HOA LAWYER MASSACHUSETTS
Expert counsel for homeowners associations and community associations.
Marcus Condo Law provides legal counsel to homeowners associations, condominium trusts, master associations, and community associations across Massachusetts. Whether your community is structured as a condominium, a planned community, a mixed-use development, or a traditional HOA, the legal questions you face — governance, enforcement, documents, insurance, and disputes — are largely the same. We have been advising community associations on them since 1979.
HOA, CONDO TRUST, OR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION?
The structure varies. The law is largely the same.
In Massachusetts, most multi-unit community associations are structured as condominium trusts under Chapter 183A — the term "HOA" (homeowners association) is more commonly used in other states or for planned single-family developments and master associations. Whatever the structure, the underlying legal issues are usually consistent: governance and board operations, document interpretation and amendment, rule enforcement, common area maintenance, assessments, insurance, and dispute resolution.
Whether you arrived here looking for an HOA lawyer, a homeowners association attorney, a master association counsel, or a community association lawyer, you're in the right place. We work with all of these structures.
HOA LEGAL SERVICES
What We Handle for Community Associations
Governing Document Review & Amendments
Reviewing and amending declarations, bylaws, CC&Rs, and rules. Ensuring documents reflect current law and the community's actual operating reality. Drafting amendments that can realistically pass a board or unit owner vote.
Master Association & Mixed-Use Structuring
Master associations governing multiple sub-associations, mixed-use developments combining condominium residential with commercial components, and the structural decisions that determine how those communities are governed long-term.
Board Governance
Counseling boards on quorum requirements, voting procedures, conflicts of interest, fiduciary duties, and the procedural steps necessary for board actions to be legally enforceable.
Rule Enforcement & Disputes
Enforcing community rules — short-term rental restrictions, architectural controls, parking and pets, common area use — when voluntary compliance breaks down. Defending boards against challenges to enforcement decisions.
Assessment Collections
Pursuing unpaid assessments using the full range of remedies available under Massachusetts law. Strategic counsel on when to litigate, when to negotiate, and how to use lien rights effectively.
Insurance & Risk Management
Reviewing master policies, advising on coverage adequacy for the community's actual exposures, and navigating the difference between association and individual unit owner responsibilities.
Vendor & Contractor Disputes
Managing disputes with management companies, contractors, vendors, and service providers. Counseling on contract drafting and procurement to prevent disputes in the first place.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Marcus Condo Law represents community associations of 30 units or more — including condominium trusts, homeowners associations, planned community associations, and master associations governing mixed-use developments. We also work with the property management companies that serve them. We do not typically represent individual homeowners or smaller associations.
Condominium Associations of 30+ Units
We work directly with boards of trustees and management committees on the matters that shape how a building runs. Most of our association clients have a long-term relationship with the firm — we are the expert counsel they turn to for harder questions, while routine matters are handled by their property manager or in-house staff.
Property Management Companies
Many of our association engagements come through property managers who refer us in when something requires expert legal input. We also work directly with management companies on policy questions, training, and matters affecting their portfolio of properties.
Developers
We advise developers on document drafting for new condominium projects, conversion of rental buildings to condominium ownership, turnover negotiations, and defense of warranty and defect claims after delivery.
WHY MARCUS CONDO LAW
Expert community association counsel — local practice, national perspective.
Stephen Marcus has practiced community association law since 1979. He is past president of the College of Community Association Lawyers — the national professional body for attorneys in this field — and the fifth-ever recipient of the Don Buck Lifetime Contribution Award. He has served on and co-chaired the CAI National Amicus Committee for decades, helping shape community association law beyond any single state.
That national perspective comes back into every Massachusetts engagement: when a community association question lands on Stephen's desk, the answer draws on what's worked in dozens of states, not just one.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is my community a condominium trust, an HOA, or a master association?
It depends on how the community was originally structured — usually documented in the master deed, declaration of trust, or declaration of covenants. Most multi-unit residential communities in Massachusetts are condominium trusts under Chapter 183A. Planned single-family communities and mixed-use developments may use HOA or master association structures instead. We can review your governing documents and tell you what you actually are.
Can my board enforce short-term rental restrictions?
Often yes, but the answer turns on what your governing documents actually say and how recently the rules were adopted or amended. Many older documents are silent on short-term rentals, and enforcement requires an amendment first. We work with boards on both the amendment process and enforcement once the rules are in place.
What approval threshold is needed for a special assessment?
Chapter 183A and the association's own documents both speak to this. Common improvements, repairs, and capital projects have different thresholds — and the answer depends on whether the project is characterized as a repair, an improvement, or something else. Mischaracterizing it is one of the most common ways special assessments get challenged.
Does Massachusetts have HOA-specific law like other states?
Not in the same way. Massachusetts has a comprehensive condominium statute (Chapter 183A) but no equivalent statewide HOA statute. HOAs in Massachusetts are typically organized as nonprofit corporations under Chapter 180 and governed primarily by their own declarations and bylaws. That's part of why structural questions for HOAs and master associations require expert, experienced counsel — there's more reliance on documents and case law than on a single statute.
Does Marcus Condo Law work with communities outside the Boston area?
Yes. We serve community associations across Massachusetts and New England. The law is consistent statewide, and most engagements are conducted remotely with periodic on-site work as needed.
IS THIS THE RIGHT FIT?
We work primarily with community associations of 30 units or more and the property management companies that serve them. If your community is smaller than that, or if you're an individual homeowner with a dispute, we'd be glad to refer you to a colleague who handles those matters.
REQUEST A CONSULTATION
Have a community association matter? Let's talk.
We'd be glad to hear about your association, your portfolio, or your project.
Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Eastern). By appointment outside business hours.
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