2020 Georgia Code
Title 44 - Property
Chapter 3 - Regulation of Specialized Land Transactions
Article 3 - Condominiums
§ 44-3-76. Compliance With Condominium Instruments, Rules, and Regulations; Means of Enforcement
Every unit owner and all those entitled to occupy a unit shall comply with all lawful provisions of the condominium instruments. In addition, any unit owner and all those entitled to occupy a unit shall comply with any reasonable rules or regulations adopted by the association pursuant to the condominium instruments which have been provided to the unit owners and with the lawful provisions of bylaws of the association. Any lack of such compliance shall be grounds for an action to recover sums due, for damages or injunctive relief, or for any other remedy available at law or in equity, maintainable by the association or, in any proper case, by one or more aggrieved unit owners, on their own behalf or as a class action. If and to the extent provided in the condominium instruments, the association shall be empowered to impose and assess fines, and suspend temporarily voting rights and the right of use of certain of the common elements in order to enforce such compliance; provided, however, that no such suspension shall deny any unit owner or occupants access to the unit owned or occupied nor cause any hazardous or unsanitary condition to exist. If the voting right of a unit owner has been suspended, then to the extent provided in the condominium instruments, that unit owner's vote shall not count for purposes of establishing a quorum or taking any action which requires a vote of the owners under this article or the condominium instruments. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code section, to the extent provided in the condominium instruments, water, gas, electricity, heat, and air conditioning services being provided to a unit or unit owner by the association may be terminated for failure to pay assessments and other amounts due pursuant to subsection (a) of Code Section 44-3-109, subject to the suspension standards and notice requirements imposed on the institutional providers providing such services to the condominium development, only after a final judgment or final judgments in excess of a total of $750.00 are obtained in favor of the association from a court of competent jurisdiction. The utility services shall not be required to be restored until the judgment or judgments and any reasonable utility provider charges or other reasonable costs incurred in suspending and restoring such services are paid in full. All common expenses for termination and restoration of any services pursuant to this Code section shall be an assessment and a lien against the unit.
(Ga. L. 1975, p. 609, § 13; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44; Ga. L. 1990, p. 227, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1943, § 2; Ga. L. 2004, p. 560, § 1.)
Law reviews.- For article, "Recommended Changes in the Law Affecting Condominium and Homeowner Associations in Georgia," see 1 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 185 (1985).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Exhaustion of alternative remedies not required.
- Association was not required to exhaust alternative remedies as a condition precedent to the association's use of O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76 to enforce the payment of assessments. Fontaine Condominium Ass'n v. Schnacke, 230 Ga. App. 469, 496 S.E.2d 553 (1998).
Termination of common elements to enforce assessments.
- Condominium association was entitled to alter the association's declaration to allow the association to terminate water service from common elements, such as exterior spigots, if a unit owner owed a certain amount in judgment, even though the amendment affected facts retrospectively. Since a unit owner owed more than that amount, the association was granted a preliminary injunction forbidding the unit owner from using any external water spigots and forbidding any other unit owner from allowing that unit owner to use such common element spigots. Frantz v. Piccadilly Place Condo. Ass'n, 278 Ga. 103, 597 S.E.2d 354 (2004).
Vehicle towing.
- Trial court's grant of summary judgment to a condominium association and others in an action by a vehicle owner whose vehicle was towed from the common areas of the condominium complex was proper as the association had authority under the association's declaration as well as pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76 to impose rules and regulations regarding the towing of vehicles, there was no showing that the association's rules were selectively enforced, and the notice requirements prior to the towing were complied with by the association. King v. Chism, 279 Ga. App. 712, 632 S.E.2d 463 (2006).
Cited in First Fed. Sav. Bank v. Eaglewood Court Condominium Ass'n, 186 Ga. App. 605, 367 S.E.2d 876 (1988); Spratt v. Henderson Mill Condominium Ass'n, 224 Ga. App. 761, 481 S.E.2d 879 (1997).
