🧾 Who’s Watching the Money? The Disturbing Lack of Standards for HOA Boards

Imagine this:Someone convicted of embezzlement or fraud can serve on your HOA board and control your community’s money — and it’s totally legal.

If that sounds unbelievable, welcome to the wild world of HOA governance in Georgia, where there are more rules for becoming a barber than for controlling your neighbors’ property and financial records.

⚠️ No Credentials Required

Unlike accountants, mortgage loan officers, or CPAs — all of whom must meet strict educational, ethical, and licensing standards — HOA board members require zero qualifications.

No background check. No financial ethics course. No fiduciary responsibility training. No certification in community governance. No requirement to prove financial competence or past experience.

Meanwhile, most licensed professionals — CPAs, insurance agents, realtors, mortgage loan officers — must not only pass exams, but also submit verifiable work history or supervised hours to prove they’re qualified for the job or to prove stability.

Yet we trust HOA board members to:

• Manage budgets

• Handle thousands (sometimes millions) in assessments

• Enforce fines

• Decide whether to lien or foreclose on your property …with zero qualifications.

🔍 Why This Is a Problem

HOA boards regularly:

• Collect dues and assessments

• Pay vendors and manage reserves

• Impose fines and file liens

• Control access to critical financial records

These are serious fiduciary duties — and there's no system in place to screen who performs them.

There are no legal or ethical barriers preventing someone with a history of fraud or mismanagement from being placed in charge.

In most cases, your only protection is hope and luck.

🧠 Imagine If It Worked This Way Elsewhere:

• Would you trust a CPA with a fraud conviction to handle your taxes?

• Would the state license a mortgage broker with a history of financial misconduct?

• Could someone with no education or work experience handle your company’s books?

Of course not.

But when it comes to HOA boards? They’re handed the keys to your neighborhood — no training, no proof, no oversight.

✅ What Should Change?

It’s time for Georgia to introduce basic standards and protections for HOA leadership. Here are a few ideas worth fighting for:

📘 Suggested Reforms:

• Mandatory financial ethics training for any board member with fiduciary access

• Public disclosure of board member criminal history if related to finances

• Barred participation for anyone convicted of financial crimes within the last 10 years

• A simple certification course in fiduciary responsibility, similar to what notaries or real estate agents must complete

• Minimum verifiable experience requirements for those serving as treasurer or overseeing financial matters — just like in most licensed professions

⚠️ Be cautious of HOA boards that operate without a third-party management company. When board members want direct access to your community’s funds, that’s a major red flag. No one should be both the watchdog and the spender.

🧱 Final Word

HOA board members handle money, power, and private information — yet we hold them to the lowest standard.

If we require education, ethics exams, and verifiable work history from professionals handling your taxes or mortgage, we should require at least as much from those deciding whether your home gets a lien.

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