Raising assessments in Georgia

Under the POAA at § 44-3-225(a), special and disproportionate assessments may be made only to the extent the instrument expressly provides for them. Where the instrument does provide, the board determines an equitable allocation, the assessment may cover expenses that benefit or are caused by fewer than all lots, and obligated periodic maintenance may not be allocated disproportionately.

So the first move in a Georgia capital funding conversation is to read the declaration and bylaws and find the sentence that grants the authority. If it is not there, the path runs through amending the instrument or through borrowing, not through proceeding carefully.

For a regular assessment increase, the constraint is likewise documentary. Some Georgia declarations cap the annual increase the board may adopt without a membership vote. Find out which case you are in before the first workshop.

Total budgeted expenses, less non-assessment revenue, is the amount to be assessed, allocated across units or lots on the basis the instrument sets.

Publish the monthly equivalent and the change in dollars as well as in percent. Break the change into drivers, largest first, and put them in whatever you circulate. Owners argue with totals and engage with components.

Model the following year as well. If the reserve funding plan implies a further increase, telling owners now costs less trust than telling them next year.

Under § 44-3-225(b), no owner is exempt from assessments for any reason, including abandonment, nonuse, or waiver of the right to enjoy the common area. The narrow exception is an undeveloped lot until a certificate of occupancy issues, and that exemption also removes the lot's voting rights. The owner who says they will stop paying because they never use the pool is describing something the statute has already settled.

Under § 44-3-225(c), a grantee is jointly and severally liable with the grantor for unpaid assessments up to the time of the transfer, unless the instrument provides otherwise, and the grantee may recover the amounts paid from the grantor. A statement of amounts due under § 44-3-232(d) caps that liability at the stated amount, which is why the five business day payoff statement deadline matters so much.

Section 44-3-225(d) protects holders of first-priority or qualifying purchase money mortgages, and purchasers at foreclosure of such a mortgage, from liability for assessments that came due before they acquired title, and spreads that unpaid share as a common expense across all lots. That last clause is a budget fact: foreclosure losses do not disappear, they are redistributed to everyone else.

Under the POAA at § 44-3-232(a) the association has a lien for lawfully assessed sums, fines, and requested charges, prior and superior to other liens with stated exceptions including ad valorem taxes and first or pre-declaration mortgages, and recording the declaration is record notice of the lien. The Condominium Act carries the parallel rule at § 44-3-109(a).

The add-on charges are capped and conditional. Under § 44-3-232(b), and § 44-3-109(b) for condominiums, the association may charge a late fee of the greater of ten dollars or ten percent of the unpaid amount, interest of up to ten percent per annum, and costs of collection including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees actually incurred, but only to the extent the instrument provides for them. The condominium section also allows fair rental value during a foreclosure action.

Enforcement is slow and has a floor. Under § 44-3-232(c) and § 44-3-109(c), foreclosure requires at least thirty days' prior notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, proceeds by action and judgment, cannot be brought unless the lien is at least two thousand dollars, and the lien lapses four years after the amount became due.

Read those together and the budgeting conclusion is direct: model the collection rate you actually achieve, carry the shortfall as bad debt, and do not assume that a large increase collects at the same rate as a small one.

Under the POAA at § 44-3-231(b) the association may borrow money and pledge or mortgage association property, and third parties may rely on a certified board resolution. Where the instrument does not expressly authorize special assessments, borrowing may be the only realistic route to a capital project short of amending the instrument.

It is also frequently the kinder instrument. A level loan payment inside the operating budget is easier on owners with fixed incomes than a lump sum due in ninety days. It costs interest and it consumes borrowing capacity, so model it against the alternative and show owners both.

Check the declaration and bylaws for any member-vote requirement, and read the statute rather than relying on a summary.

One page at the front of whatever you circulate. What is changing, by how much, in dollars per unit per month. Why, largest driver first. What the board considered and rejected, including doing nothing. When the new rate starts.

Hold a workshop before the meeting where the vote happens, and record the discussion in the detailed minutes § 44-3-231(d) already requires. Most of the heat in a budget meeting comes from owners hearing a number for the first time in a room where a decision is about to be made.