North Carolina HOA Compliance
3. Compliance topics grid
1. Introduction
North Carolina splits its common-interest community framework between the North Carolina Planned Community Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47F, for planned communities and lot owners' associations, and the North Carolina Condominium Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47C, for condominiums and unit owners' associations.1 Chapter 47F applies to planned communities created in North Carolina on or after January 1, 1999, subject to statutory exceptions, while Chapter 47C applies to condominiums created after October 1, 1986 and applies specified provisions to older condominiums.2
Most association disputes begin in the trial courts, commonly Superior Court for civil matters, then move to the North Carolina Court of Appeals and then the Supreme Court of North Carolina when further review is available.3 The North Carolina Department of Justice's consumer guidance states that no state or federal agency oversees homeowners' associations, and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission licenses real estate brokers rather than serving as a dedicated HOA regulator.4
Recent legislative files and appellate opinions show a moderate to high level of HOA activity, especially around fines, records, rental limits, association contracts, and use restrictions.5 North Carolina fits among states with mature association statutes and recurring owner-protection legislation rather than a centralized administrative oversight model.6
2. Primary statute and key resources
- North Carolina Planned Community Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47F. This chapter governs planned communities and lot owners' associations, with applicability rules in Article 1.7
- North Carolina Condominium Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47C. This chapter governs condominiums and unit owners' associations, with separate applicability rules for older and newer condominiums.8
- North Carolina Judicial Branch. The official court structure includes trial courts, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of North Carolina.9
- North Carolina Real Estate Commission. The Commission licenses real estate brokers and firms, but does not serve as a dedicated HOA regulator.10
- North Carolina Department of Justice. NCDOJ publishes HOA consumer guidance and operates the state consumer complaint portal.11
4. North Carolina's recent regulatory landscape
Recent Legislation
North Carolina's record covers pending 2025-2026 proposals on HOA reform, home-based business fairness, DOJ complaint oversight, and bans on regulating gardens, ADUs, and solar panels.
HB 444 · 2025-2026 Session
The bill's full title states that it would make various changes to laws governing unit owners' associations and lot owners' associations, mandate prelitigation mediation of association disputes, and require the Department of Justice to collect and report on association complaints.[12] The House re-referred it to House Judiciary 1 on May 6, 2025, and official summaries describe proposed changes affecting records requests, fine notices, fine liens, budget increases, and complaint reporting.[13]
| Property managers | Records, fines, budgets, and complaint intake would require closer process tracking if enacted. |
| HOA board members | Boards would face more formal steps before fines, liens, and certain budget increases. |
| Community association attorneys | Governing documents and collection procedures would need review against the proposed statutory process. |
| Homeowners | Owners would receive clearer procedural rights for records, fines, mediation, and complaints. |
HB 372 · 2025-2026 Session
Full title: an act to provide that cities shall not prohibit certain home-based businesses within their jurisdictional limits, to amend laws governing owners' associations in condominiums and planned communities, to mandate prelitigation mediation of disputes between owners' associations and their members, and to require the Department of Justice to collect and report on submitted association complaints. The bill proposes amendments to Chapters 47C and 47F involving association contracts, enforcement of some public-street parking limits, home-based instructional uses, fine hearing notice, lender questionnaire charges, and limits on managing-agent compensation tied to fines.[14] The bill passed the House, moved to the Senate, and was re-referred to Senate Judiciary on June 11, 2025; one draft provision would apply the fine-compensation limit to contracts entered on or after January 1, 2026.[15]
| Property managers | Audit management contracts, hearing notices, and fine revenue arrangements before renewal. |
| HOA board members | Boards would have less flexibility over some contracts, fines, parking enforcement, and small instructional uses. |
| Community association attorneys | Contract clauses, fine policies, and use restrictions would need targeted statutory review. |
| Homeowners | Owners could gain protection for limited home-based activities and certain parking practices. |
HB 1174 · 2025-2026 Session
The bill's title states that it would require the Department of Justice to oversee complaints regarding owners' associations and their members and to issue both committee and public reports.[16] The introduced bill would create a DOJ complaint process for disputes between associations and members, including intake by phone, mail, and online submission, and the House referred it to Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House after first reading.[17]
| Property managers | Complaint response files and board communications would become more important if DOJ reporting begins. |
| HOA board members | Boards would need documented responses to owner complaints sent through the state process. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel would likely standardize complaint response protocols and privilege controls. |
| Homeowners | Owners would have a state intake channel for association disputes, without a merits ruling by a court. |
HB 1212 · 2025-2026 Session
Full title: an act to ban homeowners' associations from regulating gardens, accessory dwelling units, and solar panels and to ban unit owners' associations from regulating solar panels. The bill proposes limits on association regulation of gardens, accessory dwelling units, and solar panels in planned communities and condominiums.[18] The House referred it to Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House on May 5, 2026.[19]
| Property managers | Architectural-control checklists would need revision for garden, ADU, and solar requests. |
| HOA board members | Boards would lose some authority over common owner modification categories if enacted. |
| Community association attorneys | Declaration restrictions and ARC standards would need statutory conflict review. |
| Homeowners | Owners could receive broader statutory protection for certain residential improvements. |
Recent Court Rulings
Recent North Carolina appellate rulings test covenant interpretation through fact evidence and the limits of short-term rental amendments in planned communities and condominiums.
Schroeder v. Oak Grove Farm Homeowners Ass'n
The Supreme Court of North Carolina reversed the Court of Appeals and held that the trial court properly denied the homeowners' directed verdict and JNOV motions because more than a scintilla of evidence supported the jury's finding that the owners' chickens were not household pets under the restrictive covenants.[20] The ruling reminds associations and owners that covenant disputes may turn on fact evidence when a restriction uses ordinary terms and the record supports competing interpretations.[21]
| Property managers | Covenant enforcement records should preserve factual evidence, not only the text of the restriction. |
| HOA board members | Board decisions on animal restrictions should reflect the covenant language and the evidence reviewed. |
| Community association attorneys | Litigation strategy should separate legal interpretation from fact questions likely to reach a jury. |
| Homeowners | Owners may need evidence showing how a use fits within a covenant exception. |
McDougald v. White Oak Plantation Homeowners Ass'n, Inc.
The Court of Appeals addressed restrictive covenants and the North Carolina Planned Community Act in a dispute involving a homeowners' association amendment restricting short-term rentals.[22] The decision reinforces that rental amendments in planned communities can require fact-specific review of reasonableness and existing ownership expectations.[23]
| Property managers | Document rental-rule changes with owner notice, voting records, and enforcement rationale. |
| HOA board members | Boards should expect short-term rental amendments to draw close review. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should test rental restrictions against both statutory authority and common-law reasonableness. |
| Homeowners | Owners with existing rental use may have arguments against later blanket restrictions. |
Mileview LLC v. The Reserve II at Sugar Mountain Condominium Owners' Ass'n
The Court of Appeals held that an amendment prohibiting short-term rentals was unreasonable where the original condominium declaration contemplated rental use and did not contain comparable rental prohibitions.[24] The opinion signals that condominium rental restrictions adopted after purchase may face a reasonableness challenge when they conflict with declaration language that allowed or assumed rental activity.[25]
| Property managers | Collect rental history and original declaration language before enforcing new rental bans. |
| HOA board members | Boards should not assume that a valid vote alone makes a rental ban enforceable. |
| Community association attorneys | Amendment drafting should account for prior declaration text and owner reliance. |
| Homeowners | Owners may challenge later restrictions that conflict with original rental expectations. |
Regulatory Developments
North Carolina's regulatory record points to the House Select Committee on Homeowners' Associations final report from February 28, 2024.
N.C. House Select Committee on Homeowners' Associations
The North Carolina General Assembly's public documents page lists a February 28, 2024 final report from the House Select Committee on Homeowners' Associations.[26] The Assembly created the committee to study current laws governing homeowners' associations, remedies available to homeowners, and which executive agencies were best positioned to handle homeowner complaints.[27]
| Property managers | State complaint reporting remains an active legislative target. |
| HOA board members | Boards should expect continued scrutiny of fines, records, mediation, and owner complaint handling. |
| Community association attorneys | The report record helps explain why later bills focus on DOJ intake and association process controls. |
| Homeowners | Owner complaint access is a recurring topic even without a dedicated HOA agency. |
Active Policy Debates
Current debate concentrates on whether North Carolina should move HOA complaints into a Department of Justice intake and reporting model, and whether state law should limit association control over home-based activities, public-street parking enforcement, gardens, ADUs, and solar panels.28
5. Closing note
HOA Weekly's North Carolina coverage will expand as new bills, appellate opinions, and regulatory materials emerge. Federal frameworks, including the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD rules,29 also apply to North Carolina associations and should be tracked through /federal/ once that section is built.
Footnotes
- North Carolina General Assembly, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47F, North Carolina Planned Community Act ↩
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-1-102, Applicability and N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47C-1-102, Applicability ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Structure of the Courts ↩
- North Carolina Department of Justice, Homeowners' Associations and North Carolina Real Estate Commission, Real Estate Licensing in North Carolina ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 444, 2025-2026 session, House Bill 372, 2025-2026 session, House Bill 1212, 2025-2026 session, and Mileview LLC v. The Reserve II at Sugar Mountain Condominium Owners' Ass'n ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47F, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47C, and North Carolina Department of Justice, Homeowners' Associations ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47F ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, N.C. Gen. Stat. ch. 47C ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Structure of the Courts ↩
- North Carolina Real Estate Commission, Real Estate Licensing in North Carolina and North Carolina Department of Justice, Homeowners' Associations ↩
- North Carolina Department of Justice, Homeowners' Associations and North Carolina Department of Justice, Consumer Complaint ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 444, Third Edition PDF ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 444 Bill Summaries, 2025-2026 session ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 372, Fourth Edition PDF ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 372, Home-Based Business Fairness/HOA Revisions, 2025-2026 session and House Bill 372, Fourth Edition PDF ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1174, First Edition PDF ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1174, First Edition PDF and House Bill 1174 Bill Lookup ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1212, First Edition PDF ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1212, HOA Accessory Limitation Ban, 2025-2026 session ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Schroeder v. Oak Grove Farm Homeowners Ass'n, No. 123PA24 ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Schroeder v. Oak Grove Farm Homeowners Ass'n, No. 123PA24 ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, McDougald v. White Oak Plantation Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. COA23-756 ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, McDougald v. White Oak Plantation Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., No. COA23-756 ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Mileview LLC v. The Reserve II at Sugar Mountain Condominium Owners' Ass'n, No. COA23-603 ↩
- North Carolina Judicial Branch, Mileview LLC v. The Reserve II at Sugar Mountain Condominium Owners' Ass'n, No. COA23-603 ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Select Committee on Homeowners' Associations Documents ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 311 Bill Summary, House Select Committee on Homeowners' Associations ↩
- North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1174, HOA Oversight Act, House Bill 372, Home-Based Business Fairness/HOA Revisions, and House Bill 1212, HOA Accessory Limitation Ban ↩
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Housing Act Overview, ADA.gov, Americans with Disabilities Act, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation F, U.S. Department of Justice, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and Federal Communications Commission, Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule ↩