Executive Summary - GA Senate Bill 406/Act 715
©2026 Cobb, Olson & Andrle LLC
1. Separate GaSOS Registration; Limitations on Fines / Fees / Liens / Foreclosure (effective 1/1/2027)
Georgia Senate Bill 406, now Act 715, creates a new registration system for residential owners' associations through the Georgia Secretary of State (“GaSOS”). The new law broadly applies to residential owners' associations, including condominium associations and property owners' associations, as well as other residential associations falling within the Act's definition.
Beginning January 1, 2027, an owners' association that intends to exercise the rights available to a “registered association” must separately register with the GaSOS under new Chapter 17A of Title 43. This registration is separate from an association's existing corporate registration with the Secretary of State, if the association is incorporated. The initial registration and each annual renewal cost $100.00.
The registration statement must include the association's governing documents and, at a minimum, the association's name, address, and officers, together with a financial statement dated no more than one year before the filing. The registration expires December 31 of each year and must be renewed annually. Changes in the association's name, address, officers, or other matters materially affecting its business and control must be reported by amended registration within 30 days.
Registered associations will also become subject to increased GaSOS oversight. Records relating to governing documents, finances, assessments, fines, fees, liens, and foreclosures are subject to reasonable examination by the Secretary of State. In specified circumstances and where the Secretary determines that action is in the public interest, the Secretary may deny, suspend, or revoke an association's registration, limit the fines or fees it may collect, or bar certain officers, directors, trustees, executive personnel, or Board members. The Secretary also has subpoena and investigative authority in proceedings under the Act.
Registered owners' associations must maintain for at least ten years records, including electronic records, relating to assessments, fines, fees, liens, and foreclosures. Those records must be maintained at an office in Georgia or, if the association has no Georgia office, at its principal office.
The Act also gives an entity that would otherwise constitute an owners' association the ability to affirmatively elect not to register by giving written notice to the Secretary of State. The entity then becomes a “nonregistered owners' association” and elects not otherwise to comply with Chapter 17A. A nonregistered association is expressly prohibited from assessing or collecting fines, fees, or accelerated assessments. Thus, contrary to prior Georgia practice, a nonregistered association cannot accelerate future installments of assessments even if its governing documents otherwise authorize acceleration.
There is a drafting issue in the Act concerning liens and foreclosures by nonregistered associations. Section 43-17A-2 states that an “owners' association” may not collect fines or fees, record liens, or initiate foreclosure unless registered; however, the Act's definition of “owners' association” expressly excludes a “nonregistered owners' association.” Because of that wording, the application of the lien and foreclosure prohibition to an association that formally opts out is not as clear as it could have been.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle believes that associations intending to continue using fines, fees, liens, foreclosure remedies, and the other powers afforded registered associations should register with the GaSOS. Associations should begin preparing now for the annual financial statement requirement, governing-document filing, record-retention requirements, and annual registration fee.
2. GaSOS Complaint System Created (effective 1/1/2027)
Act 715 creates an entirely new administrative complaint process through the Georgia Secretary of State.
Any person residing in an owners' development (owner or tenant) who claims to have been damaged by an owners' association's action or inaction may file a written complaint with the GaSOS within 180 days of the alleged action or inaction. Thus, the statute is not limited to record owners; a tenant or other resident may potentially qualify. The complainant must allege that he or she was damaged by the complained-of action or inaction.
The Secretary of State appoints a hearing officer, who investigates the allegations and may, in the hearing officer's discretion, order a hearing. If a hearing occurs, the hearing officer must report findings and render conclusions immediately following the hearing, and the parties then have 15 days to satisfy those conclusions. The statute does not establish a specific deadline within which the initial investigation must be completed.
Importantly, filing a complaint creates an automatic stay prohibiting the respondent from collecting or attempting to collect from the complainant any fines or fees that are the subject of the complaint or related to its subject matter. Ordinarily, the stay expires when the hearing officer renders conclusions following the hearing, although the hearing officer may extend the stay for an additional 15 days.
The nonprevailing party in a hearing is subject to a $100 administrative service fee payable to the Secretary of State.
An adversely affected party may obtain de novo judicial review of an applicable Secretary of State order or hearing-officer decision. If the amount demanded or value of the property claimed falls within the $15,000 jurisdictional limit of Magistrate Court, the appeal goes to the magistrate court in the county where the largest portion of the development is located; otherwise, the appeal goes to Superior Court. The petition for review must be served upon the Secretary of State within 20 days after entry of the order. A magistrate court decision may thereafter be reviewed pursuant to Chapter 3 of Title 5.
Because Chapter 17A defines “owners' association” to exclude an association that formally elects nonregistered status, there is a substantial textual argument that this new Chapter 17A complaint procedure applies to registered associations, rather than nonregistered associations. The Secretary of State's forthcoming regulations and administrative interpretations may provide additional guidance on this issue.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle believes that associations should begin preparing now for the GaSOS complaint process. Associations should have procedures for immediately forwarding complaints to management and association counsel, preserving relevant records and communications, and identifying whether a complaint has triggered the statutory stay against collection of particular fines or fees.
We also recommend that associations budget for the additional legal and administrative expense that this new state-agency complaint procedure is likely to generate.
3. Order of Application of Payments; No Dues Acceleration or Partial Payment Rejection (effective 1/1/2027)
Act 715 establishes a mandatory order in which a registered owners' association must apply all money received from an owner, regardless of a contrary allocation provision in the association's governing documents.
Payments must be applied in the following order:
Regular assessments or dues, until current;
Special assessments, until current;
Specific assessments, until current; and
Other fees and fines.
The Act separately defines these categories. Regular assessments are recurring assessments used to fund the association's regular operating budget. Special assessments are assessments imposed for costs outside the regular operating budget. Specific assessments include certain owner-specific remediation costs and fees or fines arising from nonpayment, insufficient payment, untimely payment, or covenant violations.
A registered owners' association also may not refuse to accept a payment from an owner in any amount for any assessment and may not assess or collect accelerated assessments. This overrides collection practices under governing documents that previously authorized an association to reject partial payments or accelerate future installments after a default.
Nonregistered associations are also expressly prohibited from assessing or collecting accelerated assessments.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle believes that all associations planning to register should communicate now with their management companies, accountants, collection vendors, and software providers. Payment-allocation rules and collection software should be modified before January 1, 2027 so that payments are automatically applied in the statutory order. Existing practices involving acceleration of annual assessments or rejection of partial payments should likewise be discontinued where the new Act prohibits them.
4. Expanded Right to Inspect/Demand Records (effective 1/1/2027)
Act 715 creates a new statutory list of rights for owners in associations governed by Chapter 17A.
Among the most significant is the right, upon written demand and subject to Georgia law and the governing documents, to inspect and obtain copies of association records, including specified “accounting records.” The Act identifies those accounting records as the association's:
finalized balance sheet;
budget;
profit and loss statements; and
bank statements for the preceding three years.
Owners may also demand a copy of the association's certificate of insurance for association insurance obtained for the owner's benefit that may apply to a potential or submitted claim.
The Act also identifies other owner rights, including reasonable notice of membership meetings; attendance at membership meetings, which must be held at least annually; access to common areas subject to the governing documents; ingress and egress to individually owned property; statutory foreclosure notice and process; amendment rights under applicable voting thresholds; good-faith and ordinary-care performance by directors; disclosure by directors of conflicting interests; and the right to challenge unlawful discrimination.
One provision deserves particular attention. Owners are given the right to be free from governing documents that interfere with residents' freedom to determine the composition of their household, subject to an association's ability under state and federal law to require occupants to constitute a single housekeeping unit, establish lawful occupancy limits, and regulate each household's fair-share use of common facilities, including parking. Associations with governing-document provisions regulating who may reside together should have those provisions reviewed before January 1, 2027.
Because the Act defines “owners' association” so as to exclude a formally nonregistered association, we read these new Chapter 17A rights as statutory rights applicable to owners in registered associations. Owners in nonregistered associations may nevertheless have separate inspection and other rights under the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code, the Georgia Condominium Act, the Property Owners' Association Act, or the association's governing documents.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle recommends that registered associations prepare now to respond efficiently to record/document demands. As a practical matter, maintaining commonly requested records in a secure homeowner portal may substantially reduce the administrative burden associated with individual records requests. Account and routing numbers and other confidential information should, of course, be appropriately protected or redacted.
We recommend that associations maintain a homeowner website or portal or to provide every document online free of charge, to minimize claims that documents were not readily accessible.
We also continue to recommend that important Board decisions—including actions taken outside a formal meeting when legally permissible—be appropriately memorialized in the association's corporate records and minutes. Accurate records will become increasingly important in responding to owner requests, Secretary of State inquiries, and administrative complaints.
5. Limits on POA Foreclosure Rights; Expanded Lien Period (effective 1/1/2027)
(This section applies to communities governed by the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act (“POAA”). Act 715 did not make corresponding amendments to the Georgia Condominium Act foreclosure statute or O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60.)
Act 715 makes judicial foreclosure under the POAA more restrictive.
Under amended O.C.G.A. § 44-3-232(c), foreclosure is prohibited unless the qualifying lien amount reaches the lesser of $4,000 or an amount equal to 12 months of regular assessments, subject to an absolute floor of $2,000.
We read the reference to “12 months of regular assessments” as a valuation formula, rather than as a requirement that the account actually remain delinquent for 12 months before a foreclosure can be sought.
The Act expressly provides that specific assessments and other fines or fees may not be included in calculating whether the foreclosure threshold has been reached. “Specific assessment” is itself a defined term and includes owner-specific repair/remediation assessments as well as certain fees or fines for nonpayment, insufficient payment, untimely payment, or covenant violations.
Importantly, the statute does not exclude “special assessments.” Special assessments and specific assessments are separately defined terms under Act 715. Accordingly, those terms should not be used interchangeably when calculating a POAA foreclosure balance.
Because the definition of a “specific assessment” includes fees or fines imposed for nonpayment or untimely payment, we recommend a conservative approach when determining whether late-payment charges may be used to satisfy the statutory foreclosure threshold. The Act separately requires the pre-foreclosure notice to disclose authorized late charges and the applicable interest rate, but that does not necessarily mean that every late-payment charge is included in the threshold calculation.
The pre-foreclosure notice period also increases from 30 days to 60 days. The required notice must be sent by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, to the lot address and any other address the owner has designated in writing. The notice must identify assessments then due and payable, authorized late charges and the interest rate, and advise that payment before the sixtieth day following receipt eliminates the right of foreclosure.
At the same time, the POAA lien period is extended. A lien for an assessment installment, together with applicable late charges and interest, will lapse six years after the assessment or installment first became due and payable, rather than four years under the former statute.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle recommends that POA communities review delinquent accounts before January 1, 2027 with association counsel. Communities contemplating foreclosure under the existing statutory standard should determine whether action should appropriately be commenced before the new threshold and notice provisions become effective. Associations should not assume that balances consisting primarily of fines, specific assessments, attorney's fees, and other fees will qualify for foreclosure under the new calculation.
After January 1, 2027, POA judicial foreclosure will be a more limited collection remedy, particularly for communities with relatively low annual assessments.
6. Limitations on POA Attorney’s Fees, Outstanding Fines and Delinquent Fees (effective 7/1/2026)
(This section applies to associations governed by the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act. Act 715 did not enact a corresponding amendment to the Georgia Condominium Act or O.C.G.A. § 44-5-60.)
Effective July 1, 2026, before a POA association may collect or be awarded attorney's fees, it must satisfy new statutory notice requirements, except where emergency conditions involving public safety or preservation of property necessitate otherwise.
The association or its agent must first send the lot owner, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, a written notice identifying any outstanding fines or delinquent fees. The owner must then be afforded 30 days from receipt of that notice to pay those outstanding fines or delinquent fees. The association must also provide an itemized list of the reasonable attorney's fees claimed.
The statutory language specifically requires an itemized list of attorney's fees claimed. Accordingly, we recommend that POAs use a separate itemization sufficiently identifying the claimed attorney's fees rather than relying solely upon a lump-sum, indefinite ledger entry.
The statute further provides that, in a bench trial involving an action to recover sums assessed against a lot owner, the judge must review the attorney-fee claim for reasonableness and enter an order stating whether the fees were reasonable before those attorney's fees may be awarded.
This expressly applies to court actions filed on or after July 1, 2026.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle recommends that all POA communities immediately review their collection and demand-letter procedures. Management companies, collection agencies, and self-managed associations should ensure that the required notice is transmitted by an authorized statutory method, that the owner is given the required 30-day period, and that attorney's fees are separately and adequately itemized before the association attempts to collect those fees. We also recommend that every court order awarding an HOA attorney’s fees, whether or not in a “bench trial,” include a finding of fee reasonableness, to minimize later legal challenges to such an award.
7. New 80% Procedure for Mandatory-Covenant Communities to Submit to the POAA (effective 1/1/2027)
Act 715 also creates an important new procedure by which certain existing mandatory-membership communities may submit themselves to the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act.
An association subject to a recorded declaration of covenants, in which membership is mandatory for all owners of lots subject to the declaration, may become subject to the POAA if 80% of the association vote approves submission and an instrument certifying that vote is recorded in the land records. The recorded instrument must give notice that its recordation subjects the association to the POAA.
This provides a separate statutory route to POAA submission in addition to amendment of the declaration under the declaration's existing amendment provisions.
Act 715 also addresses declarations containing amendment requirements greater than 80%. For an association submitting to the POAA through this new 80% procedure, provisions requiring more than 80% approval to amend may be retained if, by the first anniversary of submission, the association and those mortgagees entitled to vote on amendments vote by the required majority to retain those higher requirements. If no such vote occurs, provisions requiring more than 80% will thereafter be treated as requiring 80%. Declarant and mortgagee rights otherwise protected by the statute are not eliminated.
Cobb, Olson & Andrle believes this provision may be particularly useful to older mandatory-assessment communities that have historically been unable to obtain the amendment percentage required by their existing covenants to submit to the POAA. Any community considering use of the new procedure should have its declaration, voting structure, mortgagee provisions, and proposed recordable instrument reviewed by counsel before proceeding.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
***DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this post does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Instead, all information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational and educational purposes only. Information in this post may not constitute the most up-to-date legal information. Readers of this post should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular or specific legal matter. Use of, review of, and/or access to this post, this site, or any of the links contained within the site do not and are not intended to create an attorney-client relationship. Such a relationship with the Firm shall only be created with a written engagement/retainer agreement signed by a Firm representative.***