HB 403: Property; enhance protections for homeowners and tenants by revising or repealing certain provisions inhibiting housing stability

Georgia law currently lets condominium and homeowners associations place liens on units or lots for unpaid assessments and gives those liens special priority, plus a streamlined path to foreclose when owners fall behind on dues. This bill removes the language creating that automatic lien and repeals the association foreclosure procedures, lien lapse rules, and penalties for associations that fail to send account statements, while adding a new list ranking which existing liens (taxes, mortgages) come first if a lien exists. The bill also adds a new Code section voiding deeds or other conveyances of single-family homes or town homes to real estate investment trusts that already own at least $30 million worth or 12,000 units of Georgia rental single-family housing. It repeals the state law that currently bars cities and counties from capping residential rent. It bars nonjudicial (power-of-sale) foreclosures against debtors 65 or older or under legal guardianship. The changes take effect once signed by the Governor, with the REIT rule and the foreclosure protections applying to transactions made on or after that date.

• Deletes the statutory language that gives condominium and homeowners associations an automatic lien on units or lots for unpaid dues, and repeals the association's court foreclosure procedure for those debts.
• Removes the four-year lien lapse rule and the penalty that extinguished an association's lien if it failed to send a payment statement within five business days.
• Voids any deed or conveyance of a single-family home or town home to a real estate investment trust that already holds at least $30 million or 12,000 rental single-family units in Georgia.
• Repeals O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19, the law that currently prohibits cities and counties from regulating the rent charged on private residential rental property.
• Bars nonjudicial (power-of-sale) foreclosure sales against a debtor who is 65 or older or who is a legally recognized ward under a guardianship.
• Updates the definition of 'debtor' in Georgia's foreclosure code to reference the new age and guardianship protection added to O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162.

Condominium and homeowners association members, associations and their management agents, mortgage lenders and title holders involved in foreclosures, real estate investment trusts that own large single-family rental portfolios, local city and county governments, elderly homeowners, people under legal guardianship, and renters in jurisdictions that could newly adopt rent regulation.

Homeowners and condo owners facing association foreclosure for unpaid dues would lose that risk, while associations would lose a collection tool. Large corporate landlords could be blocked from buying more single-family rentals in Georgia. Cities and counties could set rent caps for the first time in decades, and older or guardianship-protected homeowners would gain new protection from certain foreclosure sales.

• Sections 1-7 strike the language in O.C.G.A. §§ 44-3-80, 44-3-109, 44-3-117, 44-3-206, 44-3-207, 44-3-225, and 44-3-232 that creates association liens and their foreclosure, statement-deadline penalties, and four-year lien lapse rules for condos, time-shares, and HOA lots.
• Sections 1, 6, and 7 add new subsections (a.1) ranking lien priority (property taxes first, then first-priority or pre-declaration mortgages, then certain other liens) without independently creating an association lien.
• Section 8 adds new Code Section 44-5-49, voiding conveyances of single-family dwellings, including town homes, to real estate investment trusts holding at least $30 million or 12,000 Georgia rental single-family units.
• Section 9 repeals O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19 and designates it 'reserved,' removing the state ban on local rent regulation.
• Section 10 adds subsection (c) to O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162 invalidating nonjudicial foreclosure sales against debtors who are 65 or older or a 'ward' as defined in O.C.G.A. § 29-1-1.
• Section 11 revises the 'debtor' definition in O.C.G.A. § 44-14-162.1 to cross-reference the new protection in Code Section 44-14-162.
• Section 12 sets the effective date as the date of the Governor's signature (or becoming law without signature), with the REIT rule applying to conveyances on or after that date and the foreclosure protections applying to mortgages and deeds entered into on or after that date.

1. 2025-02-13House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-12House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-11House Hopper (House)

• Eric Bell (D, HD-075)Primary sponsor
• Phil Olaleye (D, HD-059)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)
• L.C. Myles (D, HD-126)

• housing stability
• homeowners associations
• rent control
• foreclosure protections
• real estate investors