HB664: HB664 Property owners' associations; development and affirmative election; provisions

Under Georgia's Property Owners' Association Act (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 et seq.), a homeowners' association currently becomes covered by the law only if its declaration of covenants is recorded, or later amended, to say it is opting in. This bill adds a simpler path: an existing mandatory-membership association can submit to the article if 75 percent of its members vote to approve, and the association then records an instrument giving public notice of that vote. The bill also lowers the vote threshold generally required to amend an association's governing instrument from 80 percent to 75 percent of association votes and mortgagee interests. It lets associations that use the new opt-in method keep a higher amendment threshold if they vote to do so within one year of joining. The changes take effect once signed into law and apply going forward to associations that use these procedures.

• Creates a new way for an existing homeowners' association to opt into Georgia's Property Owners' Association Act (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-235) through a 75 percent member vote and a recorded instrument, instead of amending its full declaration.
• Lowers the default vote threshold needed to amend a property owners' association's governing instrument from 80 percent to 75 percent of the association's votes and mortgagee interests (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-226).
• Allows associations that opt in through the new 75 percent vote method to keep a higher, pre-existing amendment threshold if they vote to retain it within one year of joining.
• Requires the recorded instrument used for the new opt-in method to state that recording it subjects the association to the Property Owners' Association Act.
• Updates the law on how a property owners' development legally comes into existence (O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222) to reference this new opt-in instrument.

Homeowners who belong to mandatory-membership property owners' associations, the boards and management of those associations, developers (declarants) who still hold lots for sale, and mortgage lenders whose approval is required for certain amendments to association governing documents.

The bill makes it easier for older, mandatory-membership homeowners' associations to gain the legal protections and procedures of Georgia's Property Owners' Association Act without a full rewrite of their covenants, and it slightly lowers the vote share needed to change association rules, which could change how quickly and easily HOA boards can amend their governing documents.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 to say a property owners' development comes into existence through recording a declaration, amending an existing declaration, or recording the new instrument described in Section 3.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 44-3-226(b) by lowering the amendment approval threshold from 80 percent to 75 percent of the association vote and mortgagee voting interest.
• Section 2 also adds a rule letting an association that opts in under the new method keep a higher amendment threshold if it votes to retain that requirement within one year of joining the article.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 44-3-235(a) to add a new opt-in path: an existing mandatory-membership association can join the article if 75 percent of its votes approve and it records a certifying instrument.
• Section 3 requires that recorded instrument to give public notice that recording it subjects the association to the Property Owners' Association Act.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-03-04Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-03-03House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
3. 2026-03-03House Third Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-19House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-03-04House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
7. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)

• Deborah Silcox (R, HD-053)Primary sponsor
• Matt Reeves (R, HD-099)
• Esther Panitch (D, HD-051)
• Scott Hilton (R, HD-048)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 3, 2026

   121 yea, 44 nay (4 not voting, 8 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #595

• homeowners associations
• property law
• HOA voting rules
• real estate covenants