Georgia HOA laws & resources.
A guide to the statutes, agencies, and resources that govern homeowners and condominium associations in Georgia.
Laws & regulations impacting Georgia associations.
Georgia has two community-association Acts, and neither applies by default — a condominium is under the Condominium Act only if its instruments submitted it, and a subdivision is under the Property Owners’ Association Act only if it affirmatively elected in. A community under neither runs on its recorded covenants and on Ga. Code § 44-5-60 — together with the federal laws that apply nationwide. HOPB hosts the full text of every one of these Georgia statutes, each with a plain-language guide.
Georgia HOA law guideEvery Georgia statute governing community associations, indexed — and which of the four regimes applies to your community.Four things are worth knowing about how Georgia’s HOA law works:
- Which Act applies is an election, not a date — check that first. The Property Owners’ Association Act governs only the associations that opted into it: a declaration or amendment intending to take its benefits “shall state an affirmative election to be so governed”, and its benefits “may only be claimed by developments submitted to this article” (Ga. Code § 44-3-222; § 44-3-235(c)). A condominium comes under the Condominium Act on the recordation of the declaration and of the required plats and plans (Ga. Code § 44-3-72; § 44-3-74, which requires recording in every county where any portion of the condominium is located), and one created before October 1, 1975 only if its instruments were amended to submit it (§ 44-3-113(a)). A community that elected into neither is governed by its own covenants and by Ga. Code § 44-5-60.
- Your association is also a corporation — and not necessarily a nonprofit one. It must be incorporated “either as a business corporation under Chapter 2 of Title 14 or as a nonprofit membership corporation under Chapter 3 of Title 14” — before recording the declaration in a condominium (§ 44-3-100(a)), and before submission to the article under the POAA (§ 44-3-227(a)). If it took the nonprofit route the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code supplies its corporate rules; if it took the other, the Georgia Business Corporation Code does, and the two differ on things as ordinary as proxies. Georgia has no analogue of the Florida provision that makes the nonprofit code yield to the community-association chapters wholesale, so both remain live. Visit the Georgia Corporations Division↗ to find an association’s corporate status.
- Fair housing protects residents. Georgia’s Fair Housing Law makes it unlawful to refuse to sell or rent, to discriminate in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental, or otherwise to make a dwelling unavailable, because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin (§ 8-3-202(a)), subject to the exemptions in §§ 8-3-202(b), 8-3-202(d) and 8-3-205 — protections parallel to the federal Fair Housing Act it mirrors. The deadlines differ by forum, and the enforcement route is set out under state agencies below. Georgia’s separate disability chapter defines a service dog narrowly and does not decide the reasonable-accommodation question — that distinction is on the related-laws page.
- Around the edges. Covenant duration and automatic renewal, when a newly adopted restriction binds you and the two sections that switch that protection off, the six failures that let owners take control of a dormant association, recording under § 44-2-2, service dogs, volunteer-director immunity, the proxy split between the two corporate codes, and the 1963 Apartment Ownership Act that still governs some pre-1975 condominiums — together with the laws people wrongly assume apply, like the Installment Loan Act and the Solar Easement Act — are collected on the related-laws page.
State government agencies.
- Federal agencies — a list of federal agencies with oversight authority over homeowners’ associations.
- The Fair Housing Division of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity↗ can investigate alleged violations of housing discrimination. It may issue a charge if it concludes reasonable cause exists to believe that unlawful discrimination has occurred. Its board of commissioners is created by Ga. Code § 45-19-23.
A person may file a complaint with the Division not later than one year after the discriminatory housing practice occurred or terminated (§ 8-3-208(a)), or with HUD↗ under the federal Act. A civil action may be brought in an appropriate superior court not later than two years after the practice occurred or terminated or the breach of a conciliation agreement, whichever occurs last (§ 8-3-217(a)(1)) — and that two years does not count time during which an administrative proceeding was pending (§ 8-3-217(a)(2)). Suit may be brought whether or not a complaint was filed, though a conciliation agreement made with the aggrieved person’s consent bars it except to enforce that agreement’s terms (§ 8-3-217(a)(3)), as does an administrative law judge having commenced a hearing on the record.
Recommended reading- Examples of Housing Discrimination↗
- Joint Statement of HUD and Dept. of Justice — Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (2004)
- Joint Statement of HUD and Dept. of Justice — Reasonable Modifications under the Fair Housing Act (2008)
- Bhogaita v. Altamonte Heights Condominium Ass’n, 765 F.3d 1277 (11th Cir. 2014)↗ — the court held that an association violated the Fair Housing Act when it sought to remove a resident’s emotional support dog for exceeding a weight restriction; the 11th Circuit governs Georgia.
- The Georgia Real Estate Commission↗ oversees the licensure, education, and discipline of real estate professionals, a category that can include community association managers — the licensing rules sit in Title 43 and are not reproduced on this site, so check with the Commission before relying on it.
- The Office of the Attorney General↗ plays a vital role in protecting the state’s citizens.
- The Georgia Secretary of State↗ offers information on elections, businesses, licensing, and securities.
HOA contact information and documents.
- The Georgia Homeowners’ Association Directory — visit HOPB’s HOA Directory and select Georgia to reach the state’s official corporate registry (the Secretary of State’s business search), where you can search under the community’s name or subdivision to find an association’s contact information, list of board members, and corporation documents, such as its articles of incorporation.
- Association records (POA Act communities). The duties in this bullet come from Article 6 and bind only a development that made the affirmative election under § 44-3-222; a community that never elected in must look to its own covenants, and to Title 14 if it is incorporated. Where the Act applies, associations must keep true and correct copies of the articles of incorporation and bylaws and all amendments at the principal and the registered offices of the association, and at the declarant’s sales office for as long as the declarant has the right to control the association. Copies must be furnished to any lot owner on request upon payment of a reasonable charge. See Ga. Code § 44-3-227(c).
Associations must also keep detailed minutes, and detailed and accurate financial records:
- minutes of all meetings of the members of the association and the board of directors;
- financial records, including itemized records of all receipts and expenditures; and
- any books and records required by law or necessary to accurately reflect the association’s affairs and activities.
See Ga. Code § 44-3-231(d). At the annual meeting, “comprehensive reports of the affairs, finances, and budget projections of the association shall be made to the lot owners” — and notice of that meeting must be given at least 21 days in advance (Ga. Code § 44-3-230). For associations organized as nonprofit corporations, see also Ga. Code § 14-3-1602 (members’ right to copy and inspect records), which gives a member eight categories of record on five business days’ written notice, and accounting records and the membership list on a proper purpose reasonably relevant to the member’s interest as a member.
- Georgia recorded documents search — visit your county recorder’s office to find an association’s Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs), amendments to CC&Rs, bylaws, lien notices, HOA notices, plats, maps, and other community documents. Recording is what makes those documents bind a later purchaser: under Ga. Code § 44-2-2(c), deeds, mortgages and liens of all kinds required by law to be recorded take effect, as against third parties who have acquired a transfer or lien binding the same property in good faith and without notice, only from the time they are filed for record.
- Georgia Property Records↗ — obtain a property’s legal information by searching under the property address or owner’s name. This tool can also be used to find the subdivision or community name in which a property is located.
Legal resources.
- Homeowners’ Guide to Georgia HOA Laws — a guide to help community members understand the laws that govern condominium and homeowners’ associations in Georgia.
- Related & miscellaneous Georgia statutes — the provisions outside the two community-association Acts that decide most Georgia covenant disputes: covenant duration and renewal, when a new restriction binds you, taking control of a dormant association, recording, service dogs, and the pre-1975 Apartment Ownership Act.
- Facts to Know About Georgia Homeowners’ Associations — find answers about the authority, power, and limitations of homeowners’ associations in Georgia.
- Official Code of Georgia Annotated↗ — access the official O.C.G.A. online.
- Georgia General Assembly↗ — search your state representative and the legislation (or “statutory law”) database.
- Judicial Council of Georgia↗ — the website gives the public access to court information, documents, rules, legal opinions, court cases, self-help services, and lawyer referral services.
- State Bar of Georgia↗ — the office gives the public access to a lawyer directory, a lawyer referral service, free or low-cost legal services, and information to determine if a lawyer is in good standing, verify their malpractice insurance, or file a complaint.
- Georgia Legal Services Program↗ — the agency provides free civil legal services to low-income or senior Georgians outside Atlanta.
- Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution↗ — the agency offers dispute-resolution information and referrals to arbitrators and mediators.
General information, not legal advice. Statutory references are to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, current through the 2026 Special Session of the General Assembly, and may not reflect the most recent amendments.