Selective enforcement is the argument that an association can't cherry-pick who has to follow a rule: cite you for a fence or a parked trailer while ignoring the same thing three lots down, and the enforcement action itself becomes suspect. Georgia doesn't have a section titled "selective enforcement," but O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76 (condo) and § 44-3-223 (POA) supply the hook. Fines and suspensions are authorized only for "reasonable rules or regulations adopted... pursuant to" the instrument "which have been provided to" owners. An association enforcing a rule against you while letting it slide elsewhere is straining that reasonable, adopted-and-provided framing; the rule, applied that unevenly, starts to look like something other than what the statute actually authorizes.
Georgia courts, like courts in most states, have long recognized equitable defenses to covenant enforcement, waiver and inconsistent or selective enforcement among them, when an association lets violations slide broadly across a community or enforces a restriction unevenly against one owner. None of that erases the underlying rule. It's a defense to enforcement, and it rises or falls entirely on documentation.
The records you're actually entitled to help build the case
This is where the thin POA recordkeeping duty in § 44-3-231(d), detailed minutes and itemized financial records, becomes useful outside its original purpose. Minutes can show whether other violations were discussed and quietly dropped, and financial records can show whether fines were only ever assessed against certain lots. Condo owners, without an equivalent inspection statute in this Act, need to lean harder on whatever their own declaration promises, plus direct, dated documentation of the pattern itself.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
O.C.G.A. § 44-3-223
Ties POA fines and suspensions to reasonable rules adopted under the instrument and provided to owners, the framework that uneven enforcement strains.
O.C.G.A. § 44-3-76
The condominium parallel: the same adopted-and-provided structure for enforceable rules and fines.
O.C.G.A. § 44-3-231
Requires a POA to keep detailed minutes and itemized financial records, records that can document a pattern of inconsistent enforcement.
Step by step
How to document and raise selective enforcement in Georgia
Build the evidentiary record that supports a selective-enforcement or waiver defense to a Georgia HOA or condo fine.
- 01
Identify the exact rule and its source
Confirm which clause of your declaration or condominium instruments the alleged violation falls under, and whether a written rule elaborating on it was ever adopted and provided under § 44-3-223 or § 44-3-76.
- 02
Photograph and date comparable violations
Document other lots or units with the same condition that were never cited. Note addresses or lot and unit numbers, not the names of the owners living there.
- 03
Request the association's own records
POA owners: ask for the minutes and financial records the association must keep under § 44-3-231(d) to see whether other violations were raised and dropped, or whether fines only ever landed on certain owners.
- 04
Raise the pattern before any fine becomes final
Present your comparables in writing to the board before or at whatever review your own documents provide, since Georgia's statute doesn't guarantee you a state-mandated hearing to fall back on.
- 05
Preserve everything for court
If the board won't budge, your documented pattern is the raw material for an equitable waiver or selective-enforcement defense if the association ever sues to collect the fine or forecloses the lien it's attached to.
Straight answers
Common questions
Is selective enforcement a real defense in Georgia?
It can be. Georgia courts recognize equitable defenses to covenant enforcement, including waiver and selective enforcement, when an association applies a restriction unevenly, and the adopted-and-provided framework in §§ 44-3-76 and 44-3-223 reinforces that arbitrary enforcement sits outside what the statute authorizes.
What's the difference between waiver and selective enforcement?
Waiver argues the association let a restriction lapse so broadly across the community that it can no longer enforce it at all. Selective enforcement is narrower: the rule may still be alive, but singling you out while ignoring comparable violations elsewhere is inequitable. They often travel together in the same case.
What evidence do I actually need?
Dated photographs of comparable, uncited violations, and, for POA owners, the association's own minutes and financial records under § 44-3-231(d) if they show a pattern of inconsistent citations or fines. A pattern carries the argument, not a single example.
Should I name the neighbors who weren't cited?
No. Document the properties, addresses, or lot and unit numbers, not the individuals living there. Keep the focus on the association's own inconsistent conduct, not on your neighbors.