Tennessee HOA laws and regulations - 2026 guide

Tennessee has no general homeowners association statute. A single-family HOA in Franklin runs almost entirely on a declaration recorded at the county Register of Deeds, while a condominium built in 2015 two miles away answers to a detailed state act with its own lien, records and meeting rules: the Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008, Tenn. Code Ann. Title 66, Chapter 27, Parts 2–5.

If you assume one set of Tennessee HOA laws covers both communities, you misread your rights on fines, liens, records and foreclosure.

This guide sorts out which statute applies to your property in Tennessee, what the association can collect and enforce, which rules are void under state and federal law, and how to get records, dispute a decision, or dissolve the association.

Tennessee HOA laws at a glance: the statutes that actually apply

Five bodies of law govern Tennessee associations, and the one that controls your community depends on whether you own a condominium unit or a subdivision lot, and on when the developer created the community.

Once you buy under a recorded declaration, the covenants 'run with and bind the land,' as the Court of Appeals put it in Schodowski v. Tellico Village Property Owners Association, so assessments become mandatory for property owners whether or not they ever signed anything.

• Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008 (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 66, Chapter 27, Parts 2–5): Governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 2009. Part 4, §§ 66-27-401 through 66-27-418, covers the unit owners' association: board authority, meetings, quorums, assessments, liens and records.
• Horizontal Property Act (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 66-27-101 through 66-27-123): Enacted in 1963, it still governs condominiums created before 2009 unless they opt into the 2008 Act. The 2008 Act did not repeal it; as one Tennessee real estate practice summarizes, 'The HPA remains fully operative.'
• Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 48, Chapters 51–68): Applies to any association incorporated as a Tennessee nonprofit. For single-family HOAs it supplies the only statutory rules on member meetings, records inspection and dissolution.
• Tennessee Freedom of Speech Act (§ 2-7-143) and the flag statute (§ 66-27-602): Void HOA bans on political signs during election periods and on U.S. and armed-forces flags.
• Federal law: The Fair Housing Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the FCC's OTARD rule at 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act each override contrary covenants.

The Tennessee Open Meetings Act is absent from this list because it reaches public bodies, and no court has applied it to an ordinary private HOA.

Which law governs your community?

Your community type and creation date pick the statute, and the differences show up in whether the association can lien your property without a lawsuit and how fast it must hand over records:

• Community type | Controlling statute | Practical consequence
• Single-family or townhome HOA, any year | Recorded declaration (CC&Rs), plus Title 48 if incorporated; no HOA-specific statute | Lien and foreclosure powers exist only where the declaration grants them. Fine authority also depends on the declaration; records rights come from § 48-66-102 with a 5-business-day written demand
• Condominium created before January 1, 2009 | Horizontal Property Act, plus the specific 2008 Act sections listed in § 66-27-202 for events after January 1, 2009 | Statutory lien (§ 66-27-415), records duty (§ 66-27-417) and emergency assessment power (§ 66-27-414(g)) apply; amendment votes and most governance still follow the master deed
• Condominium created on or after January 1, 2009 | Condominium Act of 2008, Parts 2–5 in full | Mandatory annual meeting, 20% quorum, 67% declaration-amendment vote, automatic lien for assessments and fines, 10-business-day records deadline
• Unincorporated association | Declaration and general contract law | Title 48 does not apply, so there is no statutory inspection right or dissolution procedure; everything depends on the recorded documents

For pre-2009 condominiums, § 66-27-202 lists the sections that reach back: §§ 66-27-205 through 207, 303, 304, parts of 402, 411, 414(g), 415, 417 and Part 5. They apply only 'with respect to events and circumstances occurring after January 1, 2009.'

Those sections do not invalidate an existing master deed, with one exception. § 66-27-414(g) overrides contrary recorded documents so a board can levy assessments to preserve the building's physical integrity or comply with government requirements. A Memphis condominium practice flags it as the only retroactive override in the Act.

A pre-2009 community can opt in by amending and restating its master deed and bylaws, along with its plat, or by electing coverage in the master deed while meeting every 2008 Act requirement. In practice many do not, so the Court of Appeals applied the Horizontal Property Act to a pre-2009 condominium in Preserve at Forrest Crossing (2013).

Why Tennessee has no general HOA act (and what happened to SB405)

Tennessee has never passed a statute governing the operation and management of homeowners associations in non-condominium communities, and the bill owners still cite, SB405, died in 2016.

SB 0405 of the 109th General Assembly (2015–2016), with House companion HB 0610, would have enacted a 'Tennessee Homeowners Association Act' requiring board and committee meetings to be open to owners outside executive session and requiring associations to give specified information to owners, purchasers and lenders on request.

Both chambers deferred it to summer study on March 15, 2016, and it never returned.

If you search the current bill tracker you will find a different SB 0405. In the 114th General Assembly (2025–2026), SB 0405 is the 'CEO Pay Disparity Tax Act,' sponsored by Senator London Lamar, which would have added a 0.1% excise tax surcharge on companies whose top executive earns at least 100 times the median employee.

The Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee assigned it to a general subcommittee on April 17, 2026, and it died when the session ended April 23, 2026. It has nothing to do with HOAs.

The sponsor withdrew the 2024 attempt, SB 2000, titled the 'Tennessee Homeowners' Association Act,' as this report shows. The Community Associations Institute's 2026 Tennessee end-of-session report mentions no general HOA act at all. The one HOA bill that did pass in 2026 was SB 2326, the fidelity bond requirement covered below.

That gap is why the declaration carries the weight for a single-family community. Tennessee courts treat a recorded declaration as a contract that binds every lot, and the association's power to fine, lien and foreclose extends exactly as far as its text.

What your CC&Rs, charter and bylaws control, and how to find them

The declaration sits at the top of the hierarchy, and when it conflicts with the bylaws, the declaration wins under § 66-27-406 for condominiums. Below it sit the charter (the incorporation document filed with the Secretary of State) and the bylaws (meeting, election and officer procedure). Board-adopted rules occupy the next level. For post-2009 condominiums, amending the declaration takes at least a 67% owner vote under § 66-27-317, or more if the declaration says so.

Investors buying in a new development should also read for declarant contracts. Under § 66-27-405, a management or service contract the developer signed can be terminated without penalty once the owner-elected board takes office, on 90 days' notice to the other party.

Where the declaration is recorded

The person executing a post-2009 condominium declaration must record it in every county where the condominium sits and index it in the grantee's index under the condominium and association names. Pre-2009 master deeds are recorded 'in the same manner and subject to the same law as are deeds' under § 66-27-107. Single-family CC&Rs are recorded in the county Register's Office and are public record.

Tennessee has no statewide online deed portal, so access and cost depend on the county:

• County | Online access | Cost
• Davidson (Nashville) | Davidson deed services | $50/month single user; $25/month each additional
• Knox (Knoxville) | Subscription remote access | $40/month plus $25 setup fee
• Hamilton (Chattanooga) | Online record search after application | $50/month
• Rutherford | Free records search since July 1, 2025 | No charge
• Shelby (Memphis) | Public property-search portal | Not stated
• Williamson | Archival online index | Not stated

Multi-county vendors fill some gaps. TitleSearcher.com sells county subscriptions including Shelby and Williamson at $50.00 per month each, or a pay-as-you-go account with a $5.00 opening deposit. Owners in the two largest metros can also work from the city-level guides to HOA laws and regulations in Nashville and HOA laws and regulations in Memphis.

The lookup path

1. Confirm the county from the property address.
2. Search the county portal by subdivision or plat name. Shelby County warns that 'Subdivisions are not provided on all documents,' so a name search alone can miss the declaration.
3. Search the grantor and grantee indexes under the developer, the declarant, the condominium name and the association name.
4. Once you find a candidate, pull it by instrument number or book and page.
5. Order certified copies. Under T.C.A. § 8-21-1001, a certified non-plat page costs $1.00 and a certified plat costs $5.00; Davidson and Shelby charge $0.50 per non-certified page.

For the charter and annual reports, go to the Secretary of State. Since October 1, 2022 every filing runs through the Tennessee Charity and Business Filing System, and § 48-66-101 also requires the association to keep its most recent annual report at its principal office.

Assessments, fees, fines, liens and foreclosure: what a Tennessee HOA can legally do

A condominium association's lien attaches automatically the day an assessment or fine comes due; a single-family HOA can lien and foreclose only if its declaration says so. The applicable statute or declaration determines whether a $600 delinquency turns into a recorded lien in weeks or requires a lawsuit first.

Condominium associations: the lien is automatic

Under § 66-27-414, once a board has levied any assessment, it must assess at least annually from a budget adopted at least annually. Then § 66-27-415 does the enforcement work:

• The association 'has a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner from the time the assessment or fine becomes due.'
• Fees, charges, late charges, fines and interest are all enforceable as assessments.
• The prevailing party recovers costs and reasonable attorney's fees; the statute makes that award mandatory.
• Judicial foreclosure is available as of right. Non-judicial power of sale under Title 35, Chapter 5 is available only if the declaration provides for it, and the association must notify the owner and all lienholders of record before the first publication of notice. Mailed notice counts as received three days after it goes in the mail.
• The lien dies unless enforcement proceedings start within six years of the date it became effective.

Recording the declaration counts as record notice of the lien, and delinquent amounts up to the statutory priority threshold need no further recording. The lien is subordinate to a first mortgage recorded before the delinquency and to real estate taxes.

At a lender's foreclosure, the association takes priority in the proceeds for up to six months of common expense assessments, capped at 1% of the first mortgage's maximum principal. The association forfeits even that priority if the lender supplied its contact details in writing and the association failed to notify the lender within 30 days of the account hitting six months delinquent.

Because § 66-27-415 applies retroactively for post-2009 events, this regime covers older condominiums too.

Single-family HOAs: the declaration decides

Tennessee has no statute on planned-community liens or their priority against lenders. As a USFN analysis of Tennessee lien issues puts it, you have to read the HOA documents to learn whether the lender or the HOA comes first. Courts enforce whatever the documents grant:

• In McKenzie v. Brandywine Homeowners' Association (2019), the declaration let the HOA 'foreclose the lien and sell the lot at a public auction,' and the Court of Appeals upheld a non-judicial sale, holding that a shockingly low sale price by itself, absent an irregularity in the sale, does not void it.
• In Greywood Crossing Owners Association v. Holleman (2024), the court affirmed a judicial sale after more than three years of unpaid assessments because the declaration authorized the association to 'foreclose the lien against the lot.'
• Whether fines can ride along in the lien depends on the declaration's wording.
• Attorney fees are recoverable only if the declaration has a fee-shifting clause, and the award must survive a reasonableness review under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 8, RPC 1.5 (Parker v. Brunswick Forest Homeowners Association).

Fees a collector can add

Once the account leaves the association's hands, federal law caps what gets tacked on. 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(1) bars a debt collector from collecting any amount 'unless such amount is expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law,' and the CFPB's 2022 advisory opinion treats pay-to-pay convenience fees the same way. For a condominium, § 66-27-415's attorney-fee provision supplies the 'permitted by law' hook; for a single-family HOA, the collector needs the declaration.

Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3958, no lienholder may foreclose on a servicemember's property during military service or for 90 days after without a court order, which overrides a declaration's power-of-sale clause for that owner.

Assessments fund the association's budget, and they do not replace coverage on your own unit. Steadily writes landlord insurance on condominiums and single-family rentals, including loss of rental income coverage for up to 12 months of fair rental value if a covered loss forces your tenant out. Cost and coverage details sit on the landlord insurance in Tennessee page, or get a quote in minutes at quote.steadily.com. No phone call required.

HOA rules that are unenforceable in Tennessee

A covenant that bans political yard signs, U.S. flags, assistance animals, or a small satellite dish on your patio is void regardless of how the owners voted on it. Each protection has a source and a boundary.

Political signs

Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-143(b)(2) states that 'A homeowners' association shall not, by covenant, condition, restriction, or rule, prohibit the display of political or campaign posters or signs placed on private property by the owner of the property or any lawful resident of a residence on the property.' The General Assembly enacted the Act in 2017, with an effective date of July 1, 2017, amended it in 2021, and amended it again through Public Chapter 626 effective July 1, 2022. It applies only to agreements executed or modified after July 1, 2017.

An HOA may still adopt reasonable placement and removal rules, including limiting signs on common space and private property to four square feet.

Protection runs only from 60 days before voting begins under § 2-6-102(a)(1) until the day after voting ends. A landlord may require written permission before a tenant posts a sign, but that requirement must appear in the lease.

Per Attorney General Opinion 19-13, the Act 'does not, however, place any restrictions on homeowners' associations with respect to political canvassing,' so door-to-door bans stand.

U.S. and military flags

Under § 66-27-602, no HOA may enforce a dedicatory instrument provision that prohibits displaying the U.S. flag or an official or replica flag of any U.S. armed forces branch on the owner's property; reasonable placement and manner rules survive. This applies to instruments created or amended on or after July 1, 2017. The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 covers the U.S. flag only and contains no enforcement mechanism, so the Tennessee statute is the one you would sue under.

Fair housing

The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604, applies to HOAs the same as landlords, and HUD confirmed in 2025 that it 'bars homeowners associations, just like landlords, from denying housing opportunities based on race.' Protected classes are race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability. Rules that fail:

• Barring children from a common area adults may use, which is familial status discrimination.
• Charging pet fees or deposits for an approved assistance animal, including emotional support animals.
• Refusing reasonable accommodations in rules or reasonable modifications at the owner's expense, including in common use areas.
• Blanket criminal-record exclusions, which HUD's guidance says can violate the Act through disparate impact.

Tennessee's own statute, § 4-21-604, declares restrictive covenants that forbid conveyance, occupancy or lease based on race, color, creed, religion, sex or national origin void, and treats honoring one as a discriminatory practice.

Debt collection

The FDCPA does not apply to an association collecting its own assessments in its own name, but it does reach attorneys who regularly collect (Heintz v. Jenkins) and management companies that take over accounts already in default.

The Sixth Circuit, which covers Tennessee, treats condominium assessments as FDCPA debts, and an Eastern District of Tennessee court in Cornell v. HOA Management let a claim against a management company proceed.

Covered collectors must send a validation notice within five days of first contact, may not call before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., and under Regulation F are presumed to harass if they call more than seven times in seven days about one debt.

Antennas and satellite dishes

The FCC's OTARD rule, 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000, preempts any 'homeowners' association rule or similar restriction' that impairs installing a satellite dish or fixed-wireless antenna of one meter or less, or a TV broadcast antenna, on property within the owner's exclusive use or control.

Balconies, patios, and decks qualify as exclusive-use space. The FCC's guidance is explicit that the rule 'does not apply to common areas, such as the roof, the hallways, the walkways or the exterior walls of a condominium or apartment building.'

Prior-approval requirements generally count as unreasonable delay, only safety or National Register historic objectives justify a restriction, and the burden of proof sits with the association.

Solar panels

Solar panels get no comparable carve-out in the Tennessee statutes covered in this guide. A panel request runs through whatever architectural review process your declaration sets out.

Board duties: meetings, records, annual reports and the SB 2326 fidelity bond rule

Starting January 1, 2027, every homeowners' or unit owners' association organized under § 66-27-401 that collects assessments for common expenses must carry a blanket fidelity bond sized to its reserves plus a quarter of its annual assessment income, with a $10,000 floor. That rule came from SB 2326, now Public Chapter 731, which creates §§ 66-27-901 and 66-27-902.

The fidelity bond formula

Senator Yarbro sponsored SB 2326; Representatives Hemmer, Boyd and Hardaway carried the companion HB 2338. It passed the House 91–0 and the Senate 30–0.

The introduced bill set a July 1, 2026 effective date; Amendment SA0694, adopted March 23, 2026, moved it to January 1, 2027. No amendments were pending as of September 2026.

The statute requires the HOA to 'obtain and maintain a blanket fidelity bond to insure the HOA against losses resulting from theft or dishonesty committed by the officers, directors, or persons employed by the HOA, or committed by any managing agent or employee of the managing agent.' The required amount is 'coverage in an amount equal to the reserve balances of the association plus one-fourth (1/4) of the aggregate annual assessment income of such HOA; provided, that the minimum coverage amount must be ten thousand dollars ($10,000).'

Run the numbers on a 40-unit community holding $150,000 in reserves and collecting $240,000 a year: the bond must cover $150,000 plus $60,000, or $210,000. The board or the managing agent may buy the bond on the association's behalf. The law covers any homeowners' or unit owners' association organized under § 66-27-401 that collects assessments for common expenses, with no unit-count or budget exemption.

Records and reserve studies

For incorporated associations, § 48-66-101 requires minutes of all member and board meetings, accounting records, and a member list with names, addresses, and voting rights.

At its principal office, the association must also keep:

• Its charter
• Its bylaws
• Board resolutions on member rights
• Three years of member-meeting minutes
• Three years of written communications to members, including financial statements
• Names and addresses of current directors and officers
• Its most recent Secretary of State annual report

Condominium boards have a tighter clock. Under § 66-27-417, as a Memphis condominium firm summarizes, the association must comply with a specific set of records duties:

• Respond to records requests within 10 business days
• Accept requests by email or website posting
• Produce minutes for the 24 months before the request
• Charge only a reasonable copy fee, which may be assessed against the unit if unpaid

Refusal exposes the association to fines and the requester's attorney's fees.

Condominium boards overseeing common elements with more than $10,000 in aggregate replacement cost must also meet the reserve study requirement in § 66-27-403(g), added by Public Chapter 205 (2023) and effective January 1, 2024.

Condominium associations must hold a member meeting at least once a year under § 66-27-408. Incorporated HOAs have the same annual-meeting duty under § 48-57-101.

Are HOA board meetings open? The Sunshine law question answered

No Tennessee statute requires a private HOA's board meetings to be open, and the Open Meetings Act does not fill that gap.

§ 8-44-102(a) opens 'all meetings of any governing body,' but the statute defines governing body as members of a public body, plus narrow categories of nonprofits:

• Community-action agencies eligible for block grant funds
• Nonprofits drawing at least 30% of income from state community grants
• Nonprofits acting for local governments under Title 7
• A few others

A subdivision HOA fits none of them.

Courts apply the Dorrier test, asking whether an entity's 'origin and authority may be traced to State, City or County legislative action.' In Oliver Wood, the Court of Appeals pulled a private economic development nonprofit under the Act because a county and city created it.

A developer-created HOA has no such origin. No Attorney General opinion, Office of Open Records Counsel guidance, or appellate decision has held an ordinary HOA subject to the Act.

The 2016 SB 405 discussed above would have imposed open board meetings by statute, and it failed.

Your meeting rights therefore come from the Condominium Act, Title 48 and your bylaws:

• The president or a majority of the board may call a condominium special meeting. Owners holding 20% of the votes may also call one (§ 66-27-408).
• Condominium meeting notice must go out no less than 10 and no more than 60 days ahead, by hand delivery, mail, fax or electronic means, and must state time, place, method of attendance and agenda items, including budget changes, proposed amendments and any proposal to remove a director or officer.
• A condominium quorum is 20% of the votes eligible to elect the board, present in person or by proxy at the start (§ 66-27-409).
• For incorporated HOAs, § 48-57-105 sets the default member-meeting notice at no fewer than 10 days and no more than two months.
• Under the Horizontal Property Act, § 66-27-113 requires the administrator to keep financial books open to co-owners at convenient hours on announced working days.

If your bylaws promise open board meetings, that promise is enforceable as part of the governing documents; if they are silent, the board may meet privately.

How to request records, dispute or sue your HOA in Tennessee

An incorporated single-family HOA must produce its core records five business days after a written demand, and a chancery court can order production and make the association pay your attorney's fees if it refuses. The steps differ slightly for condominiums, so start by identifying your statute.

The records request, step by step

1. Pick the right statute. Condominium owners request under § 66-27-417 and get a 10-business-day response window. Members of an incorporated single-family HOA request under § 48-66-102.
2. Write the demand. For the charter, bylaws, board resolutions on member rights, three years of member-meeting minutes, three years of member communications and financial statements, director and officer names, and the latest annual report, § 48-66-102(a) requires only a written demand at least five business days before your inspection date. No reason is required.
3. State a purpose for the rest. Accounting records, the membership list, and minutes older than three years fall under § 48-66-102(b). Your demand must be in good faith and for a proper purpose, describe the purpose and records with reasonable particularity, and request records directly connected to that purpose. You may send an agent or attorney, and the association may charge only the labor and material cost of copying, delivered electronically if you ask.
4. Cite § 48-66-102(d) if the board points to the bylaws. 'The right of inspection granted by this section may not be abolished or limited by a corporation's charter or bylaws.'
5. File in chancery court if refused. Under § 48-66-104, a court of equity in the county of the association's principal office 'may summarily order inspection and copying' of subsection (a) records at the association's expense, and must decide subsection (b) applications 'on an expedited basis.' If the court orders production, it 'shall also order the corporation to pay the member's costs (including reasonable counsel fees)' unless the association proves it refused in good faith with a reasonable basis for doubt.

The Court of Appeals applied these sections directly to an HOA in Rarity Bay Partners v. Rarity Bay Community Association (2021), ordering production of election records including unredacted ballots under a protective order. In Lamothe v. Deer Hill Village Homeowners' Association (2025) it sent a case back because the trial court skipped the required findings, while confirming the expedited-basis rule.

Condominium owners face a limit. In Young v. Cottage Grove Condominium Association (2026), relying on Sigel v. Monarch Condominium Association (2012), the Court of Appeals held that the Condominium Act governs a condominium association's records duties. It also held that a management contract was outside the records the association had to produce.

Other routes into court

A dispute over what the declaration means, rather than access to a document, fits a declaratory judgment action under T.C.A. § 29-14-102. Members holding 5% of the voting power, or 50 members, whichever is less, or any director, may bring a derivative suit on the corporation's behalf under § 48-56-401.

Where to file a discrimination complaint

The Tennessee Human Rights Commission dissolved on June 30, 2025. Since July 1, 2025, the Attorney General's Civil Rights Enforcement Division enforces the Tennessee Human Rights Act, including its housing provisions at § 4-21-601. File at CRED@ag.tn.gov, by phone at (615) 741-3491, or by mail to P.O. Box 20207, Nashville, TN 37202.

The state deadline is 180 days from the discriminatory act. HUD accepts complaints for one year.

Under § 4-21-302, the former Commission had to begin an investigation within 30 days of filing. It said investigations generally ran up to six months.

The former Commission also offered free, voluntary mediation. If conciliation failed, the Commission could send the case to an administrative law judge. A party could instead elect a civil action within 20 days of receiving permission under § 4-21-312.

Contact CRED for its current investigation, mediation and adjudication procedures.

HOA conduct that has drawn complaints includes denying disability parking modifications and restricting children's use of amenities. A consent order in the Tennessee Hideaway Village matter, over a rule barring children from the pool without adult supervision, required $10,000 in damages plus fair housing training.

How to dissolve or leave an HOA in Tennessee

Dissolving an incorporated HOA takes a two-thirds vote of members casting ballots (or a majority of total voting power, whichever is less) plus a $20 filing, and even then the recorded declaration stays on every lot's title. There is no individual exit; because the covenants run with the land, the only way a single owner leaves is by selling.

Dissolving the nonprofit corporation

§ 48-64-102 sets the sequence for a member corporation:

1. The board recommends dissolution to the members, unless a conflict of interest or special circumstances justify no recommendation.
2. Meeting notice states that dissolution is a purpose and includes a copy or summary of the plan of dissolution showing who receives assets after creditors are paid. Written member consent under § 48-57-104 works as an alternative.
3. Members approve by 'two thirds (⅔) of the votes cast by members or a majority of the voting power, whichever is less.' The charter or bylaws may require more, never less.
4. A public benefit corporation gives written notice to the Attorney General and transfers no assets for 45 days unless the AG consents sooner (§ 48-64-103).
5. The association files Articles of Dissolution, form SS-4411, for $20 through the Tennessee Charity and Business Filing System. Under § 48-64-104 the articles state the corporation name, authorization date, that members duly adopted the resolution, and attach the resolution. Dissolution takes effect on filing unless a later date is specified.

The Secretary of State treats dissolution and termination as a two-step process.

Winding up involves settling debts: known claimants get written notice with a deadline of at least four months, and unknown claimants get published notice and are barred after two years.

The association also needs a tax clearance certificate from the Department of Revenue, valid for 45 days, before the charter can terminate. Articles of Termination (form SS-4412, $20) close the entity once assets are distributed.

Terminating a condominium

A condominium regime is harder to unwind than a corporation. § 66-27-318 requires agreement by owners holding at least 80% of association votes and by 80% of first-mortgage lenders on units holding 80% of the votes. The declaration may set a higher bar, and may deem a lender to approve if it does not object within 30 days of notice.

The owners must execute the termination agreement like a deed and record it in every county where the condominium sits. The agreement takes effect only on recording.

Under the Horizontal Property Act, § 66-27-109 requires all co-owners to act by deed to remove property from the regime.

Why the covenants outlive the corporation

Filing Articles of Dissolution ends the corporate entity. The declaration recorded against your lot remains in force. That document remains a recorded encumbrance on title until it is amended or released by its own procedure, which for post-2009 condominiums means the 67% vote in § 66-27-317 and for a single-family community means whatever percentage the declaration itself sets. Owners who dissolve the corporation without amending the declaration are left with covenants on title and no entity to enforce or waive them.

FAQ

These answers summarize the rules owners most often need on governing statutes, board authority, foreclosure, records and complaints.

Does Tennessee have an HOA Act?

No general one. Condominiums created on or after January 1, 2009 fall under the Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008 (Title 66, Chapter 27, Parts 2–5), older condominiums under the Horizontal Property Act, and every other association under its recorded declaration plus the Nonprofit Corporation Act in Title 48 if incorporated. The last serious attempt at a planned-community statute, SB 405 in 2016, was deferred to summer study and never revived.

Does the HOA president have more power than the other board members?

Under § 66-27-403 the board as a body 'may act in all instances on behalf of the association,' subject to the declaration and bylaws. The statute gives the president one individual power, calling a special meeting under § 66-27-408; any other authority to sign contracts or approve expenses alone must come from the bylaws or a board resolution.

Can a Tennessee HOA foreclose for unpaid dues?

Yes. A condominium association holds a statutory lien under § 66-27-415 and may foreclose judicially as of right, or by power of sale if the declaration allows, within six years of the lien attaching. A single-family HOA may foreclose only if its declaration grants a lien and sale power, which courts have enforced in McKenzie (non-judicial) and Greywood Crossing (judicial). In either case the lien sits behind a first mortgage recorded before the delinquency.

What records am I entitled to see?

Members of an incorporated HOA may inspect the charter, bylaws, three years of member-meeting minutes and financial statements, director and officer names, and the latest annual report on five business days' written notice, plus accounting records and the membership list with a stated proper purpose. Condominium owners request under § 66-27-417 and are owed a response within 10 business days, though Young v. Cottage Grove (2026) held that a management contract falls outside that duty.

Where do I complain about my HOA?

Discrimination complaints go to the Attorney General's Civil Rights Enforcement Division at CRED@ag.tn.gov or (615) 741-3491 within 180 days, or to HUD within one year. Records refusals and covenant disputes go to the chancery court in the county of the association's principal office under § 48-66-104 or § 29-14-102. Debt collector misconduct by an attorney or management company is actionable under the FDCPA in federal court.