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 49–72 of 1,989 updates
Congress capped institutional buyers of single-family homes. Wisconsin's own bill died
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became Public Law 119-101 on July 11, 2026, barring investors controlling 350 or more single-family homes from buying more — while Wisconsin's hedge-fund bill never got a hearing.
Read the full updateWisconsin's statutory HOA lien exists — capped at 8 mills, and most associations cannot use it
Wis. Stat. § 779.70 gives a non-condominium Wisconsin association a maintenance lien, but only a nonprofit membership corporation qualifies, the membership must approve the budget, and the levy is capped unless deeds impose the obligation.
Read the full updatea board's deferred-maintenance decisions can still be an insured 'occurrence'
McLaughlin v. Gaslight Pointe is the published Wisconsin authority holding that water damage flowing from a board's deliberate maintenance choices can be covered under a CGL policy, while the D&O endorsement covered none of it.
Read the full updateWisconsin killed the bill that would have counted condo sprinklers — and the garage inspection bill too
AB 661 asked only for a DSPS headcount of sprinklers in condominium and townhouse buildings and never got a hearing; AB 175's parking-structure inspection requirement got one and was never voted on. Wisconsin still has no condominium inspection law.
Read the full updateMiss the DFI notice and a Wisconsin HOA loses its late fees and transfer fees
Wis. Stat. § 710.18(3) requires Wisconsin homeowners associations to file annual public notices with the Department of Financial Institutions, and the penalty for not filing is self-executing: prohibited charges are void and unenforceable.
Read the full updateWisconsin Supreme Court, 4-3: an association cannot sue a tribe over its covenants
Legend Lake Property Owners Association spent eight years trying to enforce recorded covenants against land taken into federal trust, and lost on sovereign immunity without the covenants ever being construed.
Read the full updateThe board said the restriction was lifted. The court said it was not
Blue Harbor's board, the City of Sheboygan and a redevelopment authority all moved to remove a 29-day occupancy limit; because nobody executed the amendment the declaration required, the limit never went away.
Read the full updateWisconsin keeps voiding municipal rental limits. None of it reaches your declaration
Three published Wisconsin decisions in fourteen months struck down local short-term-rental restrictions under Wis. Stat. § 66.1014, a statute that binds political subdivisions and says nothing about private covenants.
Read the full updateFederal flood insurance stops writing new policies after September 30
42 U.S.C. § 4026 provides that no new contract for flood insurance may be entered into after September 30, 2026. As of the Code's current edition, no reauthorization has been enacted.
Read the full updateWisconsin law grants immunity for underfunding condo reserves. The mortgage market does not
Wis. Stat. § 703.163 lets a Wisconsin condominium opt out of reserves entirely and expressly immunises the decision, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raise their reserve floor to 15 percent for applications dated on or after January 4, 2027.
Read the full updateNine units the association owned, 61 owners paying for them — legally
Strassburg v. Hickory Meadows holds that a 67 percent bylaw amendment can change how a Wisconsin condominium assesses common expenses, because the unanimity rule in § 703.13(4) governs percentage interests, not assessment method.
Read the full updateMilwaukee legalized ADUs 8–7. The ordinance says nothing about your covenant
Common Council File 240999 passed July 15, 2025 and made accessory dwelling units a limited use citywide. A full-text search of the adopted ordinance returns zero references to covenants, deed restrictions, homeowners associations or condominiums.
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Win your assessment appeal in South Dakota and still pay your own lawyer
SB 208 would have made fee awards mandatory for owners who prevail in property assessment appeals. It passed the Senate 34-0 and a House committee tabled it 12-0, leaving a one-way fee statute in place.
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Virginia members get a statutory right to sue their own board
A new Article 7.2 of the Nonstock Corporation Act gives members of an incorporated Virginia association a codified derivative-proceeding right from January 1, 2027, with a written demand and a 90-day wait as the price of entry.
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Immigration status joined Vermont's protected list
Act 69 of 2025 added citizenship and immigration status to the Vermont Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act from July 1, 2025 — and § 4503 binds associations, boards and managers.
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suing a sloppy HOA board can pay for itself
In Behar v. Johnson the Court of Appeals upheld a $21,000 fee award to an owner whose derivative suit forced a board to follow its own governing documents — a non-monetary “substantial benefit” is enough.
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A developer converted a condo regime's common elements into units it owned. The Court of Appeals held the amendment void
In Heatley v. Mariner's Cay Marina Condo, LLC, filed January 14, 2026, the South Carolina Court of Appeals held a 2007 amended master deed void to the extent it divested unit owners of vested common-element interests.
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Texas bars HOA fines for brown grass during watering restrictions, plus 60 days after
New Property Code § 202.008 prohibits a Texas property owners' association from fining an owner over discoloured or brown turf while a mandated residential watering restriction is in force and for 60 days after it is lifted.
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Wyoming watering orders are colliding with subdivision lawn covenants
Hudson joined four other Wyoming towns in mandating alternate-day watering in August 2026, and towns are advising residents to water three times a week and let grass grow longer — advice that contradicts standard subdivision landscaping standards.
Read the full updateThe one covenant a South Dakota association cannot write
SDCL 43-12-7, enacted in 2025, voids any covenant running with the land that restricts lawful possession, storage, transportation or discharge of firearms — and it is the state's only statutory override of a private covenant.
Read the full updateVermont's HOA resource center became a web page
H.172 would have created a Common Interest Community Resource Center with guides on governance, budgeting and conflict resolution. What passed is a duty to post the governing statutes.
Read the full updateSouth Carolina's 2025 EV charging law says nothing about condos or HOAs — and no bill proposed a right to charge
Act No. 18 of 2025 regulates utilities and providers offering public charging. It contains no reference to homeowners associations, condominiums, multifamily buildings or covenants, and South Carolina has no right-to-charge statute.
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Tennessee appeals court: covenant silence favours the owner
Two Court of Appeals decisions in 2025 held that neither ambiguous covenants nor a "residential purposes only" clause stops a short-term rental in Tennessee, while leaving a declaration's nuisance clause alive as a separate route.
Read the full updateVirginia condos meet a 15 percent reserve floor the state never set
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raise the replacement-reserve minimum to 15 percent of annual assessment income for loan applications from January 4, 2027 — in a state that mandates a reserve study but no funding level.
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