Georgia SB 406: First-Ever HOA Oversight Law - What Buyers Need to Know

Georgia SB 406 creates mandatory HOA registration, raises the foreclosure threshold to $4,000, requires 10-year record retention, and takes effect January 1, 2027. Buyers should verify HOA compliance status before closing.

Tricia Quigley lived in her Cherokee County home for 18 years. Then her HOA sold it on the courthouse steps for $3.25.

Her offense? Missing two biannual dues payments totaling $800. She spent more than $10,000 trying to fix the situation.

This happened because Georgia had zero HOA oversight. No registration. No foreclosure minimums. No complaint process. An HOA could foreclose over a few hundred dollars and nobody at the state level could intervene.

On March 31, 2026, the Georgia House passed SB 406 by a vote of 155-10. The Senate passed it the same day, 51-0 (Nowack Howard). Known as the Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act, it creates the first state-level HOA oversight framework in Georgia's history. Governor Kemp signed it on May 12, 2026, and it is now 2026 Georgia Laws Act 715 (Freeman Mathis & Gary).

What SB 406 Requires

Georgia associations must register and keep records for 10 years. Under the Property Owners' Association Act, foreclosures need 60 days' notice.

The bill covers six major areas. Here are the provisions that matter most for buyers:

Mandatory registration. Under the bill's provisions, every HOA must register annually with the Georgia Secretary of State. Registration requires submitting governing documents plus a financial statement no more than a year old. If an HOA fails to register, it cannot collect fines, record liens, or initiate foreclosures. The Secretary of State can deny, suspend, or revoke registrations.

Foreclosure protections. The threshold for HOA foreclosure rises from $2,000 to $4,000 in unpaid dues (or 12 months of regular assessments, whichever is less, with a $2,000 minimum). Fines andfees are excluded from the threshold calculation. Associations under the Property Owners' Association Act must give 60 days' notice before filing to foreclose, up from 30 days, and the notice has to say that paying before the 60th day ends the right to foreclose (HunterMaclean). Under SB 406, Tricia Quigley's $800 balance would have been well below the minimum threshold.

Financial transparency. HOAs must retain records for 10 years. Payments from homeowners must go toward regular dues first, then special assessments, then specific assessments (charges aimed at one owner, such as damage they caused or a violation fine), and only then other fees and fines (Nowack Howard).

Complaint process. Homeowners can file complaints directly with the Secretary of State. A hearing officer process (not court) handles disputes. Collection of fines and fees is automatically stayed during the complaint process (Freeman Mathis & Gary).

Attorney fee restrictions. Effective July 1, 2026 (ahead of the rest of the bill), HOAs must provide specific written notice and a 30-day payment window before attorney fees can accrue. Itemized fee lists are required, and a judge must determine reasonableness before fees are awarded (Nowack Howard).

Why It Matters for Condo Buyers

Every Georgia HOA now faces mandatory state registration and financial transparency requirements.

Georgia has thousands of HOA communities, and until now none of them operated under any state-level oversight.

For buyers, the impact is straightforward. Starting January 1, 2027, any Georgia HOA that hasn't registered with the Secretary of State loses its enforcement powers. That means a buyer can check whether the HOA they're buying into is compliant. An unregistered HOA is a red flag. A registered one has a financial statement on file that is less than a year old, which gives you a baseline to evaluate.

The foreclosure protections also change the risk calculation. Before SB 406, buyers in Georgia HOA communities faced the possibility of losing their home over small unpaid balances. Juliet Graham said her final HOA bill reached $250,000. James McAdoo owed $36,000 over yard weeds and had $600 garnished from every paycheck until he filed bankruptcy. Karyn Gibbons mailed her dues checks monthly, but her HOA took months to cash them, and she ultimately paid $34,000 in fines, interest, and attorney fees to get out.

SB 406 doesn't eliminate all risk. But it creates a floor of accountability that didn't exist before.

What Buyers Should Do Now

Don't wait for January 2027. Review HOA documents before closing. Check registration status, financials, and fine structures now.

The law doesn't take full effect until January 1, 2027. If you're closing on a Georgia HOA property before then, the old rules still apply. That makes reviewing HOA documents before closing even more important right now.

Here's what to check:

• CC&Rs and bylaws. Look at the fine structure, foreclosure provisions, and payment hierarchies. SB 406 reforms all of these areas. If the current documents have aggressive provisions, check whether the HOA is preparing to update them for compliance. A free CC&R analysis tool can help you pull out the key sections.
• Financial records. Request at least three years of financials. Once the Act takes effect, owners have the right to inspect the last three years of the association's accounting records. If they can't produce them now, that's a red flag.
• Meeting minutes. Board meeting minutes will show whether the HOA has discussed SB 406 compliance. If there's no mention of registration planning or document preparation, that tells you something.
• Registration status (after Jan 1, 2027). Once the law takes effect, check whether the HOA is registered with the Secretary of State. An unregistered HOA cannot enforce fines or foreclose. That's either very good or very bad depending on the situation.

Will Other States Follow?

Florida and Colorado already regulate HOAs. Georgia's near-unanimous bipartisan vote signals a national trend toward HOA accountability.

Georgia isn't the first state to regulate HOAs, but the scope of SB 406 is notable. The near-unanimous votes (51-0 in the Senate, 155-10 in the House) signal bipartisan agreement that HOA oversight is overdue.

Florida passed SB 4-D in 2022, requiring structural inspections and reserve funding for condominiums after the Surfside collapse. Colorado has strengthened HOA transparency requirements in recent years. Several other states are considering similar legislation.

The pattern is consistent. State legislatures are responding to homeowner complaints about unchecked HOA power. Buyers in any state should be reviewing HOA documents carefully regardless of whether their state has passed oversight legislation yet.