Fines Don't Count.: What Georgia's New HOA Law Changed for Homeowners: A Plain-English Guide to Association Dues, Liens, Foreclosure Threats, Late ... 406: 1 (The Georgia HOA & Condo Handbook) - Softcover

O'Connor, JP

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798175731300

Publisher: Independently published, 2026

Synopsis

Your HOA can fine you. From 1 January 2027 it cannot take your house over those fines.

On 12 May 2026 Georgia signed Senate Bill 406, the Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act. It is the first time the state has regulated community associations, and it passed the Georgia Senate without a single vote against it.

Most of what changed went the owner's way. The single biggest change is buried in the text and almost nobody has reported it properly: fines, late fees and specific assessments no longer count toward the amount that lets an association foreclose. An owner who is current on regular dues but owes thousands in fines is no longer exposed to foreclosure over them.

This book is for the owner holding a demand letter who cannot afford a lawyer to read it.

Inside

• Why fines and late fees can no longer trigger a foreclosure, and what still can
• How to work out your own threshold. It is not the flat $4,000 figure being reported, and for a low-dues community nothing changed at all
• The sixty day notice, the sentence it is required to contain, and why two television stations reported the wrong number
• The mandatory order your payments now have to be applied in, which ends the snowball that turned small fines into foreclosures
• Why an association can no longer refuse a partial payment
• The attorney's fee rule that has been in force since July 2026 and that almost nobody has used
• What the Act did not do, including the part that runs in the association's favour

Written in plain English by JP O'Connor, who has chaired the committee that runs a residential building since 2019 and sits on a second one. Not a lawyer, and the book never pretends otherwise. It explains what the statute says, shows the math with worked examples, and tells you exactly who to take it to.

Honest about what is not settled. The Georgia Secretary of State had not published its rules, forms or registration portal when this went to print. Where something depends on those rules, this book says so instead of guessing.

General information about Georgia law. Not legal advice.

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798175731300
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 83