Louisiana HOA Budget Approval
Section 1: Overview, how HOA budgets are approved in Louisiana
Louisiana does something no other state does: it runs its association law on a civil-law foundation rather than on common-law covenants. For budgets, that foundation splits in two. Condominium budgets answer to the Louisiana Condominium Act. Planned-community budgets answer to the Louisiana Planned Community Act.1 In both cases, the recorded governing documents — the building restrictions, the declaration, and the bylaws — sit at the center of the process. Put plainly, the board or the association adopts the budget under those documents, and for larger planned communities a statutory step now sits on top of that: the owners ratify the budget by an affirmative majority vote. That is not the negative-option, ratify-unless-rejected mechanism the UCIOA states use.2
The civil-law framing runs through everything. Associations administer immovable property. Use restrictions take the form of building restrictions under La. Civ. Code art. 775 and the articles that follow it, and you read them against Title 9 rather than against common-law covenant doctrine.3 Neither statute orders a reserve study, sets a reserve-funding minimum, or caps how far an assessment can climb; those questions live in the governing documents. So Louisiana stays what it has always been — a civil-law, non-UCIOA, two-statute state — even though the Planned Community Act now borrows several UCIOA-modeled procedures.4 The table and the per-statute discussion that follow lay out who adopts the budget, what notice and member steps apply, and the day-counts, taking each statute on its own.
Section 2: The budget approval mechanism
The table reflects the Louisiana Condominium Act for condominiums and the Louisiana Planned Community Act for planned communities, each read against the recorded building restrictions and the other governing documents.
| Parameter | Condominiums (La. R.S. 9:1121 et seq.) | Homeowners associations / planned communities (La. R.S. 9:1141 et seq.) |
|---|---|---|
| Governing statute section(s) | La. R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq.; budget power at 9:1123.102(2)5 | La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq.; budget at 9:1141.342 |
| Community types covered | Residential condominiums6 | Residential planned communities7 |
| Body that adopts the proposed budget | The association, acting through its executive board, under the declaration5 | The board of directors adopts the proposed budget; the lot owners then ratify it2 |
| Approval model | Board/association adoption under the governing documents; no statutory ratification step5 | Board adoption plus affirmative majority owner ratification for communities of more than 25 lots; not negative-option2 |
| Budget summary distribution deadline | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | Not later than 30 days after the board adopts the proposed budget2 |
| Ratification meeting notice window | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | A meeting set no fewer than 10 nor more than 60 days after the summary goes out2 |
| Owner rejection threshold | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | An affirmative majority vote (or any greater vote the declaration specifies) ratifies; no negative-option rejection threshold2 |
| Quorum required to ratify | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | Not separately specified; a majority of the voting interest present at a duly called meeting ratifies8 |
| Effect of owner rejection | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | The budget last ratified continues until the owners ratify a later one2 |
| Statutory cap on assessment increase absent owner vote | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control |
| Special assessment approval threshold | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | The same ratification procedure as the budget (board proposal plus majority owner ratification); an emergency special assessment takes effect immediately on a two-thirds vote of the directors present and voting2 |
| Reserve study mandate (and frequency) | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | No reserve-study mandate; if the budget funds reserves, the summary must state the basis on which they are calculated and funded2 |
| Reserve funding mandate | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control | Not specified by statute; the governing documents control |
| Audit or financial review tied to budget cycle | No audit mandate; the association must keep financial records reasonably available for examination by any unit owner9 | No audit mandate; the association must maintain records, including financial statements and annual reports, and give lot owners access10 |
| Provisions variable by the governing documents | Budget adoption, assessment levy, special assessments, and reserves — the declaration controls5 | Budget format, any greater-than-majority ratification vote, and the assessment method for pre-2025 communities7 |
2B. The budget process under each statute
For condominiums, the Louisiana Condominium Act hands the budget function to the association. Subject to the declaration, the association may "adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves and make and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners."5 The Act sets no statutory deadline, no notice window, no owner-ratification vote, and no day-count for adopting the annual budget. The declaration and bylaws govern those mechanics, which is why you read a Louisiana condominium's budget process out of the governing documents rather than out of the statute. And adopting the budget — the board's planning act — is not the same thing as levying the assessment, the act that creates each owner's common-expense obligation. The Condominium Act treats the levy and collection of common-expense assessments as a power the association exercises under the declaration.5
For planned communities, the picture changed on January 1, 2025. La. R.S. 9:1141.34 now says that, for planned communities of more than 25 lots, the association "shall submit, at least annually, a proposed budget for the planned community for consideration by the lot owners at a duly called meeting."2 No later than 30 days after the board adopts a proposed budget, it must give every lot owner a summary — including any reserves and a statement of the basis on which those reserves are calculated and funded. At the same time, the board sets a ratification meeting for a date no fewer than 10 nor more than 60 days after the summary goes out. A majority vote, or any greater vote the declaration specifies, ratifies the budget. If the owners do not ratify a proposed budget, the last ratified budget continues until they ratify a new one. This is an affirmative-ratification model: the budget takes effect only when owners approve it — the inverse of the UCIOA negative option. For planned communities of 25 or fewer lots, the statute imposes no budget process, and the governing documents control. Here too, adopting the budget is distinct from levying the assessment, which the association does under La. R.S. 9:1141.20 and the community documents.11
2C. Building restrictions, variation, and the corporate-law overlay
Recorded building restrictions are the civil-law foundation of a Louisiana development's rules. Under La. Civ. Code art. 775, they are charges imposed in pursuance of a feasible general plan governing building standards, specified uses, and improvements, and you read them against the Title 9 statutes.3 Act 158 amended La. Civ. Code art. 783, which now resolves any doubt about the existence, validity, or extent of building restrictions in favor of the unrestricted use of the immovable — and provides that the Louisiana Condominium Act, the Louisiana Timesharing Act, and the Louisiana Planned Community Act supersede the building-restriction articles when the two conflict.12
The two statutes differ in how much they leave to the documents. The Condominium Act makes the budget and assessment process almost entirely a matter for the declaration and bylaws.5 The Planned Community Act makes the budget-ratification and special-assessment procedures mandatory for communities of more than 25 lots, while still letting the declaration demand a greater ratification vote and preserving provisions in community documents filed before January 1, 2025.7 Running alongside both statutes is the Louisiana Nonprofit Corporation Law (La. R.S. 12:201 et seq.), the corporate code under which most associations organize. It supplies the corporate formalities — directors, officers, meetings, records — but sets no budget-approval threshold, and it does not displace the budget mechanics of either Title 9 statute.
Section 3: Budget-adjacent obligations
Reserves in the budget
Neither statute orders a reserve study or a reserve-funding minimum. The Condominium Act lets the association budget for reserves but requires none.5 The Planned Community Act asks only that, where the budget funds reserves, the summary state the basis on which they are calculated and funded.2
Special assessments
Under the Condominium Act, the governing documents set special-assessment authority and any approval threshold. Under the Planned Community Act, a special assessment follows the same ratification procedure as the budget — board proposal plus majority owner ratification — with one exception: an emergency special assessment takes effect immediately on a two-thirds vote of the directors present and voting, with prompt notice to all lot owners and spending limited to the emergency itself.2
Assessment increase limits
Neither statute caps assessment increases or limits how much an assessment may rise without an owner vote. Any cap is a matter for the governing documents.
Financial review, audit, and disclosure tied to the budget cycle
Neither statute requires an independent audit. The Condominium Act requires the association to keep financial records detailed enough to support resale disclosures and to make all financial and other records reasonably available for examination by any unit owner.9 The Planned Community Act requires the association to maintain records — including meeting minutes, financial statements, and annual reports — and to give lot owners access to them.10
Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity
Recent bills
The defining development since the last edition is a single, sweeping statute — one that replaced Louisiana's old Homeowners Association Act outright.
SB 23 · Act 158 · 2024 Regular Session
This Act repealed and replaced the Louisiana Homeowners Association Act, renamed it the Louisiana Planned Community Act, and expanded it from nine sections to fifty, modeled on the 2008 Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. It created the budget-ratification and special-assessment procedure at La. R.S. 9:1141.34 and amended La. Civ. Code art. 783. It reaches newly formed planned communities from January 1, 2025, and existing communities from January 1, 2026 — but it does not force associations that existed before January 1, 2025 to amend their documents or to change how they calculate and vote on assessments.
| Property managers | For planned communities of more than 25 lots, build the 30-day summary distribution and the 10-to-60-day ratification-meeting window into your annual budget calendar. |
| HOA board members | You adopt a proposed budget, but in larger planned communities the owners must ratify it by majority vote; if they don't, last year's ratified budget rolls over. |
| Community association attorneys | Confirm whether a client community formed before or after 2025 and whether it tops 25 lots, because those facts decide whether 9:1141.34 applies or the documents alone control. |
| Homeowners | Owners in larger planned communities now hold a statutory vote to ratify the annual budget and most special assessments. |
Recent appellate rulings
Louisiana's appellate courts have not rewritten condominium budget law from the bench. One recent decision, though, shows how a court tests a special assessment against the governing documents — and when it will stop one before it is collected.
Person v. 2434 St. Charles Avenue Condominium Homeowners Association, Inc.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction that barred a condominium association from enforcing a special assessment — the Persons' pro rata share came to $45,980.00, demanded in full by December 31, 2023 — from filing a privilege against the owners' unit, or from restricting use of the unit during the litigation. Reading the Louisiana Condominium Act together with the declaration and bylaws, the court set aside the question of whether the damaged windows were common elements or limited common elements. Instead, it held the special assessment premature: Article 14(B) of the declaration limited the assessment to repair costs above the insurance proceeds, and the amount of those proceeds was still undetermined, pending an arbitration set to begin October 24, 2024.
| Property managers | Don't bill a special assessment whose amount still depends on a pending insurance recovery; wait until the net cost is fixed. |
| HOA board members | Tie special assessments to determined costs, not to insurance recoveries that remain contingent under the declaration. |
| Community association attorneys | The Condominium Act is read against the declaration's terms — here, an insurance-offset clause — when an assessment is challenged, and a premature levy can be enjoined. |
| Homeowners | An owner can seek an injunction against a special assessment that lacks a determined basis in the governing documents. |
Active legislative debates
One measure worth watching is not a bill at all, but a request for a study.
Senate Resolution 18
Senate Resolution 18, by Senator Foil, passed on April 8, 2026. It asks the Louisiana State Law Institute to study whether to carve an exception into the homestead exemption from seizure — an exception for certain unpaid or accelerated costs governed by the Louisiana Condominium Act. The resolution changes no law on its own. But if the study leads to legislation, it could reshape how condominium associations enforce assessments.
| Property managers | Watch this study; a future bill could change how far an association can reach when an owner stops paying. |
| HOA board members | Nothing changes today, but the homestead exemption that now shields a delinquent owner's unit could narrow for condominium debts. |
| Community association attorneys | Track the Law Institute's work, since any recommended exception would alter condominium assessment-enforcement strategy. |
| Homeowners | This is a study, not a law — but condo owners should know lawmakers are looking at the protections around unpaid assessments. |
Section 5: National positioning and related coverage
Louisiana stands alone as the country's only civil-law jurisdiction, and its two non-UCIOA statutes ground the budget process in the recorded building restrictions, declaration, and bylaws rather than in common-law covenant doctrine. Even now that the Planned Community Act has borrowed UCIOA-modeled procedures, Louisiana sits apart from the UCIOA negative-option family: a planned-community budget takes effect only on an affirmative majority ratification, not by default unless someone rejects it. Louisiana also parts ways with California's percentage-cap approach to assessment increases and with the mandatory-reserve states, because neither Louisiana statute imposes a reserve or funding mandate or an increase cap. For a multi-state operator entering Louisiana, the practical point is simple: the civil-law framework and vocabulary differ from every common-law state, and the governing documents control the budget except where the Planned Community Act now supplies a mandatory step.
Federal frameworks — the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC's OTARD rule — apply to Louisiana associations regardless of the state budget framework.
- La. R.S. 9:1141.1 (Louisiana Planned Community Act; short title) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1141.34 (adoption of budgets; ratification; special assessments) ↩
- La. Civ. Code art. 775 (building restrictions) ↩
- 2024 La. Acts No. 158 (enrolled Senate Bill 23) (Louisiana Planned Community Act) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1123.102 (powers of the unit owners' association) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1121.103 (Louisiana Condominium Act; definitions) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1141.3 (applicability) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1141.2(21) (definition of majority vote) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1123.108 (association records) ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1141.36 (association records); digest of Senate Bill 23 ↩
- La. R.S. 9:1141.20 (powers and duties of the lot owners association) ↩
- La. Civ. Code art. 783 (matters of interpretation and application) ↩