Arkansas Horizontal Property Act
Arkansas’s condominium statute is opt-in: it governs your community only if a master deed was recorded electing it. It is also short — twenty sections that say what the master deed must contain, how common elements are owned, and who pays for what. What it conspicuously does not do is create an assessment lien, a foreclosure remedy, an open-meeting rule, or a fine procedure. The full statutory text, hosted for reference, with a plain-language guide for homeowners.
The Arkansas Horizontal Property Act (A.C.A. § 18-13-101 et seq.) is Arkansas’s condominium statute. “Horizontal property regime” is simply the older term for a condominium, and the chapter uses apartment where most states now say unit — the definition says so in terms: “‘Apartment’ includes a unit” (§ 18-13-102(1)(C)).
Start here: this act is opt-in, and it may not govern you at all
This is the most important thing on the page, and it is where Arkansas differs sharply from states like Arizona or Florida. A horizontal property regime is created only by recording a master deed executed by everyone holding an interest in the real property that will be conveyed to unit owners — plus any lessor whose lease termination would end or shrink the regime — and recorded in every county where the property sits (§§ 18-13-103, 18-13-104). There is no automatic coverage. If no master deed was recorded electing this chapter, this act does not govern your community.
And if it does not, there is no general fallback statute waiting behind it. Arkansas has no planned-community or property owners’ association act — no equivalent of the acts that cover non-condominium HOAs in most states. For a subdivision-style Arkansas HOA the governing law is your recorded declaration (§ 18-12-103), plus whichever nonprofit corporate code applies to your association, plus general property law. So the first question is not “what does the statute say” — it is “was a master deed recorded?” Your county recorder can answer that.
One more scope note worth knowing: this chapter was materially amended by Acts 2025, No. 516, which added the modern declarant-rights and development-rights machinery and imposed assessment obligations on declarants. It is not the dormant 1961 statute it is sometimes described as.
The master deed is your real rulebook
Because the chapter is thin, the master deed carries almost all the weight. Section 18-13-104(b) lists thirteen particulars it must express, including the boundaries of each apartment, the general and limited common elements, each apartment’s allocated interest in the common elements and in common expenses (which need not be the same figure), its share of the votes, the formula behind those allocations, the maximum number of apartments, the declarant’s development rights and the time limit for exercising them, and the method of amending the deed itself.
- Amendment takes unanimity by default. “Except as may otherwise be provided in a master deed, an amendment to a master deed requires consent of all apartment owners or unit owners” (§ 18-13-104(c)). Most master deeds set a lower bar — but if yours is silent, one owner can block a change.
- Your percentage is permanent. The allocation “shall have a permanent character and shall not be altered without the acquiescence of the co-owners representing all the apartments or units” — the one exception being a declarant adding or withdrawing apartments under reserved development rights (§ 18-13-112(b)).
- Plans must be attached and certified. A full and exact copy of the building plans is recorded with the master deed, showing the dimensions, area and location of every apartment and of the common elements giving access to it, certified by a licensed engineer or architect (§ 18-13-105).
- Bylaws are recorded too, appended to or inserted in the master deed, and must cover the form of administration, how co-owners are summoned, how common expenses are collected, and upkeep of the common elements — with at least 51% required to adopt decisions (§ 18-13-108(b)). Changing the system of administration takes co-owners representing two-thirds of total value, and is not operative until recorded (§ 18-13-109).
Money: what you owe, and what the association can actually do about it
Section 18-13-116 is the money section, and reading it closely matters because what it leaves out is as important as what it says.
- What you owe. Co-owners pay according to the percentages set in the master deed toward administration, maintenance and repair of the general and limited common elements, plus any other expense lawfully agreed upon (§ 18-13-116(a)(1)).
- Renting out your unit can cost extra. The administration may levy additional assessments on a co-owner who makes the apartment available for rent or lease, but only in an amount “reasonably calculated to cover expenses for additional security, wear and tear on buildings, additional trash pickup, and other additional costs occasioned by” the rental (§ 18-13-116(a)(2)). A rental surcharge untethered from actual added cost is outside that authority.
- You cannot opt out. The duty to pay under § 18-13-116(a)(1) is unconditional, and § 18-13-116(b)(1) adds that a co-owner may not escape contributing “by waiver of the use or enjoyment of the common elements or by abandonment of the apartment or unit.” Read the wording closely though: as amended in 2025, (b)(1) cross-references the expenses “under subdivision (a)(2)(A)” — the rental additional assessments — so the no-waiver sentence is textually anchored to that provision rather than to the general assessment obligation, which stands on its own under (a)(1).
- The declarant has to pay too. Added in 2025: until declarant control ends or five years after the declarant’s first conveyance, whichever is earlier, the declarant must periodically pay either all operational expenses not covered by other owners’ assessments, or the common expenses allocated to each apartment it owns (§ 18-13-116(b)(2), (3)).
- Interest, if the association sets it. A past-due assessment or installment “may bear interest at a lawful rate established by the association” (§ 18-13-116(b)(4)).
Now the part that surprises people. This chapter creates no recorded assessment lien and no foreclosure remedy. Read all twenty sections and neither appears. What § 18-13-116(c) gives the association instead is a priority out of the sale proceeds: when an apartment is sold or conveyed, unpaid assessments “shall first be paid out of the sales price or by the acquirer in preference over any other assessments or charges of whatever nature,” except past-due taxes, tax liens and tax charges on the unit — which under § 18-13-120(a)(1) reach charges of any special improvement district or other taxing authority, not just ad valorem property tax — and payments due under recorded mortgage instruments. That is a claim that pays off at closing — not a lien the association can foreclose on to force a sale.
It matters that Arkansas’s Statutory Foreclosure Act (A.C.A. § 18-50-101 et seq.) is built entirely around mortgages and deeds of trust — every operative definition in § 18-50-101 is framed in those terms, and § 18-50-102(a) limits who may foreclose under it to Arkansas-licensed attorney trustees or attorneys-in-fact maintaining an in-state office open to the public, chartered banking and mortgage-servicing institutions with an Arkansas location, and state agencies or authorities — an association is none of these. So that non-judicial route is not a general collection tool for assessment debt. An association pursuing an unpaid owner in Arkansas is ordinarily left with an ordinary lawsuit and the sale-proceeds priority above, unless the master deed itself created a security instrument.
Buyers, read this twice. The purchaser of an apartment is jointly and severally liable with the seller for the amounts the seller owed up to the conveyance — with a right to recover from the seller afterward (§ 18-13-116(d)). Ask for a written statement of the account before closing.
The records right the statute does give you
It is easy to miss because of how it is worded, but § 18-13-110 is a genuine transparency provision. The administrator or board shall keep a book with a detailed account, in chronological order, of receipts and expenditures affecting the building and its administration, specifying maintenance and repair costs of the common elements and any other expenses. And both the book and the vouchers backing up the entries must be “available for examination by all the co-owners at convenient hours on working days that shall be set and announced for general knowledge” (§ 18-13-110(b)).
Note what that does and does not reach. It is an accounting record with its supporting vouchers — not the broad “all books and records” inspection right many states give, and there is no stated deadline, no copying rule and no penalty for refusal. If your association is incorporated, the nonprofit corporate code supplies a separate and in some respects broader set of record-keeping and inspection provisions, which is worth checking alongside this section.
Common elements, insurance, and rebuilding
- Common elements cannot be carved up. They “shall remain undivided and shall not be the object of an action for partition or division of the co-ownership. Any covenant to the contrary shall be void” (§ 18-13-114(a)). Each co-owner may use them for their intended purpose without encroaching on others’ rights.
- Insurance is a majority decision, and it does not displace your own coverage — each co-owner keeps the right to insure their own apartment for their own benefit (§ 18-13-117).
- Proceeds rebuild the building — but rebuilding is not compulsory when the reconstruction would comprise the whole or more than two-thirds of it; in that case, absent unanimous agreement, the indemnity is distributed pro rata under the bylaws or by a decision of three-fourths of the co-owners (§ 18-13-118).
- If there is no insurance, or not enough, reconstruction costs fall on the co-owners directly affected, in proportion to their apartment values or as the bylaws provide. If a minority refuses to pay, the majority may proceed at the expense of all owners benefited, on a proper resolution setting out the circumstances and cost (§ 18-13-119).
Ownership, conveyancing and tax
- Your apartment is independent property. Once submitted to the regime it may be conveyed, encumbered, owned, possessed and sold as though entirely independent of the rest of the building (§ 18-13-111), and may be held in any recognized tenancy — joint tenants, tenants in common, tenants by the entirety (§ 18-13-113).
- Short-form descriptions work. A conveyance describing the apartment by its plan letter or number followed by “in Horizontal Property Regime” is a good and sufficient description, and it automatically carries the undivided interest in the common elements without spelling it out (§ 18-13-115).
- Taxed separately — and protected separately. Taxes and assessments are levied against each individual apartment and carried on the tax books as a separate entity, not against the building as a whole. No forfeiture or tax sale of the building as a whole can divest your title so long as your own apartment’s taxes are current (§ 18-13-120).
- The regime can be undone. All co-owners may waive the regime and merge the apartment records back into the whole property, if the apartments are unencumbered or the creditors agree to accept the undivided portions as security — and the property can later be constituted into a new regime (§ 18-13-107).
What this act does not give you
Set expectations honestly. Reading all twenty sections, the Horizontal Property Act contains no open-meeting requirement, no procedure for fines or penalties, no notice-and-hearing right before enforcement, no cap on assessment increases, no proxy or absentee-ballot rules, no attorney-fee provision, and no state agency or administrative forum to complain to. Several of those are things Arizona, Florida and other states write into their condominium acts; Arkansas does not.
What fills the gap is your own documents and, where the association is incorporated, the corporate code. That makes reading the master deed and recorded bylaws unusually important here — in Arkansas they are not a supplement to the statute, they are most of the law that governs you.
How it fits with Arkansas’s other community laws
Most Arkansas associations are also incorporated, and which corporate statute applies turns on when: associations incorporated on or after January 1, 1994 fall under the Arkansas Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993, while older ones remain under preexisting law — normally the 1963 Act — unless they elected, irrevocably and by amending their articles, to be governed by the 1993 Act (§ 4-33-1701), with a separate regime for unincorporated associations. Housing-discrimination questions run through the Arkansas Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act and the federal Fair Housing Act. If a third party is chasing your assessments, Arkansas has its own Fair Debt Collection Practices Act with a private right of action. Return to the Arkansas HOA laws hub for the full set.
Contents · 20 sections ▾
- 18-13-101 Title.
- 18-13-102 Definitions.
- 18-13-103 Establishment of horizontal property regimes.
- 18-13-104 Master deed.
- 18-13-105 Plans to be attached to master deed.
- 18-13-106 Additional units in excess of those described in master deed.
- 18-13-107 Waiver and reestablishment of regimes.
- 18-13-108 Bylaws.
- 18-13-109 Modification of administration.
- 18-13-110 Book of receipts and expenditures — Examination.
- 18-13-111 Status of individual units.
- 18-13-112 Ownership and valuation of separate units and common elements.
- 18-13-113 Types of joint ownership.
- 18-13-114 Common elements.
- 18-13-115 Conveyances.
- 18-13-116 Liability for expenses and assessments.
- 18-13-117 Insurance generally.
- 18-13-118 Application of insurance proceeds to reconstruction.
- 18-13-119 Sharing of reconstruction costs when building not insured or indemnity insufficient.
- 18-13-120 Taxation.
This chapter shall be known as the “Horizontal Property Act”.
As used in this chapter:
(1)(A) “Apartment” means a physical portion of the property that:
(i) Is subject to a master deed designated for separate ownership or occupancy, the boundaries of which are described by the master deed and delineated on the plans provided for in § 18-13-105; and
(ii) May be further subdivided into additional units or apartments by the establishment of a subordinate master deed.
(B) Except as otherwise provided by the master deed or plans provided for in § 18-13-105:
(i) If walls, floors, or ceilings are designated as boundaries of an apartment or unit, then all lath, furring, wallboard, plasterboard, plaster, paneling, tiles, wallpaper, paint, finished flooring, and any other materials constituting part of the finished surfaces are a part of the apartment or unit, and all other portions of the walls, floors, or ceilings are a part of the common elements of the apartment or unit;
(ii) If any chute, flue, duct, wire, conduit, bearing wall, bearing column, or any other fixture is partially within and partially outside the designated boundaries of the apartment or unit, then the portion serving only that apartment or unit is a limited common element allocated solely to that apartment or unit, and the portion serving more than one (1) apartment or unit or the common elements is a part of the general common elements;
(iii) Subject to subdivision (1)(B)(ii) of this section, the spaces, interior partitions, and other fixtures and improvements within the boundaries of an apartment or unit are a part of the apartment or unit; and
(iv) Shutters, awnings, window boxes, doorsteps, stoops, porches, balconies, patios, exterior doors, and exterior windows or other fixtures designed to serve a single apartment or unit, but located outside the apartment or unit's boundaries, are limited common elements allocated exclusively to that apartment or unit.
(C) “Apartment” includes a unit;
(2)(A)
(i) “Common elements” means all portions of a condominium other than the apartments or units as stated in the master deed.
(ii) “Common elements” includes both general common elements and limited common elements.
(B) Subject to the master deed, a declarant has an easement through the common elements as may be reasonably necessary for discharging the declarant's obligations or exercising special declarant rights whether or not arising under this chapter or reserved by the master deed;
(3) “Co-owner” means a person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof, who owns an apartment within the building;
(4)(A) “Council of co-owners” means all the co-owners as defined in subdivision (2) of this section.
(B) However, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a majority of co-owners, as defined in subdivision (6) of this section, shall constitute a quorum for the adoption of decisions;
(5) “Declarant” means a person, group of persons, entity, or group of entities, acting in concert, that:
(A) As part of a common promotional plan, offers to dispose of the person's interest in an apartment or unit not previously disposed of; or
(B) Reserves or succeeds to any development right under a master deed;
(6) “Development rights” means a right or combination of rights reserved by a declarant in the master deed, without necessity of consent by any other apartment owner or unit owner, to:
(A) Add real property to a master deed;
(B) Create an apartment or unit, common elements, or limited common elements by amendment to a master deed;
(C) Subdivide an apartment or unit, or convert an apartment or unit into common elements by amendment to a master deed;
(D) Withdraw real property from a master deed;
(E) Complete improvements indicated on plans under § 18-13-105;
(F) Make the horizontal property regime part of another development;
(G) Maintain sales, management, leasing offices, and signs advertising the horizontal property regime and models;
(H) Amend a master deed to comply with mortgage underwriting requirements; or
(I) Use an easement through the common elements for the purpose of making improvements within the horizontal property regime or within real property that may be added to the horizontal property regime;
(7) “General common elements” means the common elements that are not limited common elements;
(8) “Limited common elements” means a portion of the common elements allocated by the master deed or by operation of an apartment under subdivision (1) of this section for the exclusive use of one (1) or more owners but less than all of the owners;
(9) “Majority of co-owners” means fifty-one percent (51%) or more of the basic value of the property as a whole, in accordance with the percentages computed in accordance with the provisions of § 18-13-112;
(10) “Master deed” means the deed establishing the horizontal property regime;
(11) “Person” means an individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof;
(12) “Property” means the land, the building, all improvements and structures thereon, and all easements, rights, and appurtenances belonging thereto;
(13) “To record” means to record in accordance with the provisions of §§ 14-15-402, 14-15-404, 14-15- 407 — 14-15-417, and 16-46-101 or other applicable recording statutes; and
(14) All pronouns include the male, female, and neuter genders and include the singular or plural numbers, as the case may be.
(a) A horizontal property regime may be created under this chapter only by recording a master deed executed in the same manner as a deed by all persons who have an interest in the real property that will be conveyed to an owner of an apartment or unit and by every lessor of a lease of an interest in real property that will be subject to the master deed, the expiration or termination of which will terminate the horizontal property regime or reduce the size of a horizontal property regime.
(b) A master deed shall be recorded in each county in which any portion of the real property that is subject to the horizontal property regime is located stating the particulars enumerated in § 18-13-104, and thereafter shall be established a horizontal property regime.
(c) An apartment or unit in an existing horizontal property regime may be further lawfully subdivided into subordinate subunits by the recordation of one (1) or more additional subordinate master deeds that:
(1) Comply with the requirements of this chapter; and
(2) Are permitted in the master deed or are pursuant to any rights reserved in favor of the declarant under the master deed or this chapter.
(d)(1) If a contract for the sale of a condominium ownership interest contains the legend described in subdivision (d)(3) of this section, a declarant may, according to the contractual provisions, use a deposit or down payment for the acquisition of an apartment or unit upon the commencement of construction of the structure of the condominium property in which the purchaser's apartment or unit will be located and use the deposit or down payment in the actual construction and development of the condominium property.
(2) The declarant shall not use the deposit or down payment described under subdivision (d)(1) of this section for:
(A) Advertising purposes; or
(B) The salary, commission, or expenses of an agent.
(3) A contract that permits withdrawals of a deposit or down payment for the purposes described in subdivision (d)(1) of this section shall include the following legend conspicuously printed or stamped in boldface type, on the first page of the contract and immediately above the signature of the purchaser: “Purchaser acknowledges that, under this contract, the seller may withdraw and then use for construction and development of the condominium property a deposit or down payment that the purchaser makes before closing.”.
(a) The master deed creating and establishing the horizontal property regime shall be:
(1) Executed by the declarant or owner or owners of the real property making up the horizontal property regime; and
(2) Recorded in the office of the clerk and ex officio recorder of the county where the real property subject to the horizontal property regime is located.
(b) A master deed shall express the following particulars:
(1) The description of the real property subject to the horizontal property regime;
(2) The name of the declarant, if any, reserving the development rights and special declarant rights under this chapter, and a time limit, if applicable, for which each of the development rights or special declarant rights shall be exercised;
(3) The name of the association, if any, or a description of the operations or rights reserved to the council of co-owners, in either case that will:
(A) Enforce the terms and conditions expressed in the master deed; and
(B) Operate and manage the common elements;
(4) A description of the boundaries of each apartment or unit created by the master deed, including without limitation the apartment's or unit's identifying number and any other data necessary for the identification of the apartment or unit;
(5) The description of the general common elements and, in proper cases, of the limited common elements restricted to a given number of apartments or units, expressing which are those apartments or units;
(6) An allocation to each apartment or unit of the apartment's or unit's allocated interests in the common elements and common expenses, which the allocation does not have to be equal to each other such that an allocation of interests in the common elements may differ from the apartment's or the unit's allocation of common expenses;
(7) A statement of the maximum number of apartments or units that may be created within the horizontal property regime but subject to any development rights under § 18-13-102(6);
(8) The time period in which any development rights that are reserved by a declarant in a master deed may be exercised;
(9) The method of amending a master deed;
(10) The allocation to each apartment or unit a portion of the votes in the association;
(11) The formula used to establish the allocations under subdivision (b)(6) of this section;
(12) If the master deed permits an apartment or unit to be added to or withdrawn from the horizontal property regime, state the formula that shall be used to reallocate the allocated interest among the apartments and units included in the horizontal property regime after the addition or withdrawal of an apartment or unit; and
(13) Any other matters a declarant considers appropriate.
(c) Except as may otherwise be provided in a master deed, an amendment to a master deed requires consent of all apartment owners or unit owners.
(a)(1) There shall be attached to the master deed, at the time it is filed for record, a full and exact copy of the plans of any existing building on the property or the plans for the building or buildings to be constructed thereon. The copy of the plans shall be entered of record along with the master deed.
(2) The plans shall show graphically all particulars of the building constructed or to be constructed, including, but not limited to, the dimensions, area, and location of each apartment therein and the dimensions, area, and location of common elements affording access to each apartment. Other common elements, both limited and general, shall be shown graphically, insofar as possible, and shall be described in detail in words and figures.
(3) The plan shall be certified by an engineer or architect authorized and licensed to practice his or her profession in this state.
(b) Each apartment in a building shall be designated, on the plans referred to in subsection (a) of this section, by letter or number or other appropriate designation.
(a) The sole owner or co-owners of property constituted and established under this chapter as a horizontal property regime may, by description of their intentions in the master deed provided for in § 18-13-104, provide for the addition of apartments or units in the horizontal property regime in excess of those for which specific plans are initially recorded with the master deed.
(b) With reference to any such additional buildings, the plans recorded with the master deed shall reflect:
(1) The area of the property within which the additional apartments or units will be constructed;
(2) The maximum and minimum number of square feet and the maximum and minimum number of additional apartments or units to be constructed;
(3) A general description of any rights in the common elements to be enjoyed by the owners of any additional units or apartments;
(4) The date prior to which final detailed plans for the additional units or apartments will be recorded, with the amendment to the master deed reflecting the revised information to be included in the master deed pursuant to § 18-13-104; and
(5) A covenant and warranty extending to each and all of the owners of individual units or apartments in the regime that any such construction would be of similar quality, in a workmanlike manner, and in the same architectural style as the original buildings in the regime and that the construction will conform, generally, with the specifications set forth in the master deed as required in § 18-13-104.
(c)(1) Any property purportedly established as a horizontal property regime pursuant to this chapter and otherwise complying with it, but which at the time of the recording of the master deed called for in § 18- 13-104 did not have one (1) or more completed buildings thereon or which provided for additional or future construction of one (1) or more buildings in addition to those for which plans were initially recorded with the master deed, shall for all purposes be considered and treated as a horizontal property regime in accordance with this chapter.
(2) All mortgages thereof or conveyances thereof as such heretofore occurring shall, likewise, for all purposes be deemed as effective mortgages and conveyances of the same as against any claim that the regime was improperly established at the time thereof.
(a) All of the co-owners or the sole owner of a building or property constituted into a horizontal property regime may waive this regime and regroup or merge the records of the individual apartments, or anticipated apartments, with the principal property if the individual apartments are unencumbered or, if encumbered, if the creditors in whose behalf the encumbrances are recorded agree to accept as such security the undivided portions of the property owned by the debtors.
(b) The merger provided for in subsection (a) of this section shall in no way bar the subsequent constitution of the property into another horizontal property regime whenever so desired and upon observance of the provisions of this chapter.
(a) The administration of every building constituted into horizontal property shall be governed by bylaws which shall be inserted in, or appended to, and recorded with the master deed.
(b) The bylaws must necessarily provide for at least the following:
(1) Form of administration, indicating whether this shall be in charge of an administrator or of a board of administration, or otherwise, and specifying the powers, manner of removal, and, where proper, the compensation thereof;
(2) Method of calling or summoning the co-owners to assemble, that a majority of at least fifty-one percent (51%) is required to adopt decisions, who is to preside over the meeting, and who will keep the minute book wherein the resolutions shall be recorded;
(3) Care, upkeep, and surveillance of the building and its general or limited common elements and services;
(4) Manner of collecting from the co-owners for the payment of the common expenses; and
(5) Designation and dismissal of the personnel necessary for the works and the general or limited common services of the building.
(c)(1) A horizontal property regime may enter into a partnership with a private actor as provided by § 14- 96-201 et seq. to:
(A) Contract for, or provide, promote, and support broadband internet service through, a public-private partnership under § 14-96-201 et seq.; and
(B) Finance public capital facilities or projects that include broadband internet service.
(2) A horizontal property regime in existence on and after January 1, 2021, may conduct any of the activities in subdivision (c)(1) of this section using the procedures to adopt decisions under the bylaws of the horizontal property regime.
(a) The sole owner of the building or, if there is more than one (1), the co-owners representing two- thirds ( ⅔ ) of the total value of the building may, at any time, modify the system of administration, but each one of the particulars set forth in § 18-13-108 shall always be embodied in the bylaws.
(b) No such modification may be operative until it is embodied in a recorded instrument, which shall be recorded in the same office and in the same manner as was the master deed and original bylaws of the horizontal property regime involved.
(a) The administrator, the board of administration, or other form of administration specified in the bylaws shall keep a book with a detailed account, in chronological order, of the receipts and expenditures affecting the building and its administration and specifying the maintenance and repair expenses of the common elements and any other expenses incurred.
(b) Both the book and the vouchers accrediting the entries made thereupon shall be available for examination by all the co-owners at convenient hours on working days that shall be set and announced for general knowledge.
Once the property is submitted to the horizontal property regime, an apartment in the building may be individually conveyed and encumbered and may be the subject of ownership, possession, or sale and of all types of juridic acts intervivos or causa mortis as if it were sole and entirely independent of the other apartments in the building of which it forms a part, and the corresponding individual titles and interests shall be recordable.
(a)(1) An apartment owner or unit owner shall have the exclusive ownership of his or her apartment or unit and shall have a common right to a share, with the other co-owners, in the common elements of the property as stated in the master deed.
(2) The master deed may provide different allocations of votes that are to be made to the apartments or units on particular matters specified in the master deed.
(b) The percentage shall be expressed at the time the horizontal property regime is constituted, shall have a permanent character, and shall not be altered without the acquiescence of the co-owners representing all the apartments or units except as described under § 18-13-104(b)(12) due to a declarant's addition or withdrawal of an apartment or unit in the horizontal property regime according to the declarant's development rights.
Any apartment may be held and owned by more than one (1) person as joint tenants, as tenants in common, as tenants by the entirety, or in any other real estate tenancy relationship recognized under the laws of this state.
(a) The common elements, both general and limited, shall remain undivided and shall not be the object of an action for partition or division of the co-ownership. Any covenant to the contrary shall be void.
(b) Each co-owner may use the elements held in common in accordance with the purpose for which they are intended, without hindering or encroaching upon the lawful rights of the other co-owners.
(a) Any conveyance or other instrument affecting title to an apartment which describes the apartment by using the plan letter or number followed by the words “in Horizontal Property Regime” shall be deemed to contain a good and sufficient description for all purposes.
(b) Any conveyance of an individual apartment shall be deemed to also convey the undivided interest of the owner in the common elements, both general and limited, appertaining to the apartment without specifically or particularly referring to it.
(a)(1) The co-owners of an apartment or unit are bound to pay according to the percentages established by a master deed toward:
(A) The expenses of administration and of maintenance and repair of the general common elements and the limited common elements of the building; and
(B) Any other expense lawfully agreed upon.
(2)(A) However, the administrator, board of administration, or other form of administration of a horizontal property regime may establish additional assessments to be collected from a co-owner who makes his or her apartment or unit available for rent or lease either directly or through an agent.
(B) The additional assessments shall not exceed the amount reasonably calculated to cover expenses for additional security, wear and tear on buildings, additional trash pickup, and other additional costs occasioned by the apartment or unit being available for rent or lease.
(b)(1) A co-owner shall not exempt himself or herself from contributing toward the expenses under subdivision (a)(2)(A) of this section by waiver of the use or enjoyment of the common elements or by abandonment of the apartment or unit belonging to him or her.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (b)(1) of this section, the declarant, from the date of the initial assessment until the declarant's control of the association terminates, or five (5) years from a declarant's first conveyance of a unit or apartment, whichever is earlier, shall periodically pay to the association:
(A) An amount equal to all operational expenses of the association, less the operational expense portion of the assessments paid by an owner of an apartment or an owner of a unit other than the declarant; or
(B) The common expenses allocated to each apartment or unit owned by the declarant.
(3) Common expenses shall be assessed against all apartments and units conveyed, rented, or used as models or offices by the declarant, and all apartments or units owned by a declarant after termination of a declarant's control of the association or five (5) years from a declarant's first conveyance of an apartment or unit, whichever is earlier, according to the common expenses allocated to each apartment or unit.
(4) A past due assessment or installment of an assessment may bear interest at a lawful rate established by the association.
(c) Upon the sale or conveyance of an apartment or unit, all unpaid assessments against a co-owner for his or her pro rata share in the expenses to which subsection (a) of this section refers shall first be paid out of the sales price or by the acquirer in preference over any other assessments or charges of whatever nature except the following:
(1) Assessments, liens, and charges for taxes past due and unpaid on the apartment or unit; and
(2) Payments due under mortgage instruments of encumbrance recorded.
(d) The purchaser of an apartment or unit shall be jointly and severally liable with the seller for the amounts owing by the seller under subsection (a) of this section up to the time of the conveyance, without prejudice to the purchaser's right to recover from the other party the amounts paid by him or her as the joint debtor.
The co-owners may, upon resolution of a majority, insure the building against risk, without prejudice to the right of each co-owner to insure his or her apartment on his or her own account and for his or her own benefit.
(a) In case of fire or any other disaster, the insurance indemnity shall, except as provided in subsection
(b) of this section, be applied to reconstruct the building.
(b) Reconstruction shall not be compulsory when it comprises the whole or more than two-thirds ( ⅔ ) of the building. In such case, and unless otherwise unanimously agreed upon by the co-owners, the indemnity shall be delivered pro rata to the co-owners entitled to it in accordance with provision made in the bylaws or in accordance with a decision of three-fourths (¾) of the co-owners if there is no bylaw provision.
(c) Should it be proper to proceed with the reconstruction, the provisions for such eventuality made in the bylaws shall be observed, or in lieu thereof the decision of the council of co-owners shall prevail.
(a) When the building is not insured or when the insurance indemnity is insufficient to cover the cost of reconstruction, the new building costs shall be paid by all the co-owners directly affected by the damage in proportion to the value of their respective apartments, or as may be provided by the bylaws.
(b) If any one (1) or more of those composing the minority shall refuse to make such payment, the majority may proceed with the reconstruction at the expense of all the co-owners benefited thereby, upon proper resolution setting forth the circumstances of the case and the cost of the works, with the intervention of the council of co-owners.
(c) The provisions of this section may be changed by unanimous resolution of the parties concerned adopted subsequent to the date on which the fire or other disaster occurred.
(a)(1) Taxes, assessments, and other charges of this state, of any political subdivision, of any special improvement district, or of any other taxing or assessing authority shall be assessed against and collected on each individual apartment.
(2) Each tax, assessment, or other charge on the apartment shall be carried on the tax books as a separate and distinct entity for that purpose and not on the building or property as a whole.
(b) No forfeiture or sale of the building or property as a whole for delinquent taxes, assessments, or charges shall ever divest or in any way affect the title to an individual apartment so long as taxes, assessments, and charges on the individual apartment are currently paid.
General information, not legal advice. Statutory text is reproduced from the official Arkansas source and may not reflect the most recent amendments.