Gwinnett County, GA HOA Rules: Assessment & Dues (2026)

Gwinnett County's Unified Development Ordinance regulates homeowners association assessments only where a subdivision is platted in the OSC (Open Space Conservation) zoning district, the county's conservation subdivision option that trades smaller lots for permanently protected open space. Section 212-60.4, adopted by Ord. No. UDOA2023-00002 (GCID 2023-0604) on September 26, 2023, requires the developer's property owners association bylaws or covenants to contain, at a minimum, seven provisions before the Department of Planning and Development will sign off on the Final Plat. Subsection (D) is the assessment rule itself: membership in the association is automatic and compulsory for every lot purchaser and their successors, and assessments are compulsory as well, meaning no lot owner can decline to join or refuse to pay dues.

That obligation sits alongside the rest of the covenant package the county demands: subsection (A) requires the association to be governed by the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act, O.C.G.A. Section 44-3-220 et seq., which is what gives the HOA lien rights against a delinquent owner's lot for unpaid maintenance expenses and tax obligations; subsection (B) makes the association responsible for maintaining the conservation space itself; subsection (C) puts insurance and taxes on the association's books; subsection (E) sets the terms for handing control from the developer to the lot owners; subsection (F) bars dissolving the association without Board of Commissioners approval; and subsection (G) folds in the conservation surety language required under Section 212-50.11.

Section 212-60.3 separately requires the conservation space to be deeded to the association in fee simple before or with the first Final Plat, and Section 212-60.5 makes the association responsible for the ongoing maintenance of buffers, conservation space and amenity areas, the upkeep the compulsory assessments in subsection (D) are meant to fund.