Tennessee HOA Mediation & Dispute Resolution

Section 1: Overview — How HOA disputes are resolved in Tennessee

Tennessee handles community-association disputes through a contract-and-court model layered on split condominium statutes. The state divides its trial courts in two: Chancery Courts hear equity, and Circuit Courts hear actions at law.¹ The Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008 (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-201 et seq.) governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 2009; the predecessor Horizontal Property Act (§ 66-27-101 et seq.) governs those created earlier; and non-condominium planned communities answer to recorded CC&Rs and the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act.² Chancery Courts exercise equity jurisdiction over covenant enforcement, injunctions, and declaratory relief, while Circuit Courts handle damages claims at law.¹ Tennessee's arbitration statute — still titled the Uniform Arbitration Act (§ 29-5-301 et seq.) — generally enforces contractual arbitration clauses in declarations; the General Assembly repealed and reenacted it in 2023 to adopt the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act model, subject to Federal Arbitration Act preemption for interstate-commerce contracts.³ Courts may send civil cases, community-association disputes included, to mediation and other ADR through neutrals approved under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31.⁴ Nationally, Tennessee counts as a UCIOA-derived-condominium state — its 2008 Act draws on the condominium provisions of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act — rather than a full UCIOA state, and it has no dedicated HOA regulator, no ombudsman, and no community-association-manager licensing.² The sections that follow map the statutory framework, the arbitration and court-ordered ADR overlay, the CC&R-based clauses that do most of the work in planned communities, and the operational path from internal hearing through appeal.

Section 2: The dispute resolution framework

2A. Statutory dispute resolution under the condominium statutes

The Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008 supplies the enforcement architecture for condominiums created on or after January 1, 2009.⁵ Section 66-27-211 provides that any right or obligation the Act declares is enforceable by judicial proceeding, that any person harmed by noncompliance with the Act, declaration, or bylaws has a claim for appropriate relief, and that a court may award reasonable attorney's fees "in an appropriate case involving willful failure to comply."⁶ That fee award is discretionary and keyed to willful noncompliance, and because "person" includes the association itself, an owner can invoke the provision against a board as readily as a board can invoke it against an owner.⁶ Section 66-27-402(a)(11) lets the association levy reasonable fines for violations only "after notice and an opportunity to be heard" — the Act's principal procedural protection before an adverse action.⁷ Section 66-27-415 gives the association a lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and fines from the moment they come due, enforceable by judicial foreclosure once recorded, and it extinguishes the lien if the association does not start enforcement within six years.⁸ The Act imposes no comprehensive mandatory pre-suit ADR regime; Tennessee does not require HOA pre-suit mediation the way California or Florida does.⁶ Which statute governs a condominium turns on its creation date — the date someone recorded the declaration (formerly the master deed).⁵ Condominiums created before January 1, 2009 remain under the Horizontal Property Act, except that certain provisions of the 2008 Act reach back to events occurring after January 1, 2009, and older condominiums may opt into the 2008 Act by amending and restating their governing documents.⁵ Non-condominium planned communities have no comprehensive Tennessee statute; their dispute-resolution authority comes from recorded CC&Rs and, where the association is incorporated, the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act (§ 48-51-101 et seq.).²

2B. General civil ADR and arbitration

Recorded declarations' arbitration clauses are generally enforceable under Tennessee's arbitration statute, which keeps the codified short title "Uniform Arbitration Act" at Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-5-301.⁹ In 2023 the General Assembly repealed and reenacted Part 3 to adopt the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act model that the Uniform Law Commission promulgated, effective July 1, 2023 (2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 319); as one Tennessee ADR provider put it, "In April 2023, Tennessee became the 23rd state to sign the RUAA, replacing the UAA, which will come into effect on July 1, 2023."¹⁰ The reenacted act governs arbitration agreements made on or after July 1, 2023 and reaches earlier agreements only if all parties agree (§ 29-5-304).¹⁰ For contracts involving interstate commerce, the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) applies and can preempt conflicting state law; the Tennessee Supreme Court has long enforced arbitration agreements, including those presented as contracts of adhesion, and treats the state validity provision as substantially the same as FAA § 2.¹¹ Separately, Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 lets a court — on a party's motion or on its own initiative — order the parties to an eligible civil action into mediation or a judicial settlement conference through a Rule 31 listed neutral, with case evaluation available when the parties consent.⁴ The Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission trains, approves, and lists Rule 31 mediators through the Administrative Office of the Courts.⁴ Rule 31A covers other neutrals — those conducting non-binding arbitration and case evaluation — who must be attorneys.¹² Referral is discretionary rather than automatic, an eligible civil action covers most civil filings, and a community-association case in Chancery or Circuit Court faces referral like any other civil matter.⁴ For lower-value assessment or fine disputes, General Sessions Courts serve as Tennessee's small-claims forum, with civil jurisdiction up to $25,000 in most counties under § 16-15-501; four urban counties — Anderson, Davidson (Nashville), Hamilton (Chattanooga), and Knox (Knoxville) — cap civil jurisdiction at $15,000, and appeal runs de novo to Circuit Court.¹³

2C. CC&R-based dispute resolution and order of precedence

The recorded declaration is the operative contract in most disputes, and in planned communities it does nearly all the work because no general planned-community statute supplies default rules.² Tennessee courts enforce recorded CC&Rs as binding contracts, and common clause types include mediation conditions precedent that require negotiation or mediation before suit, arbitration provisions, venue and choice-of-forum terms, and prevailing-party attorney-fee clauses.¹⁴ Declarations also commonly set up internal grievance procedures and architectural-review processes that an owner must exhaust or engage before escalating.¹⁵ The order of precedence runs from the applicable condominium statute, to the declaration or CC&Rs, to the bylaws, to the rules, with the declaration prevailing over the bylaws except where it conflicts with the Act.¹⁶ Operationally, this means the first document to consult in any Tennessee association dispute is the recorded declaration, because whether mediation is a precondition to suit, whether arbitration is compelled, and whether fees are recoverable usually turn on what the declaration says rather than what a statute requires.

Section 3: Dispute resolution pathways and obligations

A. Internal / association-level resolution

For condominiums, § 66-27-402(a)(11) requires notice and an opportunity to be heard before the association levies a fine — a statutory obligation that applies to condominiums under the 2008 Act.⁷ For planned communities, any notice-and-hearing right is contractual and arises only from the CC&Rs or, for incorporated associations, the Nonprofit Corporation Act, because no general HOA statute imposes one.² Internal grievance and architectural-review procedures are declaration-based in both settings, and Tennessee gives these internal decisions no administrative or agency forum to review them.²

B. Mediation

Court-ordered mediation and judicial settlement conferences arise under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 — a rule-based pathway available in any eligible civil action, whether the community is a condominium or a planned community.⁴ Referral is discretionary, not mandatory; the court may order it on a party's motion or on its own initiative.⁴ At the neutral's request, the court may charge the costs of a Rule 31 neutral as court costs, and it may waive or reduce them.⁴ Rule 31 proceedings are confidential: the neutral files only a report stating whether the matter resolved, and Tennessee Rule of Evidence 408 keeps statements made in mediation inadmissible to the extent it provides.¹²

C. Arbitration

Arbitration is contractual: it arises from an arbitration clause in the recorded declaration, and it applies to condominiums or planned communities depending on the governing document.¹⁴ Enforceability runs through the state Uniform Arbitration Act (§ 29-5-301 et seq., as reenacted in 2023) and, for interstate-commerce contracts, the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.).¹⁰ Whether an award binds the parties depends on the clause and the process they choose; court-annexed non-binding arbitration is a separate mechanism under Rule 31A that attorney neutrals conduct.¹²

D. Litigation and appeals

Litigation is the default pathway, and the forum turns on the relief sought. Chancery Court exercises equity jurisdiction over covenant enforcement, injunctions, specific performance, and declaratory relief — the relief associations most often seek.¹ Circuit Court exercises jurisdiction over actions at law, including damages claims.¹ General Sessions Courts hear lower-value matters up to $25,000 in most counties under § 16-15-501, with a $15,000 cap in Anderson, Davidson, Hamilton, and Knox counties, and a de novo appeal to Circuit Court.¹³ Civil appeals go to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and the Tennessee Supreme Court reviews them at its discretion; Tennessee has a single court of last resort, and the Court of Criminal Appeals handles criminal matters only and stays out of the civil HOA path.¹⁷ The six-year limitations period for actions on contracts and for rent under § 28-3-109 generally governs covenant-enforcement and assessment-collection actions, and § 66-27-415 extinguishes a condominium assessment lien if the association does not enforce it within six years.¹⁸ Tennessee provides no administrative or agency forum for HOA disputes, so litigation and contractual ADR are the only external avenues.²

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

One recent enactment reaches straight into the machinery behind every Tennessee arbitration clause.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Two recent decisions set how Tennessee courts read covenant language when an association tries to enforce it.

C. Active legislative debates

A proposed Tennessee Homeowners Association Act — introduced in prior sessions as SB405 and its successors — would build a comprehensive planned-community framework much like the condominium statutes, but no version has become law, so planned communities keep relying on CC&Rs and the Nonprofit Corporation Act.²² Condominium bills addressing declarant escrow deposits (HB871 / SB1079) came before the 2025-2026 General Assembly, tying disbursement to a final court order.²³

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Tennessee is a UCIOA-derived-condominium state rather than a full UCIOA state: its 2008 Condominium Act adopts the condominium provisions of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, but the state kept the predecessor Horizontal Property Act for older condominiums and never enacted a comprehensive planned-community statute, leaving CC&Rs and the Nonprofit Corporation Act to govern non-condominium associations.² That sets Tennessee apart from comprehensive single-framework states such as California and Florida, which regulate most common-interest communities under one statutory scheme, and apart from full-UCIOA states that apply one uniform act across condominiums, cooperatives, and planned communities. The distinctive feature is the bifurcated trial court paired with court-ordered ADR: equitable enforcement — the relief associations most often seek — proceeds in Chancery, damages claims proceed in Circuit, and courts refer many civil cases to mediation under Rule 31.¹ For multi-state operators, the practical implication is that Tennessee strategy depends more on choosing the correct trial court and reading the recorded declaration than on consulting a single HOA code.

Federal frameworks also bear on Tennessee association disputes regardless of the state framework, notably the Federal Arbitration Act, along with 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.

Recommendations

Stage one — at intake of any live Tennessee dispute: determine the community type and, for condominiums, the creation date, because that single fact selects the governing framework, whether that is the 2008 Condominium Act, the Horizontal Property Act, or CC&Rs plus nonprofit law. If the matter is a condominium fine, confirm that the association gave notice and an opportunity to be heard under § 66-27-402(a)(11) before it acted; a skipped hearing is a threshold defect. Pull the recorded declaration first and read it for a mediation condition precedent, an arbitration clause, a venue term, and a prevailing-party fee provision, because those contractual terms — not a statute — usually decide the procedural path.

Stage two — choosing the forum: file equitable claims (covenant enforcement, injunctions, declaratory relief) in Chancery Court and damages claims in Circuit Court, and route assessment or fine disputes at or below the county jurisdictional cap ($25,000 in most counties, $15,000 in Anderson, Davidson, Hamilton, and Knox) to General Sessions for speed, accepting the de novo appeal risk. If the declaration contains an arbitration clause and the contract touches interstate commerce, expect the Federal Arbitration Act to control enforceability; if the agreement postdates July 1, 2023, apply the reenacted state act.

Stage three — ADR posture: treat a Rule 31 referral as likely in any contested Chancery or Circuit case and prepare for confidential mediation early, because a mediated agreement forecloses the appeal exposure that follows a General Sessions judgment. A few benchmarks would change this guidance: enactment of a Tennessee Homeowners Association Act (which would supply default rules and possibly a pre-suit ADR requirement for planned communities), any appellate decision narrowing Pandharipande's strict-construction rule, or a legislative fine cap or mandatory-mediation statute. Monitor capitol.tn.gov each session, because Tennessee runs a two-year General Assembly, so a bill introduced in the first year can carry over.

Caveats

Two points here correct assumptions that appear in older secondary sources. First, Tennessee no longer uses the 1956-model Uniform Arbitration Act: the General Assembly repealed and reenacted Part 3 effective July 1, 2023 to adopt the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act model, though the codified short title in § 29-5-301 remains "Uniform Arbitration Act." Editors should not describe Tennessee as using only the old UAA, and should not cite a statute literally named "Tennessee Revised Uniform Arbitration Act," because that is not the codified short title. Second, research could not machine-retrieve the verbatim wording of the reenacted § 29-5-304 applicability provision from an official source; the official legislative summary confirms the substantive rule — prospective application to agreements made on or after July 1, 2023, with opt-in for earlier agreements by party agreement — but counsel should confirm the exact subsection text against the printed Tennessee Code or a subscription database before quoting it. The Lone Mountain Shores opinion is styled from tncourts.gov and captioned with the parties the enricher confirmed; its precise Southwestern Reporter citation was not available at publication. Dollar thresholds, county caps, and interest rates change, so verify current figures before you rely on them in a filing.

1. Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, About the Trial Courts (Chancery Courts are courts of equity; Circuit Courts hear cases at law) ↩
2. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-201 (short title, Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008); Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-101 (Horizontal Property Act); Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-51-101 et seq. (Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
3. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-5-301 (short title "Uniform Arbitration Act"; repealed and reenacted by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 319, eff. 7/1/2023) ↩
4. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31, Alternative Dispute Resolution — Mediation (court may order eligible civil actions to mediation; ADRC lists Rule 31 mediators; cost provisions) ↩
5. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-202 (applicability; applies to condominiums created after January 1, 2009; opt-in for existing condominiums; certain provisions reach pre-2009 condominiums for post-2009 events) ↩
6. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-211 (enforcement by judicial proceeding; claim for appropriate relief; discretionary reasonable attorney's fees for willful failure to comply; "person" includes the association) ↩
7. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-402(a)(11) (association may levy reasonable fines only after notice and an opportunity to be heard) ↩
8. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-415 (association lien for assessments and fines; judicial foreclosure; extinguished if not enforced within six years) ↩
9. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-5-301 ("This part is known and may be cited as the 'Uniform Arbitration Act.'") ↩
10. Tennessee General Assembly, HB1162 / SB775, 113th General Assembly (Public Chapter 319, eff. July 1, 2023; revisions to the Uniform Arbitration Act based on the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act; applies to agreements made on or after the effective date, § 29-5-304) ↩
11. Buraczynski v. Eyring, 919 S.W.2d 314 (Tenn. 1996) (arbitration agreements, including adhesion contracts, enforceable; Tennessee policy favors enforcement; state validity provision substantially the same as Federal Arbitration Act § 2) ↩
12. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31A (case evaluation, judicial settlement conference, non-binding arbitration; neutrals must be attorneys; confidentiality and Tenn. R. Evid. 408; cost provisions) ↩
13. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-15-501 (General Sessions civil jurisdictional limit of $25,000; $15,000 in Anderson, Davidson, Hamilton, and Knox counties; de novo appeal to Circuit Court) ↩
14. Pandharipande v. FSD Corp., 679 S.W.3d 610 (Tenn. 2023) (recorded covenants enforced as binding restrictions running with the land) ↩
15. Avalon Sections 4, 6, and 7 Homeowners Association v. Chaudhuri, No. M2013-02346-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014) (architectural-review covenants enforceable where the reviewing body acts reasonably and in good faith) ↩
16. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-301 et seq. (in the event of a conflict between the declaration and the bylaws, the declaration prevails except to the extent inconsistent with the Act) ↩
17. Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, Court of Appeals (hears civil appeals; decisions appealable by permission to the Tennessee Supreme Court) and Supreme Court (single court of last resort) ↩
18. Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109 (six-year limitations period for actions on contracts not otherwise provided for and for rent); cf. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-415 (condominium lien extinguished if not enforced within six years) ↩
19. HB1162 (2023), enrolled text ("This act takes effect July 1, 2023"; provisions on provisional remedies, consolidation, arbitrator disclosure and immunity, punitive damages and attorney's fees, electronic signatures) ↩
20. Pandharipande v. FSD Corporation, 679 S.W.3d 610 (Tenn. Oct. 17, 2023) (covenants strictly construed; 1984 residential-use covenant did not bar short-term rentals; 2018 amendment requiring 30-day minimum lease did) ↩
21. Lone Mountain Shores Owners Association, Inc. v. Bennafield, No. E2024-00569-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. 2025) (2013 amended covenants ambiguous as to short-term rentals and unenforceable to enjoin; applying Pandharipande) ↩
22. SB0405 (Tennessee Homeowners Association Act, introduced; not enacted) ↩
23. Tennessee HB871 / SB1079, 2025-2026 (declarant access to and use of condominium purchase/reservation deposits; amends Title 66) ↩