About HOA Plainly
HOA Plainly explains homeowners associations in plain English for the people who live in them, pay for them, and sometimes argue with them.
Why we built it
The Foundation for Community Association Research estimates that 78.1 million Americans live in about 373,000 community associations: HOAs, condominiums, and cooperatives. Most residents never read the declaration until something goes wrong. Then they face a fine, a special assessment, or a board decision they don’t understand, with a deadline attached.
State HOA laws are public, but they’re long and technical, and the rules differ in every state. We explain the common ground, quote specific statutes where we have checked them, and give you letters and calculators for the situations homeowners run into most.
Whose side we’re on
We write for homeowners, but we aren’t anti-HOA. Well-run associations protect property values and shared spaces, and volunteer board members often have a thankless job. The tools here are meant to make conversations clearer and calmer, and to get disputes resolved rather than escalated.
Who writes it
HOA Plainly is written and maintained by a small editorial team at an independent web publisher. We are not lawyers, engineers, doctors, or government officials, and we do not claim to be. What we do is read the primary sources (statutes, agency guidance, university extension publications, and official court and health-department pages), turn them into plain steps, and link every claim back to where it came from.
How the site is paid for
The site is free to use and is supported by display advertising from Google. Advertisers do not choose or review our topics, and ads never change what a guide says. Read our editorial standards for how we pick sources, correct mistakes, and keep ads separate from content.
Tell us what we got wrong
Rules change and local details vary. If you spot an error or an out-of-date figure, please send us a note with a link to the source. We read every correction and date-stamp the fix.
Photo and video credits
Home page background video (aerial view of a residential neighborhood) by K on Pexels, used under the Pexels license.