North Carolina · Chapter 47A
Unit Ownership Act (pre-1986 condos) — Plain-English Summary
Official title: Unit Ownership Act. Translated into plain English for board members and homeowners.
Unit Ownership Act
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§47A-1
Names this Article the Unit Ownership Act. It is the statute for North Carolina condominiums created on or before October 1, 1986. Post-1986 condos live unde…
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§47A-10
Every unit owner must comply with the bylaws, regulations, and covenants. Failure is ground for an action for damages or injunctive relief by the association…
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§47A-11
No unit owner may do work that jeopardizes the safety of the property or impairs any easement or hereditament without the unanimous consent of all the other …
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§47A-12
Each owner must contribute pro rata, in the declaration's percentages, toward administration, maintenance, and repair of the common areas and any other expen…
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§47A-13
The declaration must contain the particulars this section lists: a description of the land and building, the unit designations, the common areas, each unit's…
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§47A-14.1
A deed conveying a unit must contain the particulars this section lists, including a description of the unit and a statement of the percentage of undivided i…
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§47A-15
Floor plans of the building must be attached to the declaration, recorded, and certified by a registered architect or licensed professional engineer as this …
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§47A-16
Unit ownership may be terminated by the agreement of all unit owners and the consent of all holders of recorded liens, with the instruments recorded as this …
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§47A-17
Termination of unit ownership does not bar the owners from submitting the property to this Article again by a new declaration.
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§47A-18
The bylaws are annexed to and recorded with the declaration. They may be amended only in the manner the bylaws themselves provide, and the amendment is recor…
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§47A-19
The bylaws must provide for the form of administration (a board or other body), the method of calling meetings, the manner of collecting assessments, insuran…
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§47A-2
Unit ownership is created by recording a declaration that submits the property to this Article. Without a recorded declaration, this Article does not apply.
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§47A-20
The manager or board must keep detailed chronological records of receipts and expenditures affecting the common areas. The books and the vouchers behind the …
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§47A-21
Each unit, together with its percentage of the common areas, is assessed and taxed as a separate parcel. The common areas are not taxed separately.
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§47A-22
A common-expense assessment unpaid 30 days or longer becomes a lien when filed with the clerk of superior court under Chapter 44, Article 8. The lien is juni…
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§47A-23
The seller and the buyer are jointly and severally liable for unpaid common expenses assessed up to the time of conveyance. The buyer may recover from the se…
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§47A-24
The association keeps insurance on the property as the declaration or bylaws require. A unit owner may insure the owner's own unit at the owner's expense.
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§47A-25
Unless the owners resolve not to restore, damage is repaired from insurance proceeds and assessments as this section provides. A resolution not to restore ca…
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§47A-26
Actions relating to the common interests are brought against the association. Process is served on the agent designated in the declaration. A plaintiff must …
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§47A-27
A local zoning ordinance may not prohibit the condominium form of ownership as such. The project still has to meet the same zoning standards a physically ide…
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§47A-28
Every unit owner, tenant, and the association is bound by this Article, the declaration, and the bylaws. Decisions of the association bind all unit owners.
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§47A-3
Defines unit, building, common areas and facilities, limited common areas, association of unit owners, declaration, and the other words this Article uses.
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§47A-4
This Article applies only to property whose full owner or all owners submit it by executing and recording a declaration. After October 1, 1986, new condomini…
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§47A-5
Each unit, together with its undivided interest in the common areas, is real property that can be owned, conveyed, and mortgaged like any other real estate, …
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§47A-6
Undivided interests in common areas and facilities; ratio fixed in declaration; conveyance with unitEach unit's undivided interest in the common areas is the ratio the declaration fixes, and it cannot be separated from the unit. A conveyance of the unit aut…
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§47A-7
As long as the property is under this Article, the common areas are not subject to partition or division. An agreement to the contrary is void.
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§47A-8
Each unit owner may use the common areas in accordance with the purpose for which they are intended, without hindering or encroaching on the lawful rights of…
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§47A-9
The association maintains the common areas. Necessary work on a unit or limited common area that serves more than one unit is done as this section and the by…
Renters in Conversion Buildings Protected
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§47A-34
Defines the conversion-protection words used in this Article: conversion building, tenant, offering statement, and related terms.
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§47A-35
A developer converting an occupied building must give each tenant an offering statement with the disclosures this section requires before asking the tenant t…
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§47A-36
A tenant in a conversion building gets the time-to-vacate and right-of-first-refusal protections this section sets, so a renter is not pushed out overnight w…
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§47A-37
Sets which conversion buildings and which tenant relationships this Article 2 covers. Boards of older conversion condos still owe these tenant-protection dut…
Frequently asked about Chapter 47A
- What is North Carolina Chapter 47A?
- North Carolina Chapter 47A — the Unit Ownership Act (pre-1986 condos) — is the body of law that governs how every North Carolina pre-1986 condo is structured, operated, and held accountable. It covers governance, voting, records, assessments, fining, and most of the day-to-day legal questions a board will face.
- How many sections are in Chapter 47A?
- Chapter 47A contains 32 sections in this reference. Each is summarized in plain English on its own page, with links to the official text at ncleg.gov.
- Is the summary on this site legal advice?
- No. These pages are plain-English summaries prepared by SoShiny for board members and managers. For binding legal advice or interpretation of how a section applies to your specific situation, consult a North Carolina-licensed attorney.
- How often does North Carolina Chapter 47A change?
- The North Carolina General Assembly can amend any chapter in any session. We update these summaries when we re-import the official text — see the 'Last updated' date on each section page.
- Does SoShiny enforce Chapter 47A for me?
- No software 'enforces' a statute — but SoShiny is built around it. Voting, meeting minutes, records access, fining workflow, and audit trails are designed to meet this body of law's requirements out of the box, so the board can demonstrate good-faith compliance if challenged.
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