Be ready for the Property Owners' Bill of Rights.

01 · What is Georgia SB 406?

Georgia SB 406 — formally the Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act — is the most comprehensive HOA oversight law in state history. It passed the Senate 51–0 and the House 155–10 on March 31, 2026, and was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on May 12, 2026.

The law requires HOAs, POAs, and condo associations to register with the Georgia Secretary of State, retain records for ten years (electronic records included), follow detailed notice procedures before assessing fines, apply homeowner payments to assessments before fines or fees, and submit to a state complaint-and-hearing process. It also raises the foreclosure threshold, lengthens foreclosure notice, and tightens the rules around attorney's fees.

02 · When does Georgia SB 406 take effect?

SB 406 has two effective dates:

• Section 7 (attorney's fees) takes effect July 1, 2026 and applies to actions filed on or after that date.
• All other sections take effect January 1, 2027. That includes registration with the Secretary of State, the new foreclosure threshold, the 90-day foreclosure notice, the ten-year record retention, the payment-application order, and the State Board for Review of Complaints.

Practically, Georgia HOA boards and property managers have through the end of 2026 to put records, notice procedures, registration filings, and an audit trail in place.

03 · Who does Georgia SB 406 apply to — HOAs, POAs, or condos?

All three. SB 406 applies to every Georgia community association: homeowners associations (HOAs), property owners' associations (POAs), and condominium associations. The law effectively ends the historical distinction between HOAs and POAs by extending parallel owner-protection rules to both. It applies whether the community is self-managed or professionally managed.

04 · Does my HOA have to register with the Georgia Secretary of State?

If you want to retain enforcement authority, yes. SB 406 creates a mandatory registration system. Associations must file annual registration documents with the Georgia Secretary of State, including governing documents and financial information. The published fee is $100 per year, and registration must be renewed annually.

An association can choose not to register and operate as a "nonregistered owners' association." But that election comes with real limitations — see Question 5.

05 · What happens if my HOA doesn't register under SB 406?

A non-registered association keeps its corporate existence but loses its enforcement powers. Specifically, it cannot:

• Impose or collect fines
• Accelerate assessments
• Place or enforce liens against homeowners
• Initiate foreclosure proceedings

It can still collect regular assessments as ordinary contract debts, but the enforcement levers boards rely on day-to-day are gone. For nearly every functioning HOA in Georgia, registration is the only practical option.

06 · What is the new foreclosure threshold under SB 406?

SB 406 doubles the minimum delinquency required to initiate a foreclosure from $2,000 to $4,000. Two important nuances:

• Only unpaid assessments count toward the $4,000 threshold — fines, late fees, and attorney's fees no longer count.
• The foreclosure notice period is lengthened to 90 days, and the notice must state that paying within that window eliminates the right to foreclose.

The combined effect is to slow the foreclosure process down and force associations to maintain a clean ledger showing which arrears are actual assessments and which are fines, fees, or attorney's costs.

07 · How long must HOAs keep records under SB 406?

Registered associations must retain records for at least ten years. The retention requirement explicitly includes electronic records. Covered records include governing documents, financial records, assessments, fines and fees, liens, foreclosures, board votes, and homeowner notices. Those records are subject to reasonable examination by the Secretary of State when deemed in the public interest or for protection of the public.

The practical implication is that you can't rely on a departing board member's inbox or a binder in someone's garage. The record needs to be electronic, indexed, and durable.

08 · What notice does an HOA have to give before issuing a fine?

Before any enforcement action, the association must provide a written notice that specifically cites the provision of the governing documents the homeowner allegedly violated, and the notice must give the homeowner a cure period during which no fines accrue.

A generic "rule violation" letter no longer satisfies the requirement. The letter has to identify the exact provision (for example, "CC&R §4.3(a)"), and the cure clock has to be on the record. After the cure period expires without resolution, fines can begin accruing.

09 · How must HOAs apply homeowner payments under SB 406?

Payments from owners must be applied to regular assessments first, before fines, fees, or other charges. This prevents the common practice of applying payments to fines so the homeowner stays technically delinquent on dues — and it keeps fines and fees out of the $4,000 foreclosure threshold.

For every payment, in every account, the ledger has to show that the assessment was retired before any other charge. ConvoRally enforces the order as the default in the ledger view and stores the corresponding entry as part of the ten-year record.

10 · What is the State Board for Review of Complaints?

SB 406 creates a new body — the State Board for Review of Complaints Regarding Property Owners' Associations — that reviews homeowner complaints filed with the Georgia Secretary of State. Owners can file complaints; the Secretary of State and the Board can investigate, hold hearings, and reach binding outcomes.

The Secretary of State has the power to deny, suspend, or revoke an association's registration, and to limit an association's ability to impose fines, fees, liens, or foreclosures. The Board functions as the appeals layer above that authority.

11 · What changes about attorney's fees under SB 406 Section 7?

Section 7 is the part of SB 406 that takes effect first — on July 1, 2026. Before an association can collect attorney's fees from a homeowner, it must:

• Deliver an initial written notice identifying the outstanding fines or delinquent fees.
• Give the homeowner 30 days to pay.
• Provide an itemized list of attorney's fees claimed.

A judge must then independently review the fees for reasonableness and enter an order before they can be awarded. There is a narrow emergency exception. Section 7 applies to actions filed on or after July 1, 2026.

12 · What does SB 406 require for board elections?

Registered associations must hold annual board elections with formal procedures for contesting results, electronic ballot record-keeping, and filing of outcomes with the state. The full election record — candidates, ballots cast, results, and any contested-result documentation — is part of the records the Secretary of State can examine and that the association must retain for ten years.

13 · How can ConvoRally help our HOA prepare for SB 406?

ConvoRally is a system of record built for HOA boards and property managers. For SB 406 specifically, it produces the evidence the law requires as a byproduct of running the community, not as a separate compliance project:

• Written notices with the specific governing-document citation and a tracked cure period attached.
• Ledger entries that show payments applied to assessments first, then fees, then fines, then legal.
• Timestamped board votes linked to the matter being decided — and that can't be quietly rewritten later.
• Ten-year record retention on by default, with electronic records counted.
• Owner conversations — email, text, portal — captured in the same thread as the notice and the photo.
• One-click audit pack for the Secretary of State or your attorney.

14 · Does ConvoRally satisfy SB 406's 10-year record retention requirement?

Yes. Every message, file, decision, and approval in ConvoRally is retained as an electronic record with timestamps and chain-of-custody metadata. Records do not leave when the board members who created them move on, and the retention window is configured to meet or exceed the ten-year minimum in SB 406. When the Secretary of State asks for the file, you hand them a clean, dated record rather than a hunt through inboxes.

15 · Can ConvoRally produce evidence for a Secretary of State hearing?

Yes. ConvoRally assembles an audit pack from the linked records — the original notice with its specific citation, the cure-period clock, owner and vendor correspondence, board votes, the ledger showing payment application order, and the retention manifest. Each item is timestamped and linked to the work it relates to, so the package you produce reads like a clean case file.

16 · What about self-managed HOAs — can we still comply with SB 406?

Yes. Self-managed boards actually carry the heaviest compliance burden because there is no management company maintaining the back office. ConvoRally is designed for both: a self-managed HOA gets a system of record without hiring a full management company, while a managed community gets a single canonical record across the board, the manager, and vendors.

If your community has a property manager, ConvoRally typically lives alongside the management platform — the manager continues to handle accounting, while ConvoRally captures the conversations, notices, decisions, and the audit trail behind them.