No — Alabama law does not require reserve studies or reserve funding for condominiums or HOAs. The Alabama Uniform Condominium Act touches reserves only in the developer's public offering statement, which must state the amount — or the absence — of a budget reserve for repairs and replacement plus any other reserves (Ala. Code § 35-8A-403); the resale certificate under § 35-8A-409 includes the budget and balance sheet but no dedicated reserve line. The Alabama Homeowners' Association Act adds only an on-request records item: an HOA must provide a member or potential purchaser a copy of the current operating budget and reserve funds, if any (§ 35-20-13). No statute sets a study cycle or minimum funding level.
Verified against the statute 2026-07-07
Reserve-related disclosure applies mainly to condominiums governed by the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act (those created after January 1, 1991), and only in the declarant's public offering statement for new-unit sales. The Alabama Homeowners' Association Act (Ala. Code § 35-20-1 et seq., covering subdivision HOAs whose declarations were recorded on or after January 1, 2016, plus earlier associations that opt in by majority vote) is a registration and governance statute whose only reserve reference is a records provision: on written request, the association must provide the current operating budget and reserve funds, if any (§ 35-20-13(b)(3)).
No statutory cycle — Alabama law never mentions reserve studies for HOAs or condominiums.
No statutory minimum, formula, or waiver framework. Reserve levels are governed entirely by the declaration, bylaws, and the board's fiduciary duty under Alabama nonprofit corporation law.
Developers selling new condominium units must include in the public offering statement a statement of the amount, or that there is no amount, budgeted as a reserve for repairs and replacement, plus any other reserves (Ala. Code § 35-8A-403(a)(5)). Resale buyers receive a certificate with the current budget and most recent balance sheet, but no reserve-specific disclosure (§ 35-8A-409). Under the Homeowners' Association Act, an HOA must provide a member or potential purchaser, on written request, a copy of the current operating budget and reserve funds, if any (§ 35-20-13(b)(3)).
The projected budget in the offering statement must include 'a statement of the amount, or a statement that there is no amount, included in the budget as a reserve for repairs and replacement' and 'a statement of any other reserves included in the budget' (§ 35-8A-403(a)(5)a–b). Text fetched in full from the Alabama Legislature's live ALISON code API (official domain, data current to July 2026) and matched verbatim against a Nov 2022 Wayback capture of the legacy official alisondb.legislature.state.al.us page. Last amended by Act 2018-403.
The resale certificate has nine items — periodic common expense assessment, unpaid assessments, other assessments or fees, the most recent balance sheet and income/expense statement, the current operating budget, judgments/litigation, insurance, leasehold terms, and resale restrictions — Alabama omitted the uniform act's reserve-statement item, so the certificate contains no reserve-specific disclosure and no reserve study requirement. Under § 35-8A-102(a) this resale section also reaches condominiums created before 1991. Text fetched in full from the live official ALISON code API and matched verbatim against a Jan 2023 Wayback capture of the legacy official page. Last amended by Act 2018-403.
On written request (within 30 days, at reasonable cost), an HOA subject to the Act must provide a member or potential purchaser 'a copy of the current operating budget and reserve funds, if any, and a statement of financial condition for the last fiscal year' (§ 35-20-13(b)(3)). This is an on-request records disclosure only — it imposes no reserve study, funding level, or dedicated reserve account. Text fetched in full from the live official ALISON code API (Act 2015-292, § 14).
Verified against official sources two ways. (1) Live official text: the Alabama Legislature's ALISON code API (alison.legislature.state.al.us/api/code-of-alabama, the official domain's own backing data, timestamped 2026-07-06) returned the full current text of §§ 35-8A-403, 35-8A-409, 35-8A-102, 35-20-3, and 35-20-13; § 35-8A-403(a)(5)a–b contain the reserve-for-repairs and other-reserves budget statements verbatim, and § 35-8A-409's nine-item resale certificate (corrected from the prior note's 'eight-item' count) contains no reserve item. History lines show both condo sections last amended by Act 2018-403. (2) Wayback Machine captures of the legacy official pages at alisondb.legislature.state.al.us (35-8A-403 captured 2022-11-29; 35-8A-409 captured 2023-01-29) match the live text verbatim. A 'reserv*' search across the official text of Chapters 35-8, 35-8A, 35-8B, and 35-20 confirmed no reserve study or funding mandate anywhere in Alabama condo/HOA law and surfaced § 35-20-13(b)(3) — an on-request HOA records disclosure of 'the current operating budget and reserve funds, if any' — which has been added to the entry; applicability dates were also tightened to match §§ 35-8A-102(a) and 35-20-3(a). Independently re-audited 2026-07-07: API text (pages 66-67), both Wayback captures (20221129020149, 20230129013352), all quoted passages, the nine-item certificate count, and the reserv* sweep were re-fetched and confirmed. Informational only — not legal advice. Confirm with the primary source and a community-association attorney licensed in Alabama. Report an issue.
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