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Your rights · Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania runs two matched statutes, one for condos and one for planned communities (its legal name for an HOA), with section numbers that largely mirror each other two thousand digits apart. Both give you a notice-and-hearing right before a fine sticks and a records-inspection right you can use to check the board's math, but both also let unpaid fines, not just unpaid dues, turn into a lien on your home.
Guides in this state
Controlling law: Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act (68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 31, §§ 3101 et seq.) & Uniform Planned Community Act (68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 51, §§ 5101 et seq.)
Last reviewed July 5, 2026· Citations link to the statute text
If you own a condominium unit in Pennsylvania, your association answers to the Uniform Condominium Act (68 Pa.C.S. §§ 3101 et seq.). If you own a lot or house in what most people call an HOA, the controlling law is the Uniform Planned Community Act (68 Pa.C.S. §§ 5101 et seq.), Pennsylvania's own name for that arrangement. Both statutes were written as a matched pair: the condo Act's power-of-the-association section is § 3302, the planned community Act's is § 5302; the condo lien section is § 3315, the planned community lien section is § 5315; and so on down the line. Once you know which Act governs you, you can usually find the sibling provision by adding 2000 to the section number.
Pennsylvania also uses the same core vocabulary in both statutes: your home, condo or not, is a 'unit,' the governing body is the 'executive board,' and the group of owners is the 'unit owners' association.' These statutes sit above your declaration and bylaws. A rule, fine schedule, or fee structure that conflicts with what the Act requires does not get to win just because it is written down and recorded.
Before your association can fine you, 68 Pa.C.S. § 3302(a)(11) (condo) and § 5302(a)(11) (planned community) require that the board act only 'after notice and an opportunity to be heard,' and only then may it 'levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws and rules and regulations.' The same subsection lets the board suspend an owner's voting rights, board-eligibility, and access to amenities while an assessment is delinquent or a violation is uncured, so the hearing matters. On transparency, § 3316 requires the association to keep detailed financial records and make 'financial and other records... reasonably available for examination by any unit owner and his authorized agents.' On meetings, § 3308 sets real notice-and-agenda rules and, unusually, forces a candidate forum before a contested board election.
On money, the flip side is real too: § 3315 (condo) and § 5315 (planned community) give the association a lien, foreclosable like a mortgage, not just for unpaid assessments but for unpaid fines as well, from the moment either becomes due. That lien is capped by a four-year statute of limitations and by priority rules that protect a first mortgage, and the statute requires the association to hand you a binding, written statement of what it says you owe within ten business days of a request. None of this is a favor from your board. It is the statutory floor Pennsylvania built under both kinds of common-interest communities.
The local twist
68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a) (condo) and § 5315(a) (planned community) give the association a lien on your unit for 'any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner' from the moment either becomes due, and that lien 'may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate.' In Pennsylvania, ignoring a fine notice carries the same structural risk as ignoring an assessment bill.
68 Pa.C.S. § 3103's definition of 'unit owner in good standing' names the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Office of Attorney General as the place to complain about disputes tied to § 3308 (meetings), § 3309 (quorums), § 3310 (voting and proxies), or § 3316 (association records), and protects your good-standing status while that complaint is pending. Few states put a specific regulator's name directly in the statute like this.
68 Pa.C.S. § 3303(e)(3) requires any condominium with 500 or more units to have board election ballots tallied and certified by an 'independent reviewer,' a certified public accountant, a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney, or a vote-management system, none of whom can be a unit owner or have a financial or family tie to the declarant, a unit owner, or the manager. Smaller condos can opt into the same protection with a 51% vote of the owners.
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.
Pennsylvania Uniform Condominium Act (68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 31, §§ 3101 et seq.) & Uniform Planned Community Act (68 Pa.C.S. Ch. 51, §§ 5101 et seq.), full text, section by section — the primary source behind every guide above.
The HOA and condo legislation we track in Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania rights that apply.
Browse Pennsylvania associations — homeowner reviews, ratings, and the public records behind each community.