Loading
Loading
Your rights · North Dakota
North Dakota never wrote an HOA act. Condominiums get a short 1965-model chapter, N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1, that enforces your declaration only 'where reasonable,' requires an assessment lien to be recorded before it exists, and — surprisingly — protects political yard signs and electric-vehicle chargers by name. Subdivision HOAs sit outside that chapter entirely: their real statutory floor is the Nonprofit Corporations Act, ch. 10-33, which gives members records inspection backed by an attorney-fee remedy, the power to demand meetings, and a path to remove directors. Which chapter covers you decides every fight, so that's where these guides start.
Guides in this state
Controlling law: No general HOA act. Condominiums: Condominium Ownership of Real Property chapter (N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1); incorporated associations fall back on the Nonprofit Corporations Act (N.D.C.C. ch. 10-33).
Last reviewed July 10, 2026· Citations link to the statute text
Search the North Dakota Century Code for a homeowners' association chapter and you won't find one. What exists is a condominium statute, ch. 47-04.1, enacted in 1965 on the same short model act Mississippi and a handful of other states used — sixteen sections that apply only once an owner records a declaration submitting the property to condominium ownership (§ 47-04.1-02). Its philosophy is contract-first: the recorded declaration of restrictions is enforceable as an 'equitable servitude where reasonable' (§ 47-04.1-04), bylaws must be annexed to the recorded declaration and can only be amended by a recorded amendment (§ 47-04.1-07), and owners must 'comply strictly' with all of it, enforceable by court action for damages or an injunction — by the association or by an aggrieved fellow owner (§ 47-04.1-08). The chapter never mentions fines, sets no meeting or quorum rules, and creates no records-inspection right. Where it does bite, it bites cleanly: an assessment lien exists only after a notice is recorded with the county recorder (§ 47-04.1-11), interior decorating of your own unit is yours by default (§ 47-04.1-06(4)), political yard signs are protected in election season (§ 47-04.1-14), and an EV charging station can't be prohibited or unreasonably restricted, with a 60-day deemed-approval rule and a civil penalty for willful violations (§ 47-04.1-16).
If you live in a subdivision HOA — detached houses, a recorded set of covenants, an association collecting dues — none of that chapter applies to you. Your association's power comes from your covenants as a matter of ordinary property and contract law. But almost every North Dakota HOA is organized as a nonprofit corporation, and that makes ch. 10-33, the Nonprofit Corporations Act, your statutory floor: it requires the corporation to keep six years of minutes and accounting records and let members inspect them for a proper purpose, with a damages-and-attorney-fees action if access is wrongly denied (§ 10-33-80); it lets 50 members or 10 percent of the voting members, whichever is less, demand an annual meeting that's overdue or a special meeting (§§ 10-33-65, 10-33-66); it sets a default quorum of just 10 percent (§ 10-33-76); and it makes directors removable by the members who elected them, with or without cause, unless the articles or bylaws say otherwise (§ 10-33-36). Check the Secretary of State's business registry for your association's nonprofit status — that status is what makes the whole chapter available to you.
For condo owners, the money protection is the recording gate. Under § 47-04.1-11, an assessment must be reasonable and made under the recorded declaration and bylaws; it becomes your debt when made, but it becomes a lien on your unit only when the administrative body records a notice of assessment — stating the amount, the add-on charges (interest, costs, penalties, as your documents allow), and the record owner's name — with the county recorder. No recorded notice, no lien. Once paid, the association must record a satisfaction and release. Enforcement of a recorded lien runs through court: North Dakota forecloses real-estate liens by action (ch. 32-19 is the mortgage version), and the state gives no association a private power of sale over your home. A lien spread across multiple units can be lifted off yours by paying only your proportional share (§ 47-04.1-12), and property taxes are levied unit by unit, never against the project as a whole, with your tax exemptions preserved (§ 47-04.1-13).
The governance protections live in ch. 10-33 and they're stronger than most owners realize. Meeting notice runs 5 to 50 days by default and must state a special meeting's purpose, and business at a special meeting is limited to the noticed purposes (§§ 10-33-66, 10-33-68). If the board ignores a lawful meeting demand for 30 days, the demanding members can call the meeting themselves at the corporation's expense — and a district court can order a meeting held (§ 10-33-67). Directors owe statutory duties of good faith and care, a court can remove a director for fraud or gross abuse of authority on petition of 10 percent of the voting members (§ 10-33-37), and 50 members or 10 percent, whichever is less, can sue for equitable relief — with attorney fees available — when the corporation or its officers violate the chapter (§ 10-33-81).
The local twist
Ch. 47-04.1 applies only to property submitted to condominium ownership by a recorded declaration (§ 47-04.1-02). A subdivision HOA of detached houses is outside it completely — no lien statute, no EV or sign protections, nothing. Its members' statutory rights come instead from the Nonprofit Corporations Act, ch. 10-33, if (as almost always) the association is incorporated. First moves in any dispute: pull the recorded declaration at the county recorder, and look up the association at the Secretary of State.
Under § 47-04.1-11 an unpaid assessment is a personal debt when made, but it becomes a lien on the unit only when the administrative body records a notice of assessment with the county recorder stating the amount, the permitted add-on charges, and the owner's name. That's a checkable, public gate most boards never mention — and once the debt is satisfied, the statute obligates them to record the release.
For a 1965-model act, ch. 47-04.1 has two strikingly modern carve-outs. Section 47-04.1-14 bars any covenant, bylaw, or rule from prohibiting political yard signs within sixty days before a primary, general, or special election (reasonable placement rules survive). Section 47-04.1-16 voids covenants that prohibit or unreasonably restrict EV charging stations in your unit or designated parking space, deems an application approved if not denied in writing within sixty days, and fines a willfully violating board actual damages plus up to $1,000.
Section 10-33-80 requires a nonprofit HOA to keep six years of minutes and accounting records at its principal office, open to member inspection for any proper purpose, with a financial statement on request. A member wrongfully denied access can sue for an injunction, damages, and costs and reasonable attorney's fees — a fee-shifting records remedy stronger than what many full HOA-act states offer. Unincorporated associations' members have none of this by statute; their access rights live in the covenants.
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.
No general HOA act. Condominiums: Condominium Ownership of Real Property chapter (N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1); incorporated associations fall back on the Nonprofit Corporations Act (N.D.C.C. ch. 10-33)., full text, section by section — the primary source behind every guide above.
The HOA and condo legislation we track in North Dakota, 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 North Dakota rights that apply.
Browse North Dakota associations — homeowner reviews, ratings, and the public records behind each community.