Representative matters
- Covenant enforcement defense — challenging enforcement that is selective, waived, or unsupported by the governing documents.
- Assessments, fines, and liens — defense of collection actions, challenges to improperly levied special assessments, and lien disputes.
- Architectural review disputes — denials inconsistent with the association's published standards or its treatment of similar requests.
- Governance and records — enforcing rights of access to books and records, election disputes, and defective meeting notice.
New notice and attorney-fee protections
For association collection actions filed on or after July 1, 2026, SB 406 adds specific notice, payment-opportunity, itemization, and judicial-reasonableness requirements before an association may collect or be awarded attorney's fees. Beginning January 1, 2027, additional provisions concerning registration, records, allocation of owner payments, accelerated assessments, and foreclosure procedures are scheduled to apply.
The first question: who bears the attorney's fees?
Many Georgia declarations, and certain statutes, allow the prevailing party to recover attorney's fees. Where fee-shifting applies, a modest dispute may justify litigation; where it does not, the same dispute may be uneconomical even for a party who is correct on the merits. This analysis is performed at the consultation, before the client commits to anything further.