New Jersey HOA Laws: What Homeowners Need to Know in 2026

In New Jersey, the Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act (N.J.S.A. 45:22A-21 et seq.) covers homeowners’ associations, condominiums and co-ops, and its association rules apply whenever the community was built. Condominiums also answer to the Condominium Act (46:8B). A recorded assessment lien can outrank an earlier mortgage for six months of regular assessments.

PREDFDA, the Condominium Act, and the pre-1977 question

A planned real estate development “shall specifically include” Condominium Act property, “any form of homeowners’ association, any housing cooperative” and community trusts (45:22A-23(h)). The 1993 association chapter (45:22A-43 et seq.) reaches an existing development regardless of “whether the developer has been subject to, or exempted from” registration, or “the development’s date of establishment” (45:22A-43(a)). The registration exemptions in 45:22A-25 and 45:22A-42 concern builders, not your board.

The Condominium Act applies “solely” to land submitted by a recorded master deed (46:8B-8). A condo has both statutes; a subdivision HOA has PREDFDA and its recorded covenants. In a community established before PREDFDA took effect, the association may not require assessments “where the property owner’s title record does not impose such an obligation, unless otherwise provided by law” (45:22A-45.4, P.L.2020, c.100).

What the Department of Community Affairs will and won’t do

The Association Regulation Unit in DCA’s Bureau of Homeowner Protection lists, in its complaint packet (revised December 2024), three enforcement areas: alternative dispute resolution, open board meetings, and owner access to financial records. It adds “limited jurisdiction” over election rights. It says it lacks authority to, for example, investigate or remove board members, order compliance with governing documents, or conduct audits; owners use ADR or court. Separately, the statutes let the Commissioner enforce the solar and EV-charger sections below.

Assessment liens after P.L.2019, c.68

Since April 29, 2019, HOAs have a lien statute (45:22A-44.1) matching the condo one (46:8B-21); co-ops are excluded. The lien takes effect when a claim is recorded with the county, and a claim may not consist solely of late fees. Otherwise it ranks behind past-due property taxes, any mortgage on the unit and any earlier-recorded lien, except for a limited priority over prior mortgages and other liens (never over municipal liens or federal tax liens):

• up to six months of customary assessments before recording, which excludes reserves, late charges, penalties, interest and collection costs;
• only if recorded before the association receives the lender’s foreclosure summons and complaint, or before a lis pendens is filed;
• one six-month cap shared by all association liens on the unit, earliest recorded first;
• renewed annually as needed, expiring on the first day of the 60th month after recording;
• not granted again against the same mortgage within 60 months of an earlier priority lien;
• and only if the association notifies the first mortgage holder in writing, or makes a good-faith effort to.

Foreclosure is by lawsuit, “in the same manner as a foreclosure of a mortgage on real property” (45:22A-44.1(f)). Whoever takes title by foreclosing the first mortgage owes none of the earlier assessments; the balance, minus late fees and fines, is spread over the remaining owners.

Fines: a condominium power, capped by another statute

A condominium may fine owners only if its master deed or bylaws allow it (46:8B-15(f)). Each fine is capped at the maximum penalty in the Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law, 55:13A-19: $500 per violation and $5,000 per continuing violation. No fines for moving violations on roads under Title 39, and none without written notice of the action, its basis and the owner’s right to the dispute procedure. For non-condominium associations, the DCA packet states there is “no statutory right” to fine and advises them to offer ADR notice anyway.

Reserve studies under P.L.2023, c.214

Effective January 8, 2024 and amended by P.L.2025, c.132 (August 21, 2025), 45:22A-44.2 makes every PRED association get a capital reserve study, with a 30-year funding plan, done or overseen by a CAI-credentialed reserve specialist or a New Jersey-licensed engineer or architect, and redone and reviewed at least every five years. Associations with less than $25,000 in common-area capital assets are exempt.

An association that existed on January 8, 2024 may fund one of its study’s plans in full or at 85 percent (45:22A-44.3(e)). The 85 percent route needs a pre-budget notice in 20-point bold type giving the year and amount of the special assessment or loan the shortfall will cause. A seller must give a buyer the latest such notice before the contract, and the option ends five fiscal years after August 21, 2025.

Board elections and open meetings

Under 45:22A-45.2 (P.L.2017, c.106), elections come every two years if the documents set no schedule. If none has been held for two years or more, a petition from 25 percent of members in good standing (never fewer than a quorum) forces one within 90 days. In developments of 50 or more units, board terms may not exceed four years, and the election notice goes out 14 to 60 days before the meeting with proxy and absentee ballots, unless the bylaws prohibit them.

Board meetings are open, except conference or working sessions with no binding votes (45:22A-46(a); 46:8B-13(a)), and may be closed, wholly or in part, only for: an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy; pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiations; attorney-client matters where confidentiality is required; or the employment, promotion, discipline or dismissal of a specific officer or employee. Minutes must be available before the next open meeting. The DCA rule N.J.A.C. 5:26-8.12 requires, in addition to the board’s posted yearly open-meeting schedule, “adequate notice of at least seven days” before each such meeting, posted on the property, on the association’s website and newsletter, or delivered to each member, and filed with the designated board member; for a genuinely urgent meeting, notice as soon as possible is adequate. Owners may speak only if the board allows it (45:22A-46(a)).

Records: reasonable time, no fixed deadline

The Condominium Act keeps accounting records “open to inspection at reasonable times by unit owners” (46:8B-14(g)). The DCA’s records guide says courts have extended the right to HOAs and co-ops. It adds: “There is no set time period in which the association must make records available.”

Solar panels and EV chargers

Under 45:22A-48.2 (P.L.2007, c.153), no ban on solar collectors on an owner’s own single-family roof or a townhouse roof the owner must repair. It may regulate five things: installers’ qualifications, certification and insurance; location on the roof; concealment of supports, fixtures and piping; color harmony; and aggregate size or number. No rule may add more than 10 percent to the installation cost or keep the panels from working at their intended maximum efficiency. The section does not bind an association still under developer control.

Under 45:22A-48.4 (P.L.2020, c.108, effective October 19, 2020), a charger in your designated space cannot be banned or unreasonably restricted, and an application not denied in writing within 60 days is deemed approved unless the delay stems from a reasonable request for information; the association may also hold an application in abeyance until electrical upgrades it reasonably finds necessary are completed.

Buying in a New Jersey community

Buying from a developer in a registered development, you get the public offering statement and can cancel by midnight of the seventh calendar day after signing (45:22A-26(b)). On a resale, request the association’s unpaid-assessment certificate: it is due within 10 days, and a buyer relying on it owes no more than it shows (45:22A-44.1(d); 46:8B-21(d)). Buyer and seller are jointly liable for assessments unpaid at closing, and a buyer who pays can recover from the seller. A condo’s resale capital contribution, if its documents authorize one, is capped at nine times the monthly assessment (46:8B-15(e)); see our New Jersey closing costs.

New Jersey owners’ questions

Our HOA predates 1977. Do the election rules bind it?

Yes, regardless of the development’s date (45:22A-43(a); 45:22A-45.1(g)), though an owner whose title record imposes no assessment duty cannot be charged (45:22A-45.4).

Will the DCA order my board to follow the bylaws?

No. Its unit handles ADR, open meetings, financial-records access and, to a limited extent, elections.

Can the lien jump ahead of my mortgage?

For up to six months of regular assessments, if the claim is recorded before the association is served in the lender’s foreclosure or a lis pendens is filed.

Related: HOA basics, selling in an HOA, New Jersey homeowner insurance, New Jersey hub.