Alabama Condo Act vs HOA Act: Which Law Governs Your Community

Alabama Condo Act vs HOA Act: Which Law Governs Your Community

Alabama has no comprehensive state statute governing homeowner associations in the same way it regulates condominiums. Your condominium association operates under the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act, codified in Title 35, Chapter 8A of the Code of Alabama. If you manage a traditional homeowner association with detached homes and common property, Alabama law provides no parallel statewide HOA statute. Your authority flows almost entirely from your declaration of covenants and bylaws.

This legal gap creates confusion for boards when they ask whether they must follow state law or whether their governing documents alone control their operations. The answer depends on what type of community you govern.

What the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act Covers

The Alabama Uniform Condominium Act applies to any property declared as a condominium after January 1, 1991. A condominium in Alabama means a real property regime where individual units are owned separately and common elements are owned as tenants in common with other unit owners. Your condominium declaration creates the regime, and the Act fills gaps when your declaration is silent.

The Act requires your declaration to include specific information about unit boundaries, common element percentages, voting rights, and amendment procedures. It establishes rules for reserve accounts, insurance requirements, board elections, and meeting notice. When your declaration conflicts with the Act, the Act controls unless the Act itself permits variation by declaration.

If your community was declared before 1991, the pre-1991 condominium statute may still apply unless your association amended its declaration to adopt the newer Act. You must review your declaration's effective date and any subsequent amendments to determine which version of Alabama condominium law governs your association.

What Applies to Traditional HOAs

Alabama has no equivalent statute for traditional homeowner associations. If your community consists of single family homes, townhomes that are not condominiums, or any other structure where individual lots are owned in fee simple and common property is owned by the association or by lot owners as tenants in common, you do not operate under the Uniform Condominium Act. You operate under your declaration, bylaws, and common law principles of contract and property.

This means your board's authority comes from the covenants recorded when your subdivision was platted. Alabama courts enforce covenants that are clear, reasonable, and properly recorded. The Alabama Supreme Court has held that HOA covenants are contracts among property owners and must be interpreted according to contract law principles. Your board can adopt rules and levy assessments only to the extent your covenants grant that authority.

Without a state HOA statute, you have no default provisions for reserve studies, no mandated insurance minimums beyond what your covenants require, and no state prescribed meeting notice periods. Your bylaws control these details. If your bylaws are silent, you risk disputes over whether your board acted within its authority.

The Alabama Secretary of State and Attorney General

The Alabama Secretary of State's office oversees corporate filings for associations that incorporate as nonprofit corporations. Most Alabama HOAs and condos incorporate under the Alabama Nonprofit Corporation Act to limit director liability. If your association is incorporated, you must file an annual report with the Secretary of State and maintain a registered agent.

The Alabama Attorney General's office does not have a dedicated HOA enforcement division. Disputes between associations and members typically resolve in Alabama circuit courts. If your association fails to follow its governing documents or acts outside the authority granted by those documents, a member can file a declaratory judgment action or seek an injunction in state court.

A Named Local Example

The Preserve at White Sands Homeowners Association in Orange Beach operates under covenants recorded in 2008. The covenants include architectural control provisions, mandatory assessments, and rules for common area maintenance. In 2019, the board attempted to amend the assessment formula without the two thirds member vote required by the covenants. Three homeowners filed suit in Baldwin County Circuit Court, and the court voided the amendment because the board did not follow the procedure in the declaration. The case cost the association over twelve thousand dollars in legal fees and delayed necessary repairs for six months.

This dispute illustrates the risk of ambiguity. Because Alabama has no HOA statute to provide default rules, your covenants must spell out procedures clearly. When they do not, courts will interpret them strictly, often against the board.

How to Determine Which Framework Applies

Pull your community's recorded declaration and read the first three pages. If the declaration uses the word condominium and references Title 35, Chapter 8A, you operate under the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act. If the declaration describes lots, easements, and covenants but does not reference condominium law, you are a traditional HOA governed by contract and property law.

Check the declaration's effective date. If your condo was declared before January 1, 1991, confirm whether your association amended the declaration to adopt the new Act. Look for an amendment recorded after 1991 that explicitly references the Uniform Condominium Act.

If your community includes both condominium units and detached homes, read the declaration carefully to determine whether the entire property is one condominium or whether the condo portion is separate from the HOA portion. Mixed use communities sometimes operate under two sets of rules, one for the condo buildings and one for the single family lots.

What You Should Do Now

Review your declaration and bylaws to confirm which legal framework applies. If you are a condo, compare your governing documents to the requirements in Title 35, Chapter 8A to identify gaps or conflicts. If you are a traditional HOA, audit your bylaws to ensure they address meeting notice, quorum, amendment procedures, and assessment collection in detail.

Create a written summary of your community type, the applicable law, and the key provisions in your covenants. Share this summary with your board and update it when you amend your documents. Consult your attorney for your specific situation, particularly if your declaration is ambiguous about whether you are a condominium or a traditional HOA.

Maintain current copies of your declaration, bylaws, and any amendments in a central location. Alabama law does not require you to post governing documents online, but transparency reduces disputes. If a member asks which law applies, you should be able to answer immediately with a reference to your declaration's language.

How Manorway Helps

Manorway's AI assisted platform stores your governing documents, tracks amendments, and flags gaps between your bylaws and best practices. You can upload your declaration, and the system will help you identify whether you operate as a condominium under state statute or as a traditional HOA under covenant law. When your board needs to answer a governance question, you can search your documents and see exactly what your covenants require, reducing the risk of procedural errors that lead to litigation.