Tennessee HOA fine rules

What this means for homeowners

• Tennessee has no comprehensive planned-community or homeowners’ association act and no statute governing HOA fines. For a single-family HOA, whether the association may fine at all, what notice it must give, whether any cure period applies, whether a hearing is available and how large a fine may be are governed by the recorded declaration, covenants, bylaws and rules, together with the Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act for associations incorporated under it, which supplies corporate mechanics rather than fine procedure.
• The notice-and-hearing rule that does exist in Tennessee is a condominium rule. Under the Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008, 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" (Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-402(a)(11)). That provision sits in part 4 of chapter 27 and speaks to unit owners’ associations; it is not a planned-community or single-family HOA provision. Condominiums created before the 2008 act are governed by the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act in part 1 of the same chapter.
• What Tennessee does give single-family homeowners is a short list of narrow, single-topic provisions rather than a general act. Part 7 of chapter 27, captioned "Homeowners’ Association," consists of § 66-27-701 (part definitions), § 66-27-702 (provision of voting record upon request), § 66-27-703 (vested right to lease residential property), § 66-27-704 (notice of change of business entity information), § 66-27-705 (application of part) and § 66-27-706 (special assessment levies for nonessential amenities). None of the six concerns fines. Section 66-27-705 reads in full: "Sections 66-27-702, 66-27-703, and 66-27-704 apply to declaration amendments that are enacted on or after May 1, 2021." Section 66-27-706 provides that an association seeking a special assessment for a nonessential amenity must "(1) Pass the assessment by at least a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the total members in the homeowners’ association; and (2) Provide members with financing or a payment plan over a defined period of time," and that "If a member of the homeowners’ association fails to pay a special assessment for a nonessential amenity, then the homeowners’ association shall not take a foreclosure action against the property or the member for failure to pay the special assessment." Part 6 of the chapter concerns dedicatory instruments and the display of flags, and part 8 concerns gated subdivisions.
• Two acts of the 2026 session added further single-topic HOA provisions, and neither creates a fine, notice, cure-period or hearing requirement. 2026 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 914 (House Bill 1875, for which Senate Bill 1787 was substituted; signed by the Governor May 1, 2026) bars a homeowners’ association from prohibiting a property owner from installing an electric vehicle charging station for the owner’s personal use on the owner’s property, including the owner’s designated parking location, while allowing the association to set reasonable restrictions on the number, size, placement and manner of installation; the owner must indemnify the association and may be required to carry insurance naming it. The same act adds a parallel section to part 4 of chapter 27 for condominium unit owners’ associations. Its section 3 provides that the act "takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it, and applies to actions taken, and declarations entered into, renewed, or amended, on or after that date." 2026 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 731 (Senate Bill 2326, for which House Bill 2338 was substituted; signed by the Governor April 13, 2026) requires a homeowners’ association collecting assessments for common expenses to obtain and maintain a blanket fidelity bond covering theft or dishonesty by officers, directors, employees or a managing agent, in an amount equal to reserve balances plus one-fourth of aggregate annual assessment income with a $10,000 minimum; the act’s definition of "homeowners’ association" also "[i]ncludes a unit owners’ association organized under § 66-27-401." Its section 2 provides that the act "takes effect January 1, 2027, the public welfare requiring it."
• Codification caution: 2026 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 914 and 2026 Tenn. Pub. Ch. 731 each direct that Title 66, Chapter 27 "is amended by adding the following as a new part," and each numbers its two new sections § 66-27-901 and § 66-27-902. The two acts therefore claim the same section numbers, and neither act says how the conflict is to be resolved, so the final codified numbering does not appear on the face of either act.