To find out if your HOA is legal, check two things: whether the association is registered and in good standing as a corporation with your state, and whether its covenants, conditions, and restrictions are recorded against your property in the county land records. Both pieces have to hold up. An HOA that fails the corporate test may have lost the ability to sue you; an HOA that fails the county-records test may never have had authority over your property in the first place. And the two questions are independent of each other, which is where most homeowners get tripped up.
Start With Your Own Deed
The fastest first step is reading the deed to your property. Somewhere near the legal description, look for language saying the property is “subject to” certain covenants, conditions, and restrictions. That clause usually names the HOA and lists a recording number pointing to the full declaration on file with the county. If you no longer have your deed, the county recorder’s office keeps a copy, and many counties now offer online access.1
A deed that references recorded covenants is strong evidence the HOA has a legitimate foundation for its rules. A deed with no such reference is a red flag. It does not by itself prove the HOA is invalid, since the covenants might have been recorded under a separate instrument, but it tells you the county search will need to be thorough.
Know Which Documents Actually Matter
An HOA’s authority rests on two documents above all others. The Articles of Incorporation create the association as a legal entity, almost always a nonprofit corporation, and are filed with the state. Without them, the association has no corporate identity to open bank accounts, sign contracts, or bring lawsuits. The Declaration of CC&Rs spells out what homeowners can and cannot do with their property, how assessments work, and what the HOA maintains. The declaration has to be recorded with the county, and once it is, it attaches to every property in the community.
Bylaws are a third document, governing how the board is elected and how meetings run, but they rarely affect the threshold question of whether the HOA is legitimate. The Articles and the CC&Rs are the pair that determine whether the association exists and whether its rules bind your land.
Check the HOA’s Corporate Status
Nearly every state requires HOAs to incorporate as nonprofits, and every state maintains a searchable business entity database through its Secretary of State or an equivalent agency. Search by the HOA’s name, which appears on your assessment bills, meeting notices, or the deed reference.
You are looking for the entity’s current status. “Active” or “good standing” means the HOA has met its ongoing obligations to the state, generally periodic reports and fees. That is a green light on the corporate side.
A status of “dissolved,” “suspended,” or “lapsed” means the HOA has failed to keep up. Administrative dissolution is the most common version: the association stopped filing its annual paperwork and the state revoked its corporate status. This happens more often than most homeowners expect, especially in small communities where board turnover is high and no one notices the filings have lapsed.
The consequences are real. Many state corporation statutes provide that a suspended corporation cannot bring a lawsuit in state courts while the suspension is in effect. A dissolved HOA likely cannot sue you for unpaid assessments or covenant violations until it reinstates. Some courts will give the entity a chance to cure the problem rather than dismissing the case outright, but the HOA is operating from a weak position.
Search the County Records for the CC&Rs
Corporate status tells you whether the HOA exists as an organization. County land records tell you whether the rules are legally attached to your property. Both matter, and they are independent.
The CC&Rs have to be recorded with the county recorder or clerk in the county where the property sits. Recording is what makes the covenants binding on every future buyer. Search by subdivision name, by the developer’s name, or by the recording number listed on your deed. Many county offices offer online portals; others still require an in-person visit or a written request.
If you find a properly recorded declaration covering your subdivision, the covenants are almost certainly enforceable, assuming the content complies with state law. If a thorough search turns up no recorded CC&Rs, an entity calling itself your HOA may have no legal basis to impose rules on your property. Recording is not a technicality. It is the mechanism that turns a private agreement into an obligation that runs with the land.
A Dissolved Corporation Does Not Kill the Covenants
This is where most homeowners make an expensive assumption. Discovering that the HOA’s corporate status has lapsed does not mean the covenants on your property have vanished. Recorded CC&Rs attach to the land, not to the corporation that administers them. If the corporation dissolves but the declaration remains in the county records, the restrictions survive.
What changes is who can enforce them. A functioning HOA enforces covenants on behalf of the community through its board. When the corporation dissolves, that centralized enforcement goes away. In most states, however, individual homeowners keep the right to enforce recorded covenants against their neighbors directly. If your neighbor’s CC&Rs contain the same restrictions yours do, your neighbor can take you to court for a violation even without a functioning HOA board.
Before treating a dissolved HOA as permission to ignore every restriction on your property, understand that the covenants and the corporation are separate legal creatures. The corporation can die while the covenants stay very much alive.
Covenants Can Expire on Their Own
Recorded covenants are not always permanent. Some CC&Rs include a sunset clause, expiring after a set number of years unless homeowners vote to renew them. Read the full declaration for an expiration date or automatic renewal provision.
Several states have also enacted Marketable Record Title Acts that can extinguish old recorded covenants, sometimes after 30 years, if the HOA fails to file a preservation notice in the county records before the deadline. These statutes were designed to clear ancient defects from property titles, and they can catch HOAs off guard when no one on the board realizes the deadline is coming. If your community’s CC&Rs were recorded decades ago, check whether your state has such a law and whether a preservation notice was filed.
Mandatory Versus Voluntary HOAs
Not every HOA works the same way. In a mandatory HOA, membership is automatic when you buy the property. The recorded CC&Rs create that obligation, you agree to it through the purchase itself, and you cannot opt out without selling.
A voluntary HOA is different. Homeowners can choose whether to join, and if you do not join, you are generally not obligated to pay dues or follow the association’s internal rules. Here is the trap: if the underlying CC&Rs are recorded against your property, you may still be bound by those covenants regardless of whether you join. The covenants attach to the land, not to your membership status. Your recorded declaration will usually say which type of HOA you have. If the CC&Rs state that every property owner is automatically a member and must pay assessments, the HOA is mandatory.
What Your Findings Mean
Once you have checked both the corporate status and the county records, you will land in one of a few situations. If the HOA is active with the state and the CC&Rs are properly recorded, the association is legally sound. Any dispute you have is about how the HOA applies its rules, not whether it has the authority to make them.
If the corporate status has lapsed but the CC&Rs are recorded, the association’s ability to enforce rules is compromised until it reinstates with the Secretary of State’s office. Any homeowner or group of homeowners can usually initiate reinstatement, not just the current board. The recorded covenants likely remain enforceable by individual property owners in the meantime.
If no CC&Rs were ever recorded, an entity calling itself your HOA has the weakest possible footing. Without recorded covenants, there is no contract between you and the association that runs with the land, and the HOA’s claim to assess fees or enforce property restrictions is difficult to sustain.
Do not stop paying assessments or ignore HOA communications based on your own research alone. A real estate attorney licensed in your state can review the specific documents you have gathered and tell you where you stand, what leverage you have, and what risks you face if the HOA or a neighbor decides to push back.