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Your rights · Kentucky
Kentucky's HOA statute is barely a few years old, and it already gives owners something concrete: your board cannot impose a fine, damage charge, or individual assessment without written notice and the opportunity to be heard first. Condo owners get a real lien-and-records framework too, but not that same explicit hearing right, and architectural review in this state runs almost entirely on your own declaration, with one hard exception carved out by statute: political yard signs.
Guides in this state
Controlling law: Kentucky Planned Community Act (KRS §§ 381.785 to 381.801) & Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS §§ 381.9101 to 381.9207)
Last reviewed July 6, 2026· Citations link to the statute text
If you own a lot in a Kentucky subdivision HOA, your association runs on the Kentucky Planned Community Act (KRS §§ 381.785 to 381.801), which the legislature created from scratch in 2023 (Senate Bill 120, 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 23, effective June 29, 2023) and has already amended once, in 2025. If you own a condominium unit and your building was declared on or after January 1, 2011, you're under the separate Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS §§ 381.9101 to 381.9207) instead. Older Kentucky condos generally stay under the prior Horizontal Property Law unless the association formally opted into the newer act, so if your building predates 2011, confirm which statute actually governs before you build an argument on any section number below.
Kentucky doesn't hand owners a state regulator the way some states do — no board that registers associations, audits their books, or fields owner complaints. What you get instead are the two acts' own procedural requirements: the notice-and-hearing rule before a fine, the recordkeeping and examination duties, the lien mechanics, and the meeting and quorum rules. When an association ignores those, your leverage is the statute itself, in writing, and ultimately the courts. There's no third-party office standing between you and that fight.
Before a planned-community board can charge you a fine, a damage assessment, or an individual assessment, KRS § 381.797(2) requires it to give you written notice and the opportunity to be heard first. That right doesn't depend on your declaration promising it; the legislature put it directly into the statute. On records, KRS § 381.795 lets you examine and copy the association's books, records, and minutes, subject to a short, specific list of exceptions. And on money, an unpaid assessment, fine, or charge becomes part of the association's continuing lien on your lot under KRS § 381.799 once it's thirty days past due.
Condo owners get a parallel but not identical set of protections. KRS § 381.9193 gives the association a lien for unpaid assessments and fines that can be foreclosed like a mortgage, but that lien for unpaid assessments is extinguished if the association doesn't act on it within five years, and you can force a binding, ten-business-day payoff statement out of the board on written request. Records are, if anything, promised more plainly for condos: KRS § 381.9197 says financial and other records "shall be made reasonably available for examination by any unit owner," without the exceptions list the HOA statute carries. And Kentucky protects one architectural use outright, regardless of what your declaration says: KRS § 381.800 bars any planned community's governing documents from banning outdoor political yard signs. None of this is the board's favor to grant. It's the statutory floor, thin as it still is in places.
The local twist
The Kentucky Planned Community Act (KRS §§ 381.785 to 381.801) didn't exist before June 29, 2023. The legislature has already gone back into it once, in 2025, to strengthen the political-yard-sign protection in KRS § 381.800. If your HOA's rules still act like this statute doesn't exist, or like it hasn't changed, that's worth raising directly.
KRS § 381.797(2) explicitly requires written notice and the opportunity to be heard before a planned-community board can impose a fine, damage charge, or individual assessment. The Condominium Act's fine and lien section, KRS § 381.9193, doesn't carry that same explicit hearing language. If you own a condo, whatever hearing procedure you have most likely comes from your declaration and bylaws, not a guarantee written into this statute the way it is for HOA owners.
The Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS §§ 381.9101 to 381.9207) applies to condominiums created on or after January 1, 2011. Older Kentucky condos generally remain under the state's prior Horizontal Property Law unless their association formally opted into the newer act. Check your declaration's recording date and any opt-in language before assuming this act's sections apply to you.
Owner guides
Each guide explains your rights from the owner’s side, cites the controlling statute, walks the steps, and answers the questions boards hope you won’t ask.
Notice, hearing, and cure rights before a fine can stick.
When unpaid dues become a lien, and what limits foreclosure of your home.
The books and records you can inspect, how to ask, and the clock the board is on.
Quorum, ballots, proxies, recalls, and open-meeting rights that check board power.
ARC timelines, approvals, and the laws that protect solar, flags, and antennas.
Fined when a neighbor wasn't? How the docs and statute frame the defense.
Kentucky Planned Community Act (KRS §§ 381.785 to 381.801) & Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS §§ 381.9101 to 381.9207), full text, section by section — the primary source behind every guide above.
The HOA and condo legislation we track in Kentucky, with plain-English notes on what each bill means for homeowners.
The violation-letter analyzer reads your fine or notice and points you at the Kentucky rights that apply.
Browse Kentucky associations — homeowner reviews, ratings, and the public records behind each community.