Certain governing document provisions are essential to efficient and effective community association governance. Further, there are many document provisions that, while not essential, can greatly assist an association in tailoring its governing documents to support the unique goals of its membership and strengthen its community. For that reason, we created the below checklist of essential and helpful document provisions so that you can ensure that your association’s governing documents contain all provisions necessary to support your community’s goals. To be valid, the provisions below must be included in either your association’s governing declaration or bylaws. Thus, if you find that your documents are missing any of these provisions, they must be added in by amendment. If you would like to learn more about amending your documents to add in any of these provisions, please contact us.
1. Authority to Adopt Rules and Regulations
A community association’s board of directors does not have any authority to make rules governing an owner’s use of his or her property unless that right is specifically granted to the board in the association’s governing documents. This is true even if the association is subject to the Georgia Condominium Act or the Georgia Property Owners’ Association Act (the "POAA").
