Two 2026 session laws reach most North Carolina associations. One changes what a declaration can say about flags. The other puts a corporate filing on the calendar. Cite the session laws themselves until the consolidated statute pages catch up.

AMG has managed Carolina communities for four decades. This is not legal advice. Confirm the session laws and your documents with counsel.

Flags on the lot, not on the common

Session Law 2026-59 (Senate Bill 445), effective August 11, 2026, amends G.S. 47F-3-121 and G.S. 47C-3-121. The Planned Community Act and the Condominium Act already protected a United States or North Carolina flag no larger than four feet by six feet, flown on property the owner exclusively owns and displayed in a manner consistent with the federal Flag Code. Declarations used to be able to opt out of that protection if they used specified language, or, for instruments recorded on or after October 1, 2005, a bold first-page notice. Those exceptions are gone.

The official bill analysis puts it plainly: an association may not prohibit or regulate that display on the owner’s lot. Common elements, easements, and rights-of-way were never in the owner-protection sentence, and they still are not. If a flag is on shared property, the association’s rules still apply. If it is on the lot, pull the old restriction before you send a letter. A letter sent in July was under the prior text. A letter sent now is not. Read the session law PDF, not a cached statute page, until the consolidated chapters update.

The nonprofit annual report

Session Law 2026-52 (House Bill 517) requires most Chapter 55A nonprofit corporations to file an annual report with the Secretary of State. Most North Carolina associations are organized that way, so they were swept in with other nonprofits. Reports are due by November 15, beginning in 2027. Nothing is due in 2026. The filing is a snapshot of officers, the registered agent, and the principal office. Miss the deadline by 60 days and the corporation can be treated as delinquent. Stay there and administrative dissolution becomes a risk. AMG did not favor a new public filing of volunteer-officer details, but the requirement is law. Put November 15 on the same calendar as the tax return, and confirm what the state already has on file at sosnc.gov. Our fuller board guide is here: North Carolina’s New HOA Annual Report Requirement.

Stop and call counsel

Four situations produce more expensive files than they are worth. Pause before you act, and let counsel confirm the association actually has the authority the letter is about to claim.

Parking on a public street. This situation always calls for legal counsel before the association acts. Whether there is authority to fine or tow on a public street that happens to sit inside the community — including streets that some documents treat as common area — is fact-dependent. It may hinge on the declaration, on who maintains the pavement, on whether a city or NCDOT has delegated enforcement, and on other factors particular to that street. Different attorneys can read the same file differently. Make sure the lawyer who advises the board is prepared to stand behind the action that follows.

Fines-only foreclosure. Assessment liens and fine-only files are distinct. Power-of-sale foreclosure on fines-only debt is restricted by the Planned Community Act and the Condominium Act. Boards should not start a foreclosure petition on fines alone without counsel walking the statute and the documents.

Due process before discipline. Fining or suspending privileges without written notice and a chance to be heard is inconsistent with Carolina statutes and with most association documents. Skip that step and the underlying violation becomes the smaller problem.

Informal rule changes. Amending architectural guidelines or community rules by habit or a casual motion, rather than by the adoption process in the declaration, is a common way to create an unenforceable rule. Last year’s practice is not a substitute for the process the documents require.

What the board should do now

Most compliance failures we see are not statutory. They are version problems. Keep a single register of the declaration, bylaws, guidelines, and rules, with adoption dates and recording information. When a rule changes, date the file, archive the prior version, and make sure the manager and the committee are holding the same pages. Map the recurring dates — the November 15 Secretary of State report, budget ratification, insurance renewal, and tax filings — on one calendar with a 60-day warning.

If you work with AMG, ask your manager to review flag rules, the Secretary of State record, and the enforcement policy against these two session laws. If you do not, we can point you toward qualified counsel. Plain-language guides to North Carolina HOA laws — including the Planned Community Act, the Condominium Act, and the Nonprofit Corporation Act — are on amgworld.com. Corporate housekeeping and even enforcement are treated at more length in Boards, Bylaws, and Better Governance.

Questions boards ask

Can we still restrict flags? Not a U.S. or North Carolina flag of four by six feet or smaller on the owner’s exclusive property, displayed consistent with the Flag Code, after August 11, 2026. Common area is different. Confirm the session law text with counsel.

Do we have to file with the Secretary of State? Generally yes if the association is a North Carolina nonprofit corporation. First reports under the new provision are due November 15, 2027. Nothing is due in 2026.

What should we do this quarter? Read the flag and parking rules against the statutes. Pull the SOS record. Write the November 15, 2027 date on the calendar. Take any foreclosure, public-street, or due-process question to counsel before the letter goes out.

Association Management Group began in Greensboro in 1985 and now serves more than 30,000 owners across the Carolinas.