹² Where the association contract involves interstate commerce, the Federal Arbitration Act compels arbitration on its own and preempts the state-law venue limit (federal; 9 U.S.C. Section 1 et seq.), as Hathaway v. Eckerle holds.¹³ The arbitration may be binding or non-binding, depending on how the clause is written.

D. Litigation and appeals

Assessment-lien foreclosures and most injunctive covenant-enforcement actions belong in Circuit Court, the court of general jurisdiction, because they turn on equity or title to real estate (statutory/contractual; all community types).¹⁵ Smaller money claims can go to District Court, up to $5,000 under KRS 24A.120, or to the small claims division, up to $2,500 under KRS 24A.230 (statutory; all community types).¹⁶ A losing party may appeal a small claims judgment to Circuit Court under KRS 24A.340; Circuit Court judgments go up to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and the Kentucky Supreme Court may grant discretionary review.¹⁸ Attorney-fee recovery follows the American rule unless a statute or the declaration says otherwise — and both the condominium lien statute (KRS 381.9193) and the Planned Community Act (KRS 381.797) let an association charge and secure reasonable enforcement attorney fees (statutory).^9,17 A condominium assessment lien has to be enforced within five years under KRS 381.9193(5); general written-contract claims carry a ten-year limitation for contracts executed on or after July 15, 2014 under KRS 413.160.¹⁹ Kentucky keeps no administrative HOA forum, so no agency pathway exists.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

Kentucky's lawmakers have moved on planned communities in steps rather than all at once, adding targeted tools instead of a single comprehensive code. Two recent bills show the pattern.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

Kentucky's appellate courts keep resolving association disputes on the governing documents and the trial record, as a recent unpublished decision shows.

4C. Active legislative debates

The Community Associations Institute's Kentucky Legislative Action Committee has tracked proposals to modernize single-family HOA governance and disclosure. Look across the 2023 to 2025 sessions and a pattern emerges: the legislature keeps adding planned-community rules piece by piece rather than adopting a single common-interest code. No pending proposal would create a mandatory HOA pre-suit ADR regime.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Kentucky stands apart from the detailed-code states. California's Davis-Stirling Act spans Cal. Civ. Code Sections 4000 to 6150; Florida governs its HOAs and condominiums through Fla. Stat. Ch. 720 and Ch. 718; Kentucky is not a UCIOA state at all.²⁵ It is a Uniform-Condominium-Act state for its condominiums, and it runs a split framework: the Horizontal Property Law for pre-2011 condominiums, and the 1980-UCA-based Kentucky Condominium Act for those created on or after January 1, 2011. Its 2023 Planned Community Act laid down a governance and enforcement baseline for non-condominium HOAs, but a baseline is all it is — not a full common-interest code, and it carries no ADR mandate. The arbitration-venue rule in KRS 417.200 quietly shapes how lawyers draft: name a Kentucky venue and the state-act path stays open; skip it and enforcement may fall to the Federal Arbitration Act. For multi-state operators, every Kentucky dispute comes down to two threshold questions — which condominium statute (or the Planned Community Act) applies, and what venue the arbitration clause names — with the FAA standing by as an independent path for interstate-commerce contracts.

HOA Weekly refreshes its Kentucky dispute-resolution coverage each quarter as the legislature and the courts act. Federal frameworks bear on these disputes no matter what the state framework says — the Federal Arbitration Act above all, along with the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD rules — and each deserves fuller treatment in its own right.

Recommendations

Immediate steps when a conflict is live. Start by pinning down which framework governs the community. Check the recorded declaration's creation date: a condominium falls under the Horizontal Property Law if it predates 2011, or under the Kentucky Condominium Act from 2011 forward. Then confirm whether a non-condominium community is a planned community subject to KRS 381.785 to 381.801. That threshold classification drives the notice, lien, and fee rules you'll apply. Next, in any fine or architectural dispute, make sure the association gave written notice and an opportunity to be heard before it acted — both KRS 381.9167(1)(k) (condominiums) and KRS 381.797 (planned communities) require it, and a procedural gap is the single most common reason a court reverses.

For arbitration clauses. Read the venue term first. If the clause names a Kentucky location, a Kentucky court can compel under KRS Chapter 417. If it doesn't, don't write the clause off — ask whether the association contract touches interstate commerce, because then the FAA compels arbitration in spite of the venue defect. When you draft or amend a declaration, name a specific Kentucky venue and you keep both paths open. And parties who want to resist arbitration should remember that filing substantive litigation can waive the right to compel.

For collections. Move quickly. The condominium assessment lien dies if the association doesn't enforce it within five years (KRS 381.9193(5)), and it holds no super-priority over a first mortgage, so every month of delay chips away at recovery. Route claims under $2,500 to the small claims division and claims up to $5,000 to District Court, and send foreclosure and injunctive matters to Circuit Court.

Benchmarks that would change this analysis. Watch for any bill that creates a mandatory pre-suit mediation requirement or a statewide common-interest (UCIOA-style) code — either one would displace the current contract-and-court model. Watch for a published Court of Appeals or Supreme Court opinion applying KRS 417.200 to an HOA declaration's arbitration clause, which would sharpen the venue analysis. And watch for any statute that stands up an HOA regulator, an ombudsman, or a community-association-manager licensing regime — none of which Kentucky has today.

Caveats

A note on a common misconception: the idea that Kentucky has no planned-community statute is out of date. Kentucky enacted the Planned Community Act (SB 120) in 2023, codified at KRS 381.785 to 381.801 and effective June 29, 2023, and this page reflects that current law. The Act governs planned communities as KRS 381.785 defines them, and it does not retroactively wipe out provisions already written into a governing document recorded before its effective date. Kentucky also remains a Uniform-Condominium-Act state for its condominiums; calling the Condominium Act "UCIOA-style" is imprecise, and the two should not be conflated. On the case law, the Saturday v. Ashwood metadata — name, dockets, court, the November 8, 2024 date, the Not To Be Published status, Fayette County, and the affirming disposition — checks out against the official Court of Appeals minutes, but anyone relying on the decision should read the opinion first to confirm its precise holding, and as an unpublished decision it carries only limited persuasive weight. The effective date for HB 472 follows Kentucky's normal 90-day post-adjournment rule rather than an explicit statutory line, so editors should confirm the exact date against the KRS 381.803 history note. And the federal-law overlays noted here — the FAA, FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — are flagged but not analyzed, and any one of them can change the outcome of a Kentucky association dispute.

1. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 381.805 to 381.910, Horizontal Property Law, Kentucky Legislature ↩
2. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.9101, Short title (Kentucky Condominium Act, KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207), Kentucky Legislature ↩
3. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.9103, Application and construction of KRS 381.9101 to 381.9207 (certain sections apply to pre-2011 condominiums for post-2011 events), Kentucky Legislature ↩
4. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.785, Definitions for KRS 381.785 to 381.801 (Kentucky Planned Community Act, 2023 SB 120, effective June 29, 2023), Kentucky Legislature ↩
5. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 417.200, Court — Jurisdiction (agreement "providing for arbitration in this state" confers jurisdiction), Kentucky Legislature ↩
6. Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 to 16 (independent basis to compel arbitration for interstate-commerce contracts; preempts conflicting state limits), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School ↩
7. Kentucky Court of Justice, Mediation (court-referral authority effective February 1, 2022; Civil Rules 99 and 100; confidentiality under CR 99.11); see also Supreme Court of Kentucky Order 2022-04 ↩
8. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.9167, Powers of unit owners' association (notice and opportunity to be heard before fines; authority to litigate; enforcement attorney fees), Kentucky Legislature ↩
9. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.9193, Lien for assessments (foreclosure like a mortgage; recording as record notice; five-year enforcement period; attorney fees and costs secured), Kentucky Legislature ↩
10. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.883, Lien for unpaid assessments — Foreclosure — Suit (Horizontal Property Law), Kentucky Legislature ↩
11. Cal. Civ. Code §§ 5900 to 5910 (internal dispute resolution) and § 5930 (alternative dispute resolution before certain enforcement suits), California Legislative Information; Fla. Stat. § 720.311(2)(a) (presuit mediation for covenant-enforcement and use-of-property disputes), The Florida Senate ↩
12. Ally Cat, LLC v. Chauvin, 274 S.W.3d 451, 455 (Ky. 2009); see also Tru Green Corp. v. Sampson, 802 S.W.2d 951 (Ky. Ct. App. 1991), Justia ↩
13. Hathaway v. Eckerle, 336 S.W.3d 83 (Ky. 2011) (FAA governs to the exclusion of KRS 417.200 where the agreement is subject to the FAA); see also Ernst & Young, LLP v. Clark, 323 S.W.3d 682 (Ky. 2010), Justia ↩
14. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. ch. 417, Arbitration and Award, including § 417.140 (attorney fees not awarded in arbitration unless the written agreement so provides), Kentucky Legislature ↩
15. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 24A.120, District Court civil jurisdiction up to $5,000, Kentucky Legislature ↩
16. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 24A.230, Small claims division jurisdiction up to $2,500, Kentucky Legislature ↩
17. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.797, Elements of assessments for each lot — Notice of charges — Special assessments (written notice and opportunity to be heard before fines, damages, or individual assessments; enforcement costs including reasonable attorney fees), Kentucky Legislature ↩
18. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 24A.340, Appeal of small claims judgment to Circuit Court, Kentucky Legislature ↩
19. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 413.160, Ten-year limitation on written contracts executed on or after July 15, 2014, Kentucky Legislature ↩
20. H.B. 472, 2024 Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2024) (signed; 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 150), Kentucky Legislature ↩
21. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.803, City petition to appoint a receiver for a planned community failing to maintain infrastructure or common areas, Kentucky Legislature ↩
22. H.B. 27, 2025 Reg. Sess. (Ky. 2025) (signed; 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 32), Kentucky Legislature ↩
23. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 381.800, Display of political yard signs (amended 2025 Ky. Acts ch. 32, effective June 27, 2025; contrary governing-document provisions void), Kentucky Legislature ↩
24. Saturday v. Ashwood Townhouses of Laredo Ass'n, Inc., Nos. 2023-CA-0033-MR and consolidated dockets, Ky. Ct. App. Nov. 8, 2024 (not to be published), Court of Appeals Minutes, Kentucky Court of Justice ↩
25. Cal. Civ. Code §§ 4000 to 6150 (Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act), California Legislative Information; Fla. Stat. chs. 718 and 720, The Florida Senate ↩