Pennsylvania HOA & condo associations in court: the numbers
Pennsylvania on the map
1,304 of the 1,896 communities with court records (rings, coloured by their most common case type) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here; the rest have no location in any record and are not on the map, but stay searchable. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.
Liens & court cases
HOA Spy indexes 10,070 Pennsylvania homeowner and condominium associations. 1,896 of them appear in 12,849 court records — 11,968 from county and state trial courts, 601 from appellate courts and 280 from federal dockets. Pennsylvania ranks 4th of the 15 states with the most court records on HOA Spy. Every number on this page is computed from official court and county records; data as of 2026-10-02.
The facts
- Ten associations account for 16% of all Pennsylvania court records on file. At the other end, 800 of the 1,896 communities with any record appear in exactly one case.
- Associations are usually the ones suing: they were the plaintiff in 11,962 records and the defendant in 425 — 97% of the cases with a known side were brought by the association, typically to collect assessments.
- The busiest year on file was 2025, with 1,396 records.
- Other cases make up 94% of the records (12,083): dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil"). Next come Appellate cases (601).
- 11,968 records come (93%) from county and state trial courts, 601 from appellate courts and 280 from federal dockets.
- 68 records are fair-housing, disability-accommodation or other civil-rights suits — the kind of case a buyer with a service animal or an accessibility request should know about.
- 498 associations (5% of those indexed) have no active corporation on file with the state's registry.
What the cases are about
Each court record is labelled by its nature of suit the way the map colours it. Pennsylvania's 12,849 records break down as:
Other: dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil") · Appellate: decisions of the state's appellate courts · Civil Rights: fair-housing, disability-accommodation and other civil-rights claims · Collections: assessment, debt and contract claims · Insurance: coverage disputes with an insurer · Property: property and condominium disputes · Labor: employment and labor claims · Tax: tax matters
Who is suing whom
The side comes from the role the court recorded for the association where the docket gives one, otherwise from which side of the “v.” the association's name sits. Appeals, petitions and association-versus-association captions stay undetermined.
Filings by year
court records · 2026 is partial
The oldest records on file date from 1962. Years reflect the filing date on the docket (the decision date for appellate opinions); records with no date are left out. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — see the sources below.
Where the cases are
| County | Court records | Communities |
|---|---|---|
| County not recorded | 12,849 | 1,896 |
The county is the community's own (from its registration or ZIP), not the court's. Courts with the most Pennsylvania records: Pike County Magisterial District MDJ-60-3-02 (575); Pike County Magisterial District MDJ-60-3-04 (490); Lackawanna County Magisterial District MDJ-45-3-02 (403); Monroe County Magisterial District MDJ-43-3-01 (380); Wayne County Magisterial District MDJ-22-3-01 (373); Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (311); Montgomery County Magisterial District MDJ-38-1-24 (264); Chester County Magisterial District MDJ-15-2-07 (241).
Associations with the most court records
| Community | County | Records | Most common | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HEMLOCK FARMS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION | 418 | Other | 2026 | |
| Association of Property Owners of the Hideout, Inc. | 306 | Other | 2026 | |
| Eagle Lake Community Association, Inc. | 251 | Other | 2025 | |
| Arrowhead Lake Community Association | 204 | Other | 2024 | |
| Big Bass Lake Community Association | 167 | Other | 2024 | |
| Birchwood Lakes Community Association, Inc. | 166 | Other | 2025 | |
| Townhomes at Paxton Creek | 152 | Other | 2026 | |
| Tanglwood Lakes Community Association, Inc. | 139 | Other | 2026 | |
| A Pocono Country Place Property Owners Association | 138 | Other | 2026 | |
| LAKE MEADE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC | 133 | Other | 2026 |
A long record is not by itself a verdict on a community: a large association collecting assessments through the courts can have hundreds of small-claims entries. Open the profile to see what the cases are and who brought them.
Corporate standing
Status as the registry lists it: unknown (9,452). An association that lets its corporation lapse can lose the right to sue in its own name until it is reinstated.
How Pennsylvania compares
The states with the most court records on HOA Spy. The share column is the part of each state's indexed communities that appear in at least one case; it depends on which courts are indexed there as much as on the communities themselves.
| # | State | Court records | Communities in court | Share | Most common | Liens on file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 48,999 | 13,601 | 13.0% | Other | 460,412 |
| 2 | Texas | 41,271 | 7,195 | 40.2% | Collections | not collected |
| 3 | Maryland | 15,879 | 1,572 | 59.7% | Collections | not collected |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 12,849 | 1,896 | 18.8% | Other | not collected |
| 5 | Connecticut | 4,852 | 1,605 | 31.4% | Foreclosure | not collected |
| 6 | Virginia | 4,786 | 275 | 3.8% | Collections | not collected |
| 7 | New York | 2,204 | 1,429 | 9.4% | Appellate | 26,537 |
| 8 | Alaska | 2,165 | 565 | 45.8% | Other | not collected |
| 9 | Nevada | 1,258 | 672 | 30.4% | Property | not collected |
| 10 | Illinois | 1,140 | 828 | 2.4% | Appellate | 45,196 |
| 11 | California | 1,032 | 832 | 24.7% | Appellate | not collected |
| 12 | Louisiana | 934 | 501 | 50.0% | Appellate | not collected |
| 13 | Washington | 852 | 545 | 3.3% | Appellate | not collected |
| 14 | Georgia | 809 | 565 | 18.0% | Appellate | not collected |
| 15 | Hawaii | 728 | 387 | 16.8% | Appellate | not collected |
Where this data comes from
- Trial courts: Pennsylvania UJS portal — case search — statewide (magisterial district courts; Common Pleas civil is county-kept)
- Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
- Corporate standing: PA Department of State — Registered Businesses (data.pa.gov) (10,674 records)
- IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (166 records)
Most HOA litigation happens in state trial courts, which have no national index; HOA Spy reads the portals it can. A Pennsylvania community outside the indexed courts can have cases this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.
Questions people ask
- How many HOA lawsuits are filed in Pennsylvania each year?
- In 2025, the last full year, 1,396 court records naming a Pennsylvania community association were filed in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the five-year average is 1,134 a year. The busiest year on file is 2025 with 1,396.
- Which Pennsylvania associations have the most court cases?
- By records on file: HEMLOCK FARMS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION (418); Association of Property Owners of the Hideout, Inc. (306); Eagle Lake Community Association, Inc. (251). Most of these are suits the associations brought themselves, typically to collect assessments.
- Do Pennsylvania HOAs sue homeowners more than they get sued?
- In the records with a known side, the association was the plaintiff 11,962 times and the defendant 425 times. Suits brought by associations are typically assessment collection and lien enforcement; suits against them typically come from owners, insurers or lenders.
- How do I check a specific Pennsylvania HOA?
- Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, case and complaint on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. Communities with records also have a profile page under the Pennsylvania directory. Data as of 2026-10-02.