2026-09-12 · Minnesota · Compliance

What happened. Almost all of Minnesota's HOA Bill of Rights takes effect on 1 January 2027. One section does not. Section 5 of Laws 2026, ch. 82 — amending Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-106(c)(5), the annual report — is the only section of the act that carries no effective-date clause at all.¹

Under Minn. Stat. § 645.02, an act silent on the question takes effect “on August 1 next following its final enactment.”² Chapter 82 was approved on 12 May 2026. Section 5 has therefore been in force since 1 August 2026.

What it requires

The insurance description in the annual report must now state the amount of the association's deductible, and must carry this notice, in these words:

IF THE ASSOCIATION LEVIES A LOSS ASSESSMENT, THE UNIT OWNER IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING IT, EVEN IF THE UNIT OWNER DOES NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT INSURANCE COVERAGE

The statute supplies the text in capitals. It is not a paraphrase requirement.

Two more documents follow in January

Sections 11 and 12 of the same act put parallel language into the declarant disclosure statement (§ 515B.4-1021) and the resale certificate (§ 515B.4-107), effective 1 January 2027. Those versions add a recommendation:

“It is recommended that each unit owner personally purchase insurance coverage for loss assessments in an amount at least equal to the association's deductible, as well as insurance to cover the interior of the unit and personal property. A unit owner should conduct a regular review of their individual insurance policy and increase coverage as necessary to fully cover their portion of the association's deductible.”

The resale certificate also gains a disclosure that the master policy “has deductible amounts for property damage and wind or hail claims that may be assessed to a unit as a 'loss assessment'.”

Why the Legislature wrote it in capitals

Because Minnesota associations have been passing very large deductibles through to owners, and the owners' own policies have not been covering them.

1. Laws 2026, ch. 82 (S.F. 1750), full session-law text — Minnesota Revisor of Statutes ↩
2. Minn. Stat. § 645.02 — default effective date for an act that states none ↩
3. “New Laws 2026: Chapter 82” — Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services ↩
4. Minn. Stat. § 515B.3-106 — bylaws and annual report (codified text) ↩
5. “2024 HOA Insurance Survey Results,” HOA Leadership Network, filed with the Legislative Working Group on Common Interest Communities and HOAs (26 Nov. 2024) ↩
6. Lodges at Oakparke Estates Homeowner’s Ass’n v. Burns & Wilcox, Ltd., No. 24-cv-1682 (D. Minn. 5 Mar. 2025) — order on motion for leave to amend ↩
7. Task Force on Homeowners and Commercial Property Insurance, Final Report to the Minnesota Legislature (13 Feb. 2026) ↩