Glossary

• ADR — ADR means alternative dispute resolution: mediation, arbitration, or a similar process outside a courtroom. Some CC&Rs require it before a lawsuit. Some state HOA statutes require or encourage it. It is not a hearing on a fine. A hearing is inside the association. ADR is usually a third party.
• Architectural review — Architectural review is the committee or board process that approves exterior changes. The committee only has the power the declaration actually grants, and some states require written, evenhanded decisions. Most CC&Rs say you can't change the look of the house — paint, fence, roof, landscaping, solar, a shed — without prior written approval from an architectural review committee (ARC), architectu
• Articles of incorporation — Articles of incorporation are the state filing that creates the HOA as a corporation, usually a nonprofit. They are not the CC&Rs. The CC&Rs are recorded against the lots. The articles are filed with the secretary of state (or equivalent) and typically name the corporation, its purpose, and sometimes a cap on director liability.
• Assessment — Dues are the recurring share of the association budget. 'Assessments' is the broader legal word that often includes dues, specials, and sometimes other charges. Unpaid assessments are how HOA liens start. People say "HOA dues" at the kitchen table and "assessments" in the declaration. Both can be right. The legal hook is almost always the assessment obligation in the CC&Rs, not the nickname on you
• Bylaws — Bylaws are the HOA's corporate operating manual — elections, officers, meetings, quorum. CC&Rs are the recorded land-use constitution. If they conflict, the declaration usually wins. People mix up bylaws and CC&Rs because both arrive in the same closing packet. They're not the same instrument, and they don't do the same job. Nolo's comparison is the one to keep: CC&Rs set out the rules of the comm
• Capital contribution — A capital contribution is a one-time charge at closing, often dumped into reserves. A transfer fee pays the association to update its records — or, in some documents, is a profit-taking charge. States cap or ban the second kind. The closing statement has a line you didn't budget: "HOA capital contribution," "working-capital fee," "resale fee," "transfer fee," "start-up fee." Those words are not sy
• CC&Rs — CC&Rs are the recorded declaration that runs with your lot. They're the community's property-use constitution, not a handbook the board can rewrite at a Tuesday meeting. CC&Rs stand for covenants, conditions, and restrictions. In an HOA, they're almost always the recorded declaration — the document that created the community and tied every lot to a set of private promises. You're not signing a clu
• Collections — Collections is how the association tries to recover unpaid assessments (and sometimes fines, late fees, and attorney's fees): reminder, demand letter, collection agent, lien, then in some states foreclosure. Regular dues and a disputed fine are not the same pile of money. Withholding dues because you are angry at the board is a common way to end up in collections even if the underlying fight is re
• Cure period — A cure period is the time you have to fix the thing they say is wrong before a fine sticks. It may be in the letter, the CC&Rs, a published enforcement policy, or a state statute. It is not always required. Some notices are for uncurable or health-and-safety issues. Some states block a fine if you cure a curable violation in time.
• ESA — A pet is what your CC&Rs regulate. A service animal is a dog individually trained to do disability-related work. Housing law is broader than the ADA in some eras and narrower in HUD's 2026 enforcement memo — read both, plus your state statute. HOA pet rules — number, weight, breed, "no dogs" — are private covenants. They lose when a federal or state disability law says the animal is not just a pet
• Estoppel certificate — An estoppel letter is a snapshot of what one lot owes. A resale certificate or disclosure package is the broader document set a buyer should actually read. States name and cap them differently. At closing, two different pieces of paper get called "the HOA docs." Don't let that happen. An **estoppel** (estoppel letter, estoppel certificate, status letter) is the association's certified statement of
• Executive session — Most HOAs are private corporations, not city councils. Government sunshine laws usually don't apply. Some states still require owner-open board meetings with narrow executive-session exceptions. Your HOA board is not the school board. Government "sunshine" or open-meeting laws — Florida Chapter 286, California's Brown Act — generally police public agencies. A community association is usually a pri
• Fine — A fine is money the association tries to charge you as discipline for a governing-document violation. It is not the same thing as regular assessments (your share of the budget) or a special assessment. Some states cap daily or per-violation fines, block a fine from becoming a lien, or require a hearing before the fine can be imposed.
• Foreclosure — An HOA can, in many states, foreclose its assessment lien and sell the home. That is a real-property foreclosure, not an eviction. You still own the house until the sale; the association is not your landlord. HOA foreclosure is the association using its lien to force a sale of the property, the way a mortgage lender does. It is not a lock-change. It is not a three-day notice to pay rent or quit. Y
• Good standing — Good standing usually means you are current on assessments (and sometimes fines) so you can vote, use amenities, or inspect records. It is a document-defined status, not a single national legal term. Some bylaws suspend voting if you are delinquent. Some states limit how far an association can go (for example, blocking records inspection only when a statute allows it).
• Grandfathering — Grandfathering means an existing use or condition is allowed to stay after a new rule would ban it. HOAs often argue about this on rentals, parking, pets, and architectural changes. Whether you are grandfathered is almost never a vibe. It lives in the amendment language, the CC&Rs, and sometimes a state statute that limits retroactive rental bans.
• Hearing — An HOA hearing is your chance to talk to the people who will decide a fine or other discipline, before it is final. It is not a courtroom. Who sits there (the board, a committee, or in Florida an independent fining committee), whether you must request it, and how many days' notice you get all depend on the documents and the state.
• IDR — IDR means internal dispute resolution: a required or offered sit-down inside the association before (or instead of) outside mediation or a lawsuit. It is not a national HOA procedure. California is the state that uses the label most clearly. Under the Davis-Stirling Act, California associations generally must provide a fair, reasonable, and expeditious IDR procedure, and a member can invoke it in
• Late fee — A late fee is an extra charge when an assessment installment is not paid by the due date (or by a grace period in the documents). It is not a violation fine. Some declarations set a dollar amount or a percentage. Some states cap late fees or require a waiting period before they can attach. Interest, collection costs, and attorney's fees are often separate line items.
• Lien — An HOA lien is a legal claim against your lot for unpaid assessments (and, in some states, other charges). It clouds title, can lead to foreclosure, and is not the same thing as a landlord locking you out. An HOA lien turns unpaid association debt into a claim on the property. Nolo's foreclosure overview: based on the CC&Rs and state law, an HOA can usually place liens if homeowners become delinqu
• Master policy — The association master policy and your HO-6 split a condo loss. Bare walls vs walls-in is declaration-and-policy language, not a national guarantee. Florida condos have a statutory split; other states usually do not. You usually need two property policies in a condo or attached HOA, not one. The association buys a master (blanket) policy. You buy an HO-6 unit-owners policy — or whatever your decla
• Mediation — Mediation is a settlement meeting with a neutral person who cannot force a deal. It is not a judge and not an HOA hearing. Some states give homeowners a statutory mediation path (Florida's HOA mediation process is a common example; the response and session clocks live in Florida law, not in every state's code). Other states leave mediation to the contract in your CC&Rs.
• Ombudsman — An ombudsman is a state office that takes HOA complaints, explains the statute, and sometimes mediates. Most states do not have one. Virginia's Common Interest Community Ombudsman (DPOR) is a real example. Nevada has an Ombudsman for Owners in Common-Interest Communities. Florida's DBPR handles some HOA and condo complaints. California does not have a single statewide HOA ombudsman the way Virgini
• Open meeting — Most HOAs are private corporations, not city councils. Government sunshine laws usually don't apply. Some states still require owner-open board meetings with narrow executive-session exceptions. Your HOA board is not the school board. Government "sunshine" or open-meeting laws — Florida Chapter 286, California's Brown Act — generally police public agencies. A community association is usually a pri
• Prevailing-party fees — Prevailing-party fees means the winner of a lawsuit (or sometimes an arbitration) can make the loser pay attorney's fees. Many CC&Rs have this clause. Some state HOA statutes add or limit it. It is one reason a small fine fight can become an expensive case. It is also why associations sometimes plead for fees even when the dollar amount in dispute is small.
• Proxy — Quorum is how many voting interests must show up (in person or by proxy, if allowed) before business is valid. Proxy rules are picky. A meeting without a quorum cannot raise your dues just because the board is in the room. Quorum is the attendance threshold that makes a membership meeting real. Below it, you can talk; you generally cannot adopt a budget override, elect under rules that need a quor
• Quorum — Quorum is how many voting interests must show up (in person or by proxy, if allowed) before business is valid. Proxy rules are picky. A meeting without a quorum cannot raise your dues just because the board is in the room. Quorum is the attendance threshold that makes a membership meeting real. Below it, you can talk; you generally cannot adopt a budget override, elect under rules that need a quor
• Records inspection — Records inspection is your right, in many states, to look at association books: budgets, ledgers, contracts, minutes, insurance, and member lists, with exceptions (attorney-client, some personnel, some ongoing-collection files). Whether you must state a purpose, how many days they have, and what they can charge for copies is state-specific. It is usually not a FOIA request. HOAs are typically priv
• Resale package — An estoppel letter is a snapshot of what one lot owes. A resale certificate or disclosure package is the broader document set a buyer should actually read. States name and cap them differently. At closing, two different pieces of paper get called "the HOA docs." Don't let that happen. An **estoppel** (estoppel letter, estoppel certificate, status letter) is the association's certified statement of
• Reserve fund — The reserve fund is the cash (and investments) set aside for major repairs and replacements. It is not operating cash. Raiding it for day-to-day bills is how special assessments get born. The reserve fund is the association's repair savings account. Nolo describes the second slice of HOA dues as the amount placed into reserves for long-term repairs and replacements — a new roof for the community c
• Right of entry — Right of entry is a CC&R clause that lets the association come onto your lot (and sometimes into a unit) for inspections, repairs to common elements, or emergencies. It is not a general search warrant. The declaration usually limits when, how much notice, and for what purpose. An HOA is not the city. Government rules about warrants do not automatically apply, and HOAs are usually private.
• Rules and regulations — Rules are the board's written operating details — pool hours, parking enforcement, fine schedules. They have to stay inside the declaration, the bylaws, and state law. A rule cannot invent a new covenant. If CC&Rs are the recorded constitution and bylaws are the corporate charter, rules are the employee handbook. They're useful. They're also the document boards overuse. Nolo's three-column chart p
• Selective enforcement — Selective enforcement is uneven application of the same covenant to similarly situated owners. It's a defense and a fiduciary problem, not a license to ignore the documents. Selective enforcement is the neighborhood version of "rules for thee." The covenant exists. The board enforces it against you — the truck in the driveway, the unapproved paint, the short-term rental — and leaves the same facts
• Service animal — A pet is what your CC&Rs regulate. A service animal is a dog individually trained to do disability-related work. Housing law is broader than the ADA in some eras and narrower in HUD's 2026 enforcement memo — read both, plus your state statute. HOA pet rules — number, weight, breed, "no dogs" — are private covenants. They lose when a federal or state disability law says the animal is not just a pet
• Short-term rental — Many declarations already ban Airbnbs. New bans are often harder to enforce against owners who bought under the old rules. California and Florida both wrote that distinction into statute — differently. Short-term rental (STR) fights are three documents stacked: the recorded declaration, a later amendment or rule, and a state statute that may freeze new restrictions as to existing owners. City zoni
• Special assessment — A special assessment is a one-time (or short-run) charge on top of regular dues, usually for a repair, insurance gap, or underfunded reserve job. Authority, notice, and any owner vote live in your declaration and your state's statute — not in a national 5% rule. Regular dues are supposed to cover the year's operations and a contribution to reserves. A special assessment is the extra bill when that
• Super lien — A super-priority lien is a state-law slice of unpaid HOA assessments that ranks ahead of a previously recorded first mortgage. Not every state has one. Florida's safe harbor is not a super-lien. Normally, liens line up by recording date: first in time, first in line. A "super-lien" or super-priority assessment lien is a statute that carves out a limited amount of unpaid HOA or condo assessments an
• Violation — A violation is a claim that you broke a governing document: the CC&Rs, bylaws, rules, or an architectural guideline. It is not automatically a fine. Many associations send a warning or a "notice of alleged violation" first. The letter should say what they think you did, which section they are using, and what happens next (cure, hearing, or a charge).