HB 664: Property owners' associations; development and affirmative election; provisions

Georgia's Property Owners' Association Act currently lets a development come under the Act only two ways: by recording a declaration that invokes the Act when the community is created, or by later amending an existing declaration to add that election. HB664 adds a third path. An existing homeowners association whose covenants are already mandatory for all lot owners could submit to the Act simply by holding a vote, and if 75 percent of the association's votes approve, recording an instrument that certifies the vote and gives public notice. The bill also lowers, from 80 percent to 75 percent, the share of lot owner and mortgagee votes needed to approve most amendments to an association's governing instrument. For associations whose existing declarations require a higher supermajority (more than 75 percent) to amend, the bill gives them one year from submission to vote to keep that higher bar; if they do not, the requirement automatically drops to 75 percent. The changes would repeal any conflicting state laws.

• Creates a new way for an existing property owners' association to submit to the Property Owners' Association Act by a 75 percent membership vote and a recorded instrument, without amending its declaration.
• Lowers the required approval threshold for amending a property owners' association's governing instrument from 80 percent to 75 percent of both lot owner votes and mortgagee voting interest.
• Requires the recorded instrument used for the new opt-in method to give public notice that recording it subjects the association to the Act.
• Sets a one-year transition window for associations with amendment thresholds above 75 percent to vote to keep that higher threshold, or it automatically falls to 75 percent.
• Preserves existing declarant approval rights over amendments while a declarant still owns lots for sale, and preserves existing mortgagee rights elsewhere in the article.

Existing homeowners and property owners' associations in Georgia, individual lot owners within those developments, mortgage lenders holding loans on association lots, and real estate developers (declarants) who still own unsold lots in a covered development.

Associations that were created before the current Act existed, or that never formally opted in, would gain an easier path to come under the Act's statewide rules through a member vote instead of a formal declaration amendment. Lowering the amendment threshold from 80 to 75 percent would make it somewhat easier for associations to change their governing documents going forward.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 44-3-222 to recognize a third way a development can come under the Act: recording an instrument under the new paragraph (3) of Code Section 44-3-235(a).
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 44-3-226(b) to lower the approval threshold for amending an association's instrument from 80 percent to 75 percent of lot owner and mortgagee votes.
• Section 2 adds a rule that associations whose declarations require more than 75 percent to amend must vote within one year of submission to keep that higher threshold, or it becomes 75 percent by default.
• Section 3 amends O.C.G.A. § 44-3-235(a) by adding paragraph (3), letting an existing mandatory-membership association submit to the Act if 75 percent of its votes approve and it records a certifying instrument with public notice.
• Section 4 repeals any state laws that conflict with the bill.

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

• property owners associations
• homeowners associations
• HOA law
• real estate law
• property law