Missouri HOA fine rules

Missouri has no comprehensive homeowners association act and no statute requiring notice before an association fine generally. The only Missouri statute that conditions an association fine on written notice is Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.404, and it reaches two categories of violation. For political signs: "A homeowners' association may remove a political sign without liability if such sign is placed within the common ground, threatens the public health or safety, violates an applicable statute or ordinance, is accompanied by sound or music, or if any other materials are attached to the political sign. Subject to the foregoing, a homeowners' association shall not remove a political sign from the property of a homeowner or impose any fine or penalty upon the homeowner unless it has given such homeowner three days after providing written notice to the homeowner, which notice shall specifically identify the rule and the nature of the violation" (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.404.2(3)). For sale signs: "A homeowners' association may remove a sale sign without liability if such sign is placed within the common ground, threatens the public health or safety, violates an applicable statute or ordinance, is accompanied by sound or music, or if any other materials are attached to the sale sign. Subject to the foregoing, a homeowners' association shall not remove a sale sign from the property of a homeowner or property owner or impose any fine or penalty upon the homeowner or property owner unless it has given such homeowner or property owner three business days after the homeowner or property owner receives written notice from the homeowners' association, which notice shall specifically identify the rule and the nature of the alleged violation" (§ 442.404.4(3)). The statute prescribes no notice at all before a fine for any other kind of violation — architectural, landscaping, parking, pets, noise, occupancy or anything else — so for those violations the notice that must be given, if any, comes from the recorded declaration, covenants, bylaws and rules rather than from Missouri law. The statute defines "Homeowners' association" as "a nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association of homeowners created under a declaration to own and operate portions of a planned community or other residential subdivision that has the power under the declaration to assess association members to pay the costs and expenses incurred in the performance of the association's obligations under the declaration or tenants-in-common with respect to the ownership of common ground or amenities of a planned community or other residential subdivision. This term shall not include a condominium unit owners' association as defined and provided for in subdivision (3) of section 448.1-103 or a residential cooperative" (§ 442.404.1(1)).

Missouri sets no general cure period before an association fine. The two waiting periods that exist are tied to the two sign provisions of Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.404 and are measured differently from one another. For a political sign, the association may not impose a fine or penalty "unless it has given such homeowner three days after providing written notice to the homeowner, which notice shall specifically identify the rule and the nature of the violation" (§ 442.404.2(3)) — three days running from the association's provision of the notice. For a sale sign, the association may not impose a fine or penalty "unless it has given such homeowner or property owner three business days after the homeowner or property owner receives written notice from the homeowners' association, which notice shall specifically identify the rule and the nature of the alleged violation" (§ 442.404.4(3)) — three business days running from the owner's receipt of the notice. Neither period is a general cure period for association violations, and no fixed day count is recorded in the cure_period_days field because Missouri fixes no cure period that applies to association violations as a class. Each sign provision is also expressly subject to the association's separate power to remove the sign without liability where the sign "is placed within the common ground, threatens the public health or safety, violates an applicable statute or ordinance, is accompanied by sound or music, or if any other materials are attached" to it (§ 442.404.2(3), .4(3)).

Missouri sets no statutory dollar cap on a homeowners association fine. Missouri has enacted no comprehensive homeowners association act, and Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.404 — the only Missouri statute that conditions an association fine on written notice — sets no limit on the amount of a fine; it addresses only the notice that must precede a fine or penalty over a political sign (§ 442.404.2(3)) or a sale sign (§ 442.404.4(3)). For a single-family HOA the amount of a fine therefore comes from the recorded declaration, covenants, bylaws and rules. Missouri's only statutory limit on the amount of an association fine is on the condominium side, and it is a reasonableness standard rather than a dollar figure: under the Missouri Uniform Condominium Act a unit owners' association may "Impose charges for late payment of assessments and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, levy reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations of the association" (§ 448.3-102.1(11)), a power that has no counterpart for a single-family homeowners association.

Missouri prescribes no records-inspection right specific to homeowners associations; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 442.404 contains no records provision. Because a Missouri homeowners association is commonly a nonprofit corporation, the inspection right generally comes from the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act, chapter 355. Under it, "a member, or resident of a class of residents who have paid into the corporation for services or other charges over fifty percent of the corporation's operating expenses, is entitled to inspect and copy, subject to subsections 2 and 3 of this section, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation required by this act if the member or resident gives the corporation written notice or a written demand at least five business days before the date on which the member or resident wishes to inspect and copy" (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 355.826.1). Records maintained under § 355.821.1 and the corporation's financial statements are available on the same five business days' written notice, but only if "(1) The member or resident describes with reasonable particularity the purpose and the records the member or resident desires to inspect; and (2) The records are directly connected with this purpose" (§ 355.826.2, .3). An association that is not incorporated under chapter 355 is outside these provisions.