Latest Legal Updates
Latest Legal Updates
HOA and condominium association legislation, court rulings and regulatory changes across every state, the District of Columbia and federal law — newest first.
Showing 313–336 of 1,989 updates
Austin's short-term rental platform rules took effect in July — and deed restrictions still run separately
Since 1 July 2026 Austin has required booking platforms to delist unlicensed short-term rentals on request, but a city licence has never been a defence to a private covenant, and Texas appellate law in 2026 reinforced that the two operate independently.
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A Virginia HOA was held invalid and enjoined from collecting anything
In Terrace View v. Jannah the Court of Appeals affirmed that a declaration granting assessment power without imposing a maintenance duty creates no valid property owners' association — and that a 2024 statutory amendment did not change that.
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Vermont's statute site is a full session behind
Vermont Statutes Online says it reflects the 2025 session. Four 2026 acts changed common-interest law on July 1, and none of them shows in the posted text.
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The SC Supreme Court cut a condo association's defect recovery by $1 million over how a settlement was characterised
Palmetto Pointe v. Tri-County Roofing, decided April 30, 2025, holds a roofing subcontractor was entitled to full setoff for a $1 million covenant not to execute the association could not later reallocate.
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South Dakota's Condominium Act has not been amended since 2012
A section-by-section audit of all 30 sections of SDCL chapter 43-15A finds the most recent amendment is from 2012, and everything else traces to 1975, 1980, 1983, 1984 or 1986.
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Schroth v. Kirk: a design committee’s approval does not amend the covenants
The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed an injunction shutting a $2 million winery out of a single-family subdivision, holding that neither the design committee's 2010 approval nor a Teton County conditional use permit could override the covenants.
Read the full updateNobody in Montpelier regulates your Vermont association
Vermont adopted the uniform common-interest act without its administrative article. There is no registry, no regulator, no complaint desk and no manager licensing — and no 2026 bill proposed one.
Read the full updateSouth Carolina's property-insurance bill cleared the House and stalled two weeks short — and it was never a condo bill
The Insurance Rate Reduction and Policyholder Protection Act would have mandated mitigation discounts and expanded SC Safe Home. It received a favourable Senate committee report on April 30, 2026 and never got a second reading.
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neighbour complaints are not a design standard
The state's HOA ombudsman held that an architectural committee that refused a basketball standard on noise and neighbour objections, rather than on its written criteria, violated Utah Code 57-8a-218(7).
Read the full updateVirginia owners cannot re-argue defences the appeal court already rejected
Gallop v. Cameron Bay applies the law-of-the-case doctrine to a decade-old assessment dispute and confirms Rule 5A:30(b) imposes no 30-day deadline on an association's appellate fee request.
Read the full updateSouth Dakota's Supreme Court voided an entire subdivision's covenants
In Hood v. Straatmeyer, 2025 S.D. 12, the court affirmed a judgment declaring a 1976 Meade County covenant null and void as to every lot, because nobody had enforced it since it was recorded.
Read the full updateTwo Vermont HOAs lost their appeal for want of a lawyer
In the Wheeler Parcel Act 250 case, two homeowners associations were stripped of appellant status and reduced to “for information purposes only” after failing to retain counsel as ordered.
Read the full updateSouth Carolina's Wind Pool went from 70 condo associations to seven. The Department says the oldest oceanfront buildings are the ones still struggling
The SC Department of Insurance's 2025 coastal property report, submitted January 31, 2026, records condo associations leaving the residual market for the admitted market on price — and names wooden oceanfront buildings over fifty years old as the exception.
Read the full updateCheyenne deleted its ADU owner-occupancy rule, and covenants did not change
A February 2026 ordinance struck the requirement that an owner live on site to have an accessory dwelling unit; the codified Cheyenne UDC confirms it is gone, and a covenant banning ADUs or rentals is untouched by the change.
Read the full updateFannie Mae's 15% reserve floor is about to become Texas's de facto condo reserve rule
Lender Letter LL-2026-03 retired the Limited Review pathway for condo loans from 3 August 2026 and raises the minimum reserve allocation from 10% to 15% of budgeted assessment income from 4 January 2027 — a standard Texas statute does not impose.
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A Tennessee POA asked to be state-regulated. The bill died
HB 2164 and SB 2534 would have let one named property owners association place its water and wastewater utility under the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation, on criteria drawn so narrowly that essentially one association qualified. Both were parked in March 2026.
Read the full updateWho pays when the leaking pipe is in the common area
Two 2026 Utah advisory opinions split the cost of water damage the same way: the association pays for the common-area component, and the owner pays to find out what went wrong.
Read the full updateVirginia gives owners 30 days to escalate, and the Office cannot extend it
A notice of final adverse decision must reach the Common Interest Community Ombudsman within 30 days with a $25 fee — a statutory deadline the Office says it has no power to lengthen.
Read the full updateThe protected pot in a South Dakota collection case just got bigger
SB 88 raised the homestead sale-proceeds exemption from $60,000 to $100,000 effective July 1, 2025, and SB 90 confirmed which liens survive a tax deed — neither favours an association holding a judgment for unpaid assessments.
Read the full updateThe only reserve rule Vermont condos will face isn't state law
Vermont mandates no reserve study and no reserve funding. The secondary mortgage market’s 15% floor, reported to take effect January 4, 2027, is the discipline that will actually bind.
Read the full updateHilton Head ties the short-term rental permit to the covenants: no HOA letter, no permit
The Town of Hilton Head Island's amended short-term rental ordinance, adopted in October 2025, requires an owner to supply a letter from the association confirming the property may be rented short term.
Read the full updateWyoming’s nonprofit remote-meeting fix failed by two votes
HB0100 would have let members of Wyoming nonprofit corporations participate in membership meetings remotely, and retroactively validated meetings already held that way. It failed introduction 29-31 and the Nonprofit Corporation Act still has no member remote-participation provision.
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A Montana HOA's service acknowledgment saved it from a default judgment
In Bradley v. Yellowstone Trails Ranch Owners' Association, 2026 MT 112, the Montana Supreme Court held that an acknowledgment entering a voluntary appearance triggered Rule 55(b)(2)'s seven-day notice requirement, making the default judgment voidable.
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A $522 condominium lien that was never released is now a racketeering case
The Eighth Circuit reversed dismissal of a unit owner's RICO claims against his condominium association, holding the district court failed to apply the separate-accrual rule.
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