POA (Property Owners Association)

What a POA is

A property owners association is a mandatory-membership organization created by recorded covenants. Owners in the community belong to it automatically, pay assessments to it and follow the rules it enforces. Some POAs oversee subdivisions of houses, while others oversee lot-only developments, lake or golf communities, or a master association that sits above several smaller ones.

The label differs mostly by region and by how the developer named the entity. There is no national definition that separates a POA from an HOA, so the label alone tells you little. The recorded documents and your state statute tell you what the association can do.

POA versus HOA

In everyday use the two terms often overlap. Where a distinction exists, it is usually about what the members own or what the association covers. An HOA is commonly pictured as governing owners of homes. A POA is sometimes used where members own land, lots or a mix of property types, including vacant lots and commercial parcels. These are tendencies, not rules, and associations name themselves however the founding documents say.

For a deeper comparison, see APM's HOA vs POA page.

Examples of how state law uses the term

These are examples only, and state law varies. Texas uses "property owners' association" as the working term in its statutes. Chapter 209 of the Texas Property Code is titled the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, and one of its provisions, section 209.009, bars a property owners' association from foreclosing its assessment lien when the debt consists solely of fines, attorney's fees tied only to those fines, or certain amounts added to an owner's account under other sections of the chapter.

Florida, by contrast, defines a "homeowners' association" in section 720.301 as a Florida corporation responsible for operating a community, with a voting membership of parcel owners, mandatory membership as a condition of ownership, and authority to impose assessments that, if unpaid, may become a lien on the parcel. Whether the entity is called an HOA or a POA, it is the statute's definition that decides which rules apply.

California does not use either label as a legal category. Its Davis-Stirling Act covers associations in several kinds of common interest developments, including a planned development, which Civil Code section 4175 describes as a development with common area that an association owns or maintains, with power to levy assessments that may become a lien on the separate interests.

What a POA usually does

Typical powers come from the declaration and state law, and usually include the following.

• Setting a budget and levying regular and special assessments.
• Maintaining common areas, such as entrances, roads, ponds or amenities, where the documents assign that duty.
• Adopting and enforcing rules, within notice, hearing and fine limits that vary by state.
• Reviewing architectural or landscaping changes.
• Keeping records and holding member meetings and elections.

How to tell what you belong to

Check three things: the recorded declaration, which names the association and its powers; the articles of incorporation or other formation document, which show how the entity is organized; and your state's statute for community associations. If a document calls the entity a POA but the statute covers it as a homeowners association, the statute's rules still apply. A licensed attorney in your state can confirm which law governs.

Related

• HOA vs POA
• COA glossary entry
• CC&Rs glossary entry
• What powers does an HOA have?