What do Arkansas's 2025 condo and HOA law changes, Acts 516 and 558, mean for volunteer boards?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 3, 2026

Arkansas HOA and condo law for boards: what Act 516 changed in the Horizontal Property Act, who must opt in, and Act 558's construction defect notice rules.

Part of the HOA board handbook: new state laws for boards.

The short answer

Arkansas has no general statute for subdivision homeowners associations. A subdivision HOA runs on its recorded covenants and bylaws, and if it is incorporated, on the state's nonprofit corporation law. Condominiums and similar regimes created by a recorded master deed fall under the Horizontal Property Act, Arkansas Code chapter 18-13. The 2025 regular session passed two laws a board should know about. Act 516 (SB 323, approved April 10, 2025) rewrote large parts of the Horizontal Property Act, but by its own terms it applies only to regimes organized on or after September 1, 2025, plus older regimes that choose to opt in. Act 558 (HB 1468, approved April 14, 2025) created a notice-and-repair process for construction defects found within one year after a dwelling is finished. Neither act has an emergency clause, so both took effect August 5, 2025, the general effective date the Attorney General set in Opinion 2025-032. If your community is an older condo or a subdivision HOA, Act 516 changes nothing for you unless your owners vote it in. This guide is education, not legal advice; your master deed, covenants and bylaws control many of these points, and an Arkansas attorney should review any amendment.

Who Act 516 covers, and who it skips

Section 9 of Act 516 is an uncodified applicability clause. Subsection (a) applies the act to a horizontal property regime organized on and after September 1, 2025. Subsection (b) lets a regime organized before that date elect into the new rules by amending its master deed and filing the appropriate reorganization documents. The act does not say what those reorganization documents are, so ask your attorney and the county recorder before you start. Three groups should read this guide differently. A board of a condo or townhome regime built before September 2025 keeps the old rules by default and has a decision to make about opting in. A board taking over a regime recorded after that date, often from a developer, lives under the new rules from day one. A subdivision HOA with a bill of assurance or declaration of covenants, and no master deed under chapter 18-13, is outside the Horizontal Property Act entirely. Pull your recorded documents and look for the words "master deed" and "horizontal property regime" before you decide which group you are in.

What a new master deed must say

For new regimes, Act 516 replaces the old value-based percentage system with allocations stated in the master deed. Under the amended section 18-13-104(b), the master deed must name the declarant and any development rights it keeps, with a time limit for using them; name the association or describe the council of co-owners that enforces the deed and runs the common elements; describe each unit's boundaries; allocate each unit's share of common elements and common expenses, which no longer have to match each other; state the formula behind those allocations; allocate votes; give the maximum number of units; and say how the deed is amended. New section 18-13-104(c) requires consent of every owner to amend the master deed unless the deed itself provides another method. For boards, the most useful change is the default maintenance map in section 18-13-102(1)(B), which applies unless the master deed or plans say otherwise. Paint, wallboard, finished flooring and other finished surfaces belong to the unit, while the rest of the wall, floor and ceiling is common element. A pipe, duct or wire that serves only one unit is a limited common element of that unit. Shutters, awnings, doorsteps, porches, balconies, patios, exterior doors and exterior windows that serve a single unit are limited common elements assigned to it. Build your repair responsibility chart from these defaults and from whatever your deed changes.

Money rules during and after the developer years

New section 18-13-116(b)(2) makes the declarant carry its share while it controls the association. From the first assessment until declarant control ends or five years after the declarant's first sale, whichever comes first, the declarant must periodically pay either the association's operating expenses minus the operating share other owners paid, or the full assessment on every unit it owns. After that, subsection (b)(3) assesses every declarant-owned unit like any other unit, and units the declarant has sold, rented or uses as models or offices are always assessed. Subsection (b)(4) adds that a past-due assessment may bear interest at a lawful rate set by the association. Some rules were already in section 18-13-116 and stay in place for every regime. The board may charge an extra assessment to owners who rent out their units, but only in an amount reasonably calculated to cover added costs such as security, wear and tear and extra trash pickup. No owner escapes assessments by not using the common elements or by abandoning the unit. On a sale, unpaid assessments are paid from the sale price ahead of other charges except past-due property taxes and recorded mortgage payments, and the buyer is jointly liable with the seller for what the seller owed. A treasurer in a new regime should send the declarant a written monthly statement showing which payment method applies and keep a running ledger of the shortfall, because that ledger is what the owner board will need at turnover.

Should an older condo opt in

Opting in is a real decision, not paperwork. The upside is clearer: default unit boundaries and limited common elements, statutory authority to charge interest on late assessments, and allocations that no longer rest on the old value-based percentages. The cost is that the amendment itself may need a high vote under your current master deed, and once you are under the new section 18-13-104(c), later amendments need every owner unless the deed sets another method. Write the amendment method into the opt-in amendment so you do not trap the community. A sensible order: have the board appoint a two- or three-person committee to compare the current master deed with Act 516, get an attorney's written opinion on what would change and what filing is required, hold an owner information meeting, then put the amendment to the vote your master deed requires. A sample motion: "Moved that the board engage counsel to review whether the association should elect to be governed by Act 516 of 2025 under Section 9(b) of that act, and to report to the board with a draft master deed amendment, the required owner vote, and the filings needed, by the next regular meeting." Record the vote count in the minutes and keep the recorded amendment with the master deed.

Construction defects in the first year

Act 558 added Arkansas Code sections 4-75-1501 and 4-75-1502. Before suing a residential building contractor, home improvement contractor or a window or door supplier over a defect found within one year after the dwelling was completed, the claimant must deliver written notice describing the defect and its known results at least 28 days before filing, and give the contractor a chance to repair. The contractor has 14 days from delivery to respond in writing by proposing an inspection, offering a remedy or disputing the claim. A claimant who accepts an offer must do so in writing within 30 days and give reasonable access during normal working hours, and a completed remedy bars a lawsuit on that claim. If the contractor disputes the claim, misses the 14 days or fails to finish an accepted remedy, the claimant may sue without further notice. Contractors must give the owner written notice of these rules before work starts. The act defines a claimant as the owner, tenant or lessee of a dwelling and does not mention associations, so ask counsel how it applies to claims about common elements. In a new community, send owners a short note: "If you find a construction defect in your home within one year of completion, Arkansas law requires written notice to the builder at least 28 days before any lawsuit. Keep copies and send the association a copy if the defect touches a shared wall, roof or other common element." Our guide on what a board must do before suing the builder for construction defects covers the board's side of a larger claim.

Mistakes Arkansas boards make

The first is assuming Act 516 changed the rules for an existing condo. It did not, unless the owners opted in. The second is treating a subdivision HOA as a horizontal property regime because it has townhomes; the recorded documents decide, not the building type. The third is setting a rental assessment as a penalty. Section 18-13-116(a)(2)(B) limits it to costs the rentals actually add, so keep the cost worksheet behind the number. The fourth, in new regimes, is letting the declarant's unpaid share roll forward without a written demand; the owner board inherits that gap, and our guide on what a new board should do after developer turnover explains how to audit it. The fifth is adopting an interest rate without asking counsel what rate is lawful in Arkansas.

Where to read the law

The Arkansas General Assembly site has the bill pages for SB 323 and HB 1468 and the signed act PDFs. In those PDFs, struck-through text was deleted and underlined text was added, so read them on screen rather than copying text out. The Attorney General's Opinion 2025-032 explains the August 5, 2025 effective date. Check the same site for any later act amending chapter 18-13, and check your county recorder for your own master deed and any amendments before relying on any default in this guide.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

More on board & governance

Or browse all hoa boards & governance guides.