North Dakota regulates condominium communities under the North Dakota Condominium Ownership of Real Property Act, N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1, which defines condominiums, units, condominium projects, common areas, and recorded declarations.¹ For non-condominium planned communities, the official Century Code identifies no separate planned-community governance act, and nonprofit associations organized as nonprofit corporations look to N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33 for entity-law rules.^2,3 North Dakota's current real-property transfer statute separately requires seller disclosures for property subject to homeowners' association or condominium-project rules.⁴

Civil appeals sit under Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction, while a temporary Court of Appeals may hear only cases assigned by the Supreme Court and remains part of a single appeal process subject to Supreme Court review.^5,6 State sources identify real estate-licensing oversight by the North Dakota Real Estate Commission, not a dedicated HOA regulator.⁷

Recent HOA activity runs narrow, with one enacted 2025 resale-disclosure bill, one failed 2025 board-governance bill, and Supreme Court opinions focused on covenants, waiver, planned-unit development, and architectural approvals.^8,9,10,11 Within the U.S. common-interest framework, North Dakota sits on the lighter statutory end, with emphasis on recorded documents, entity law, resale disclosure, and court enforcement.¹²

2. Primary statute and key resources

North Dakota Condominium Ownership of Real Property Act, N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1. Governs condominiums, units, projects, common areas, and recorded declarations.¹³
North Dakota Nonprofit Corporations Act, N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33. Applies when an association incorporates as a nonprofit.¹⁴
North Dakota appellate structure, N.D. Cent. Code chs. 27-02 and 27-02.1. Appeals remain under Supreme Court jurisdiction, with temporary Court of Appeals assignment by the Supreme Court.^15,16
North Dakota Real Estate Commission. Licenses and regulates real estate agencies, brokers, broker associates, and sales agents.¹⁷
North Dakota Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division. Accepts and screens consumer complaints from North Dakota residents or disputes involving North Dakota businesses.¹⁸

4. North Dakota's recent regulatory landscape

Recent Legislation

North Dakota's 2025 record covers an enacted resale-disclosure statute in SB 2229 and a failed association-governance proposal in SB 2394.

StatusSigned

⌾Last verifiedMay 9, 2026

Docket

SB 2229 · 2025 Regular Session

Effective

Aug 1, 2025

Sunset

N/A

Required disclosures before the sale of a condominium unit or a property subject to a homeowners' association or a condominium project

Synopsis

The Governor signed SB 2229 on March 18, 2025, and the bill created N.D. Cent. Code § 47-10-02.3 for association and condominium-project resale disclosures.[19][20] North Dakota's default effective-date rule makes the law effective August 1, 2025, because the bill text states no different effective date.[21] The statute requires written seller disclosures within the agreed date or within ten days after executing a sale or transfer agreement, and it requires the homeowners' association or condominium project to furnish the required documents within ten days after a seller request.[22] The enacted text does not include a sunset clause, and its disclosure categories, ten-day timing, voidability rules, and buyer-liability limits all flow from § 47-10-02.3.[23][24][25][26][27]

Operational impact

What this means, by role

Property managers	Build resale-package checklists around assessments, governing documents, minutes, reserves, budgets, insurance, litigation, violations, transfer fees, and contacts.
HOA board members	Board-level recordkeeping has closing consequences because the association must furnish the required documents within ten days after a seller request.
Community association attorneys	Purchase-contract risk now includes the statutory voidability period tied to production of association or condominium-project documents.
Homeowners	A buyer is not liable for unpaid assessments or fees above the amount shown in the association or condominium-project documents.

StatusFailed

⌾Last verifiedMay 9, 2026

Docket

SB 2394 · 2025 Regular Session

Effective

N/A

Sunset

N/A

Association community bylaws and board of directors

Synopsis

SB 2394 proposed a new chapter in Title 47 concerning association community bylaws and boards of directors.[28] The Senate rejected the bill after a do-not-pass recommendation, with 0 yeas, 46 nays, and one member absent or excused.[29] The bill did not create an effective date or sunset because it failed, and the failure preserves case-by-case analysis under declarations, bylaws, contracts, and any applicable corporate statute rather than a new Title 47 association chapter.[30][31][32][33][34][35]

Operational impact

What this means, by role

Property managers	No board-bylaw operating rule took effect under SB 2394.
HOA board members	The failed bill still shows that board authority and member-governance topics were before the 2025 session.
Community association attorneys	Continue case-by-case analysis under declarations, bylaws, contracts, and any applicable corporate statute.
Homeowners	SB 2394 did not create new statutory voting, bylaw, or board-rights provisions.

Recent Court Rulings

Recent North Dakota Supreme Court rulings address covenant waiver under a no-waiver clause and the reasonable-care duty in HOA architectural approvals.

StatusFinal

⌾Last verifiedMay 9, 2026

Case

Carpenter v. Southbay Homeowners Association

North Dakota Supreme Court · 2025 ND 114

Decided

Jun 18, 2025

Court

N.D. S. Ct.

Synopsis

The court's official opinion summary states that a right to enforce a restriction may be lost by waiver, that waiver depends on fact, and that a non-waiver provision can be waived only by clear intent to waive both the non-waiver provision and the underlying restriction.[36] Practically, covenant enforcement records and architectural-approval consistency affect waiver arguments, but a no-waiver clause remains meaningful unless clearly waived.[37][38][39][40][41]

Operational impact

What this means, by role

Property managers	Maintain architectural approval history, denial records, and variance records because waiver arguments are fact dependent.
HOA board members	No-waiver language can help, but inconsistent approvals may still create litigation risk.
Community association attorneys	When declaration language contains a no-waiver clause, waiver analysis must account for both the clause and the underlying restriction.
Homeowners	A prior approval or non-enforcement event does not automatically defeat a restriction when the governing documents include non-waiver language.

StatusFinal

⌾Last verifiedMay 9, 2026

Case

Berger, et al. v. Sellers, et al.

North Dakota Supreme Court · 2023 ND 171

Decided

Sep 28, 2023

Court

N.D. S. Ct.

Synopsis

The court's official opinion summary states that restrictive covenants are interpreted as contracts, a planned unit development is treated as a zoning ordinance, and an HOA owes homeowners reasonable care in approving construction plans.[42] The same summary states that homeowners do not have a right to sunlight or open space on adjacent properties and that a fact finder determines whether an HOA used reasonable care.[43] Practically, plan-review files can become evidence in negligence and covenant disputes even where the claimed harm is not itself a protected right to light, view, or open space.[44][45][46][47][48]

Operational impact

What this means, by role

Property managers	Keep plan submissions, architectural decisions, and reasons for approvals in a retained file.
HOA board members	Treat architectural approval decisions as conduct subject to a reasonable-care standard.
Community association attorneys	Separate PUD, covenant, nuisance, and negligence theories because the case summary treats those doctrines differently.
Homeowners	Loss of sunlight or open space on adjacent property is not identified as a homeowner property right in the court's official summary.

Regulatory Developments

North Dakota's regulatory baseline splits between Real Estate Commission licensing oversight and Attorney General consumer complaint intake.

StatusOngoing

⌾Last verifiedMay 9, 2026

Agency

N.D. Real Estate Commission & N.D. Attorney General

Licensing oversight and consumer complaint intake

Issued

N/A

Coverage

Statewide

Synopsis

North Dakota's regulatory baseline splits by subject matter: the Real Estate Commission states that it licenses and regulates real estate agencies, brokers, broker associates, and sales agents, while the Attorney General's consumer complaint process screens complaints from North Dakota residents or disputes involving North Dakota businesses and may refer or mediate matters within its authority.[49][50] Those official sources do not identify a dedicated HOA ombudsman or HOA adjudication office, and they leave private covenant or corporate claims to the courts.[51][52][53][54][55][56][57]

Operational impact

What this means, by role

Property managers	Separate brokerage or real estate-license issues from association governance duties before referring a dispute to the Real Estate Commission.
HOA board members	Consumer complaint intake does not replace governing-document enforcement, board process, or civil litigation.
Community association attorneys	Forum selection should separate real estate-license issues, consumer protection complaints, and private covenant or corporate claims.
Homeowners	The Attorney General channel may accept consumer disputes involving North Dakota businesses, but it is not listed as an HOA appeal body.

Active Policy Debates

The 2025 session shows the policy debate moving through resale disclosure and board-governance proposals: SB 2229 became the operative seller-disclosure statute, while SB 2394 proposed a new association governance chapter and failed in the Senate.^58,59 Based on those bills, the state-law issues most likely to recur are document production, transfer-fee disclosure, reserve-study representations, and whether board standards return in bill form.^60,61

5. Closing note

HOA Weekly's North Dakota coverage will expand as new bills, Supreme Court opinions, temporary Court of Appeals assignments, and agency materials appear.⁶² Federal frameworks, including the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and FCC OTARD rule, also apply to North Dakota associations where their coverage requirements are met, with deeper federal coverage linked from /federal/ when that section is built.^{63,64,65,66,67}

3. Compliance topics grid

1. Introduction

2. Primary statute and key resources

4. North Dakota's recent regulatory landscape

Recent Legislation

SB 2229 · 2025 Regular Session

SB 2394 · 2025 Regular Session

Recent Court Rulings

Carpenter v. Southbay Homeowners Association

Berger, et al. v. Sellers, et al.

Regulatory Developments

N.D. Real Estate Commission & N.D. Attorney General

Active Policy Debates

5. Closing note

Footnotes

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