2025 Proposed HOA Legislation in MN - Make Your Voice Heard
Dear Board Members,
We want to bring your attention to proposed legislative changes that, if passed, could significantly impact the governance and financial operations of homeowners’ associations (HOAs) across the state. If passed, these bills, House File 1268 and Senate File 1750, would impose new requirements on Boards, alter assessment and collection practices, and introduce additional homeowner protections.
Key Proposed Changes:
• Board Responsibilities: Boards must provide a plain language explanation of governing documents, adopt a formal process for resolving disputes between the Board and Homeowners, and allow greater homeowner involvement in rulemaking and financial decisions.
• Assessment & Collection Limitations: Late fees would be capped at $15, fines would be capped at $100 per violation ($2,500 total), and interest on past due assessments would be prohibited. Foreclosure would only be allowed for balances exceeding $5,000 and outstanding for over 180 days.
• Legal & Financial Impacts: Associations would have limited ability to recover legal fees from homeowners in disputes, and HOAs could no longer assign or sell homeowner debt. These changes could increase the association’s legal costs and drive-up assessments to compensate.
• Increased Transparency & Homeowner Involvement: Homeowners must be given a voice in all rulemaking, meeting access would be expanded by mandating owners (potentially tenants) to participate in board meetings, and proxy voting would be limited to 20% of votes cast in any decision and board members could not act as proxies.
• HOA Formation & Dissolution: Municipalities would no longer be allowed to require developers to establish HOAs, also making it easier to dissolve HOAs.
How This Impacts Your HOA:
If this bill passes as currently drafted:
• Homeowner assessments may and likely will increase to cover legal and administrative costs.
• Boards will face greater scrutiny and increased workload, including a requirement to personally engage with homeowners in disputes.
• Collections and enforcement will become more difficult, leading to potential cash flow issues for associations.
• Legal disputes may increase, as the bill creates new grounds for homeowners to challenge Board actions.
Make Your Voice Heard
Board feedback is critical in shaping this legislation. We strongly encourage you to review these proposed changes and consider their potential impact on your community. You can contact your state representatives and share your perspective here: https://www.caionline.org/advocacy/take-action/find-officials/
For the full details, you can review the proposed bill here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF1268&version=0&session=ls94&session_year=2025&session_number=0.
We will continue to monitor this bill and keep you informed to the best of our ability. Additionally, CAI-MN is actively tracking developments and encourages all members to track and review relevant legislation at https://www.caionline.org/advocacy/legislative-policy-tracking/.
Your voice matters in shaping legislation that affects your association and homeowners. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
RowCal Management, MN
Office: 651-233-1307
Email: CareTeam@RowCal.com