House Bill 664 (COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE)
By: Representatives Silcox of the 53rd, Reeves of the 99th, Panitch of the 51st, and Hilton of
the 48th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Article 6 of Chapter 3 of Title 44 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
relating to property owners' associations, so as to provide for property owners' associations
to submit to said article after the creation of such associations; to provide for voting
procedures; to provide for recordation of a vote to submit to said article; to provide for
notice; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Article 6 of Chapter 3 of Title 44 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
property owners' associations, is amended by revising Code Section 44-3-222, relating to
creation of property owners' development and affirmative election to be governed by article,
as follows:
"44-3-222.
A property owners' development shall come into existence upon <del>either</del> the recordation of
the declaration pursuant to this article, <del>or</del> the amendment of a recorded declaration in
accordance with <ins>paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Code Section 44-3-235, or the
recordation of an instrument pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of</ins> Code Section
44-3-235. Any declaration or amendment intending to bring or avail a development of the
benefits and provisions of this article shall state an affirmative election to be so governed.
Any original declaration shall be duly executed by or on behalf of all of the owners of the
submitted property. Any such amendment to an existing declaration shall be executed in
accordance with the terms of the recorded declaration being amended thereby. <ins>Any such
instrument specified in paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Code Section 44-3-235 shall be
executed pursuant to that Code section."
</ins> SECTION 2.
Said article is further amended in Code Section 44-3-226, relating to amendments of
instrument and presumption of validity in court action, by revising subsection (b) as follows:
"(b)(1) No amendment of an instrument shall require approval of lot owners to which
more than <del>80</del> <ins>75</ins> percent of the association vote pertains and the mortgagees holding <del>80
</del> <ins>75</ins> percent of the voting interest of mortgaged lots; any property owners' association
which exists prior to July 1, 1994, and amends its documents to avail itself of the
provisions of this article <ins>or otherwise submits to this article pursuant to Code Section
44-3-235</ins> shall be deemed to have amended the association instrument to conform to this
limitation. <del>This subsection shall not be deemed to eliminate or modify any right of the
declarant provided for in the instrument to approve amendments to the instrument so long
as the declarant owns any lot primarily for the purpose of sale and, furthermore, this Code
section shall not be construed as modifying or altering the rights of a mortgagee set forth
elsewhere in this article.
</del> <ins>(2) Provisions of any declaration of an association that submits to this article pursuant
to paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of Code Section 44-3-235 that require a majority in
excess of 75 percent of the association votes to amend shall not be affected or modified
by this Code section if, by the first anniversary of the date of submission, the association
and those mortgagees permitted to vote on amendments vote to retain the requirements
</ins>
<ins>by a majority and, if no such vote occurs, those provisions requiring more than 75 percent
of the voting interest shall be deemed to only require 75 percent of the voting interest.
(3) This subsection shall not be deemed to eliminate or modify any right of the declarant
provided for in the instrument to approve amendments to the instrument so long as the
declarant owns any lot primarily for the purpose of sale and, furthermore, this Code
section shall not be construed as modifying or altering the rights of a mortgagee set forth
elsewhere in this article."
</ins> SECTION 3.
Said article is further amended in Code Section 44-3-235, relating to applicability of article,
by revising subsection (a) as follows:
"(a)(1) This article shall apply to all property which is submitted to this article.
<ins>(2)</ins> This article shall also apply to any association of owners subject to a recorded
declaration of covenants upon property, which covenants are administered by an owners'
association in which membership is mandatory for all owners of lots in the development,
which declaration is amended in accordance with Code Section 44-3-222 in order to
submit the property owners' association to this article; provided, however, that any
amendment must conform the instrument creating the property owners' association to this
article, and the property owners' development shall thereafter be deemed to be submitted
to this article.
<ins>(3) This article shall also apply to any association of owners subject to a recorded
declaration of covenants upon property, which covenants are administered by an owners'
association in which membership is mandatory for all owners of lots in the development
subject to such declaration, where 75 percent of the association votes to approve the
submission of such association to this article and records an instrument certifying such
vote. Such instrument shall give notice that the recordation of the instrument subjects the
association to the provisions of this article."
</ins>
SECTION 4.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.