Barrow County, GA HOA Rules: Board Governance (2026)

Section 89-470(a) of Barrow County's Unified Development Code triggers a mandatory homeowners' association whenever a residential development contains common open space or any other land held in common ownership; the association must provide for building and grounds maintenance and repair, insurance and working capital. Subsection (a)(1) makes membership mandatory for every property in the development, so an individual lot owner cannot opt out once the subdivision is subject to the section. Subsection (a)(2) requires the association to operate under a recorded declaration and bylaws, including covenants, conditions and regulations that bind every property in the development, and subsection (a)(6) lists the minimum topics those covenants must control, from shared-facility access and open-space maintenance to signs, exterior fences, outside storage, overnight parking and holiday lighting.

A. Title 44, Chapter 3, Article 6, and, where it will hold a conservation easement, to meet the separate qualification standard under the Georgia Uniform Conservation Easement Act. Timing is fixed by subsection (a)(7): for a subdivision, the homeowners' association has to be formed and incorporated at the same time the final plat for the subdivision, or any phase of it, is first recorded, and the developer must submit a copy of the proposed association documents with the final subdivision plat application so Planning and Community Development can review them before the plat records. Nonresidential developments and condominium projects follow parallel association requirements under subsections (b) and (c) instead of the homeowners'-association rules in subsection (a).