Arkansas guide
Arkansas reserve studies
Arkansas is a no-mandate reserve state. Neither the Horizontal Property Act (even as amended by Act 516 of 2025) nor any general Arkansas statute requires a reserve study, a reserve account, a funding target, or reserve disclosure.
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The Act obligates co-owners only to contribute pro rata toward administration, maintenance, and repair of the common elements per the master-deed percentages (§ 18-13-116(a)); any reserve duty exists only if the master deed or bylaws impose one. Because reserves are entirely voluntary, the absence of a reserve study or a healthy balance is the norm here, not an anomaly — which makes independent diligence critical. Read a thin reserve balance, especially in older Little Rock mid-rises and resort or lake condos, as a near-certainty of future special assessments. And there is a sharper Arkansas-specific exposure: under § 18-13-119, when a building is uninsured or underinsured after a casualty, the affected co-owners must fund reconstruction pro rata — a mandatory special-assessment-by-statute with no reserve cushion.
No statutory study or funding requirement
The Horizontal Property Act sets no reserve-study requirement, no reserve account, no funding target, and no disclosure obligation, and Act 516 of 2025 added none. It does not even separate operating from reserve funding — it only obligates pro-rata contribution toward maintenance and repair under § 18-13-116(a). A budget that allocates nothing to reserves is fully compliant in Arkansas. Any reserve obligation comes solely from the recorded master deed or bylaws, so read those for any reserve duty and confirm the budget actually funds it.
The statutory rebuild assessment is the real backstop
Because reserves are voluntary, the practical substitute for them is § 18-13-119: when a building is damaged and uninsured or underinsured, affected co-owners must fund reconstruction pro rata, or a majority can resolve to rebuild at all owners' expense. In a state squarely in the tornado-and-hail corridor with permissive master-insurance rules, this is a real, sharp cash demand that can land with no reserve cushion. Treat thin reserves plus a permissive or high-deductible master policy as a compound risk, not two separate ones.
Older and resort stock runs especially thin
Older Little Rock mid-rises and resort and lake condos (Hot Springs, the Ouachita lakes) frequently run on near-zero reserves against roofs, elevators, parking decks, and envelope work reaching end-of-life. Read the reserve balance directly against the building's age and major components, and check whether reserves were recently drained to pay a storm deductible — the next event can land before the fund recovers.
Read the declaration and the special-assessment history
Some Arkansas declarations do require reserves contractually even though statute does not, so read the recorded documents for any reserve obligation and confirm the budget funds it. Then read the special-assessment history: in a no-mandate state, repeated specials are the clearest sign the community is budgeting cash-to-cash and deferring capital needs. A thin balance plus a pattern of specials is a strong predictor of more to come.
Arkansas legal references
- Ark. Code § 18-13-116 — Liability for expenses and assessments (Justia)
- Ark. Code §§ 18-13-101 to -120 — Horizontal Property Act (Justia index)
- Act 516 of 2025 (SB 323) — HPA modernization (added no reserve mandate)
Informational only. Not legal advice. Always confirm against current statute and counsel.
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Find a Arkansas specialist →Reviewer's checklist
- Request the current annual budget and any reserve line item
- Request any reserve study and the current reserve balance (none required in Arkansas)
- Read the reserve balance against the building's age and major components
- Confirm storm-exposed components — roofs, decks, envelope — are reserved or planned
- Check whether reserves were recently drained to pay a storm deductible
- Read the master deed and bylaws for any contractual reserve obligation and confirm funding
- Review the special-assessment history for chronic underfunding
- Assess § 18-13-119 reconstruction-assessment exposure on an underinsured building
- Compare the budgeted reserve contribution to realistic capital needs
- Weigh the cumulative reserve and assessment risk against your budget
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Find a Specialist →Critical
Under 10%
Weak
10–30%
Fair
30–70%
Healthy
70%+
- Under 10%:
- Assessment likely imminent
- 10–30%:
- Elevated assessment risk
- 30–70%:
- Common, manageable middle
- 70%+:
- On track to fund replacements
Source documents
- Declaration & bylawsthe rules
- Budget & financialsthe money
- Reserve studythe big repairs
- Meeting minuteswhat the board fears
Cross-reference
The risk lives in the contradiction between documents.
An assessment in the minutes but not the estoppel; a reserve the budget never funds.
Risk report
Severity-graded across 8 categories.
Every finding cites the document, page number, and quoted text.
How CondoSignal reviews this
We read the reserve study, operating budget, and 24 months of meeting minutes together — arkansas reserve studies risk usually lives in the contradiction between documents, not in any single one of them. Every finding cites the source document, the page number, and the quoted text behind it.
See our 8-category framework →Specialist match
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Related risk areas
Read these next to round out your due diligence
Special assessments
Special assessments are the single largest source of financial surprise in condo and HOA ownership.
Condo document review
A condo document review is the structured analysis of every disclosure document your seller or association has provided — declaration, bylaws, rules, reserve study, budgets, financials, meeting minutes, insurance summary, estoppel or resale certificate, and any pending special assessment notices.
Insurance risk
The association's master insurance policy determines what your personal HO-6 policy needs to cover — and what it does not.
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Reviewed by Kirk Hasley, Founder. Every claim here is checked against current Arkansas statute and primary sources, using the same documented review framework we run on every file. Last reviewed June 13, 2026.
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We can introduce your board to vetted reserve fund engineers, HOA lawyers, property managers, building envelope consultants, and restoration contractors — free intros, no obligation.
- Reserve fund engineer
- Property manager
- Building envelope consultant
- Restoration contractor
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Reserve studies, audit findings, attorney memos, milestone inspections — CondoSignal produces a free, structured review with page citations your board can act on. No cost to the association.