Georgia HOA and condo laws: management company interview questions for 2027 readiness

Georgia association management entered a significant transition period in 2026. The Georgia Secretary of State says Senate Bill 406, the Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act, has provisions effective July 1, 2026 and January 1, 2027. The changes include new state oversight, annual registration for owners' associations, and limits on certain collection and enforcement activity when an association is not actively registered.

That makes manager selection more than a service comparison. A Georgia board should test whether each finalist can identify the legal framework, coordinate the association's registration, work under the state's community association manager licensing system, protect association funds, and preserve evidence for owner and regulator questions.

This guide uses official Georgia sources available on October 16, 2026. The Secretary of State says additional registration information will be provided closer to the January 1, 2027 effective date. Boards should therefore recheck the official FAQ, final rules, registration portal, and counsel guidance before acting.

This is general board education, not legal, accounting, tax, audit, insurance, debt-collection, foreclosure, employment, fair-housing, cybersecurity, licensing, or real-estate advice. Have Georgia association counsel review the current law, governing documents, contracts, and facts.

Start with the association's legal and operating profile

Give every finalist the same written profile:

• Community type: property owners' association, condominium, neighborhood, mixed-use development, or another form.
• Declaration, condominium instruments, amendments, articles, bylaws, policies, and rules.
• Formation date, developer-control status, phases, and annexations.
• Number of lots or units, owner occupancy, rentals, and amenities.
• Annual and special assessments, reserves, debt, and major projects.
• Delinquency, fines, liens, foreclosure files, disputes, and litigation.
• Current Secretary of State entity status and anticipated owners' association registration status.
• Current management contract, software, banks, payment processors, vendors, and records repositories.
• Active owner requests, meetings, elections, architectural matters, maintenance issues, and insurance claims.

Ask the management company to identify what it will administer, what remains with the board, what requires association counsel, and what depends on a third party. A proposal is incomplete when the board cannot tell who owns a required step.

1. How are you preparing associations for the 2027 registration requirement?

Ask:

What is your written plan for confirming our registration status, submitting or supporting the filing, tracking renewal, and preventing restricted activity if registration lapses?

The Georgia Secretary of State's official FAQ says owners' associations will need active registration to collect fines or fees, file or record liens, or initiate foreclosure proceedings beginning January 1, 2027. It describes owners' associations broadly enough to include neighborhoods, condominium developments, common-interest communities, and groups of homeowners or property owners governed by certain rules or bylaws.

A credible answer should include:

• A named owner for registration preparation and submission.
• The data and documents the manager will collect from the association.
• Board review and certification steps.
• A renewal calendar with backup responsibility.
• Evidence retained after filing and renewal.
• A status check before fines, fees, liens, or foreclosure activity.
• A hold-and-escalation procedure if registration is missing, suspended, revoked, or uncertain.
• Monitoring of final Secretary of State rules, forms, fees, and portal instructions.

Do not accept a promise that the software will handle it. Registration is a legal status with operational consequences. The contract should say who acts, who verifies, and who alerts the board.

2. Which 2026 changes affect our collection and enforcement procedures?

The Secretary of State's FAQ describes parts of Senate Bill 406, including changes to governing-document amendment voting and association foreclosure procedures, as effective July 1, 2026. The enacted bill text on legis.ga.gov (Section 9) makes only Section 7, the attorney's-fee prerequisites, effective July 1, 2026 for actions filed on or after that date, with the rest of the Act, including the owner protections and registration-linked limits, effective January 1, 2027. Ask counsel which provisions apply to your association today.

Ask:

Which of our current policies, notice templates, board resolutions, attorney handoffs, and software automations have you reviewed for the 2026 and 2027 changes?

The management company should not improvise a legal interpretation. It should have a process for association counsel to review:

• Fine and fee policies.
• Delinquency notices and payment application.
• Lien authorization and filing.
• Foreclosure prerequisites and board authority.
• Governing-document amendment procedures.
• Owner hearing, complaint, and appeal processes.
• Automated letters, recurring charges, and account-status triggers.

Ask for the change-control log. It should show the old procedure, legal review, board adoption where needed, staff training, software configuration, effective date, owner communication, and the date each template was retired.

3. Are the people serving us properly licensed and supervised?

Georgia regulates community association managers through the Georgia Real Estate Commission. The state's rules and licensing materials recognize community association manager licenses and broker supervision. Boards can use the Georgia Real Estate Commission's public license search to check an individual's or firm's status.

Ask:

Identify every licensed individual and firm that will perform community association management services for us, the broker responsible for supervision, and the public record we can use to verify each license.

Then ask:

• Which tasks are performed by a licensed community association manager, salesperson, associate broker, broker, accountant, assistant, call center, contractor, or offshore provider?
• Who reviews work performed by unlicensed administrative staff?
• How are license renewal, continuing education, affiliation, and discipline monitored?
• What happens if the assigned manager or supervising broker leaves?
• Will the board receive notice before material work moves to another firm or subcontractor?

Verify the current license status rather than relying on a designation in a proposal or email signature. Preserve the verification with the procurement file.

4. How will you protect association funds?

Georgia Real Estate Commission Rule 520-1-.06 addresses fidelity coverage for brokers providing community association management services who collect, maintain, control, access, or disburse association funds, subject to the rule's terms and exceptions. The rule describes coverage tied to the funds and assessments involved.

Ask the company to provide a written funds-control map covering:

• Legal title and tax identification number on every account.
• Bank, lockbox, payment-processor, investment, and reserve relationships.
• Board, broker, manager, accountant, and bookkeeper permissions.
• Fidelity bond or insurance evidence and the calculation supporting its amount.
• Invoice intake, duplicate detection, coding, approval, release, and payment.
• New-vendor and bank-instruction verification.
• Dual approval or dollar thresholds.
• Reserve-transfer authority.
• Monthly reconciliation and independent review.
• Positive pay, ACH controls, alerts, and other bank safeguards where available.
• User removal after employee, contractor, board, or manager changes.

Walk through one invoice from receipt to the financial packet. Then walk through a fraudulent request to change a vendor's banking information. The company should show what stops the payment and what evidence remains.

5. What financial package will the board receive?

Ask for an anonymized package from a community similar to yours. The board should understand how it will receive:

• Balance sheet.
• Income and expense statement.
• Budget-to-actual comparison.
• General ledger detail.
• Bank reconciliation summary and source evidence.
• Assessment receivable aging.
• Owner credits and prepayments.
• Accounts payable and open bills.
• Reserve balances and activity.
• Special-assessment tracking.
• Variance and exception notes.
• Decisions requiring board action.

Ask:

Who prepares each item, who reviews it, when is the month considered closed, and what happens when a control does not reconcile?

The answer should identify people, deadlines, evidence, and escalation. Software access is useful, but it is not a substitute for a completed close or an independent review.

6. How do you control fines, fees, and owner ledger charges?

The 2027 registration rules make it especially important to know which amounts the association is imposing, why, and under what authority.

Ask the manager to demonstrate how it distinguishes:

• Regular and special assessments.
• Late charges and interest.
• Fines.
• Transfer, resale, statement, amenity, architectural, and other fees.
• Attorney, collection, and court costs.
• Manager pass-through charges.
• Payments, credits, reversals, waivers, and refunds.

For each charge type, the manager should retain the governing authority, board policy or resolution, effective date, owner notice, hearing or appeal record where applicable, registration-status check, posting evidence, and correction history.

Ask what happens if the association is not actively registered when a restricted charge or enforcement step would otherwise occur. The answer should be a controlled hold and legal escalation, not an assumption that registration can be fixed later without consequence.

7. How will you manage liens and foreclosure handoffs?

Lien and foreclosure activity is high risk. Senate Bill 406 changes and the registration condition require a current, counsel-approved process.

Ask:

• Who validates the owner, property, governing authority, balance, payment application, and registration status?
• Which notices are sent by the manager and which by counsel?
• How are mailing addresses and delivery evidence checked?
• What board authorization is required and how is it documented?
• When do automation and routine communications stop?
• How are bankruptcy, military service, probate, disputes, accommodations, and legal holds identified?
• How do attorney transactions return to the owner ledger without losing category and date detail?
• What aggregate collection information reaches the board each month?

Require a sample chronology. It should show balances by category, notices, delivery, board authority, counsel instructions, filings, payments, status, and closure.

8. How do you keep and produce association records?

Ask for a live records demonstration using an anonymized community. It should cover:

• Declaration, amendments, articles, bylaws, rules, and policies.
• Board and owner meeting notices, packets, minutes, ballots, and results.
• Contracts, bids, conflicts, insurance, and vendor files.
• Financial statements, ledgers, bank evidence, invoices, and approvals.
• Owner roster and communication preferences.
• Architectural, violation, hearing, maintenance, and claim files.
• Secretary of State entity and owners' association registration records.
• Management-company and individual license verification.

Ask how requests are logged, reviewed, redacted, approved, delivered, and retained. Confirm that board members can obtain transaction-level exports and attachments without purchasing a custom conversion project.

9. What is your owner complaint and escalation process?

The Secretary of State says the 2027 framework creates state oversight and administrative processes for certain owner and association disputes. Final rules and procedures should be monitored on the official state site.

Ask the candidate to show its internal complaint workflow:

• Intake channel and acknowledgment.
• Classification and urgency.
• Complete owner account and case history.
• Registration and license checks when relevant.
• Manager response authority.
• Board escalation.
• Counsel and insurer notification triggers.
• Preservation of evidence.
• Deadline tracking.
• Final response and corrective action.

The manager should distinguish routine service recovery from a statutory complaint, records matter, discrimination allegation, legal demand, licensing complaint, or challenge to state action. One generic ticket queue is not enough.

10. What will the board and owners see in the software?

Ask for a live role-based demonstration:

• Board president.
• Treasurer.
• Director.
• Committee member.
• Homeowner.
• Accountant or CPA.
• Vendor.

Test reports, invoices, approvals, owner ledgers, notices, documents, requests, violations, architectural applications, maintenance, communications, and exports. Confirm which modules and transactions cost extra.

Then ask:

If we end the contract, what data, documents, attachments, credentials, audit history, and open-work register will you deliver, in what format, by what date, and at what cost?

The answer belongs in the agreement. A board portal that disappears at termination is not a transition plan.

11. Who will actually perform the work?

Meet the proposed team before signing. Ask for:

• Assigned manager and license status.
• Supervising broker.
• Portfolio size.
• Accounting team structure.
• Inspection and maintenance responsibility.
• After-hours coverage.
• Response and escalation standards.
• Backup for leave or vacancy.
• Staff turnover.
• Training and quality review.
• Third-party and offshore providers.

Map every proposal deliverable to a named role. “Our team handles it” is not an operational answer.

12. Does the contract preserve board authority and exit rights?

Review the agreement with association counsel. Clarify:

• Scope, exclusions, service standards, and event fees.
• Board and manager spending authority.
• Bank and reserve controls.
• Ownership of accounts, domain names, phone numbers, and records.
• Registration and licensing responsibilities.
• Insurance and indemnity.
• Vendor and affiliate disclosures.
• Data security and incident notice.
• Term, renewal, termination, and transition assistance.
• Record format, delivery deadlines, access survival, and conversion charges.
• Handling of pending owner, collection, legal, maintenance, and insurance matters.

The agreement should support the operating model presented during the interview. Sales promises that do not appear in the scope are not reliable controls.

A practical Georgia finalist scorecard

Score each company on evidence, not confidence:

1. Current company and personnel license verification.
2. 2027 owners' association registration readiness.
3. Documented 2026 and 2027 policy updates.
4. Fidelity coverage and funds-control design.
5. Monthly close quality and board reporting.
6. Fine, fee, lien, and foreclosure controls.
7. Records, owner requests, and complaint handling.
8. Software access and data portability.
9. Assigned-team capacity and supervision.
10. Contract clarity, total cost, and transition obligations.

Require the same evidence from every finalist. Keep proposals, demonstrations, answers, license checks, references, scoring, conflicts, and the board's decision in the procurement file.

Questions to ask references

Speak with associations similar in size and complexity. Ask:

• Did the assigned team match the sales presentation?
• Were financial packages accurate and on time?
• Could directors see invoices, reconciliations, owner balances, and reserve activity?
• Did the company explain its Georgia licensing and 2027 registration plan clearly?
• Were notices, fines, collections, and legal handoffs consistent?
• How did the company respond to an error or owner complaint?
• Were extra fees predictable?
• Could the association export its records and leave cleanly?

References are most useful when the board asks for a specific example, not a general rating.

Official sources and live checks

• Georgia Secretary of State: Property Owners' Associations Division FAQ
• Georgia Secretary of State: proposed HOA rules
• Georgia Real Estate Commission: license search
• Georgia Real Estate Commission rules: Chapter 520-1
• Georgia Real Estate Commission education standards: Chapter 520-2
• Georgia General Assembly 2026 final passage summary, including Senate Bill 406
• Georgia Secretary of State: business entity search

Because the registration portal and final implementation details were still developing when this guide was reviewed, verify every deadline, form, status, and rule on the official Georgia sites before relying on it.