Reserves under the Pennsylvania Condominium and Planned Community Acts

Which Act applies to your association

Older communities need care. The Condominium Act took effect in 1980 and the Planned Community Act in 1997, and each applies only some of its sections to communities created before then. Whether the resale rules below reach a 1970s Pocono development or a pre-1980 Philadelphia conversion is a question for the association's attorney.

What the board may do: sections 3302 and 5302

The powers sections let the association adopt and amend budgets, collect assessments and make contracts, which includes hiring a reserve study provider. They do not set a reserve amount, a funding method or a study schedule. Money set aside for future repairs is therefore a budgeting choice the board makes and defends at each annual budget, unless the declaration or bylaws say more. Read your governing documents first: some declarations require "adequate reserves" without defining the word, and that clause is the closest thing to a mandate your board has.

What a first buyer sees: sections 3402 and 5402

When a declarant sells new units, the public offering statement must include a projected budget for the association. Under section 3402 and section 5402, that budget has to show the amount set aside for reserves, or say that there is none. CAI's June 2026 summary describes Pennsylvania's rule the same way. This is the starting reserve the board inherits at turnover, and it is often thin.

What every later buyer sees: sections 3407 and 5407

When an owner resells, the association prepares a certificate for the buyer. Among other items it states the assessment for the unit, any capital expenditures the association has approved for the current fiscal year and the two that follow it, and the amount of reserves for capital expenditures, including any part earmarked for specific projects. It comes with the latest balance sheet, income statement and operating budget.

Two practical consequences follow, both in section 3407. The association must produce the certificate within a short deadline after the owner asks, and may charge for it. And the buyer gets a window after receiving it in which the contract can be canceled. Check the exact number of days for your type of association in the section text; for a board, the point is that a weak reserve line can cost an owner a sale.

What the certificate does not need to say is whether the reserve is enough. There is no percent funded figure, no component list and no study date. A buyer who wants to judge the reserve has to ask for the study, which is why agents and lenders often do.

Where the gaps are, and how boards fill them

• No schedule. With nothing in statute, many Pennsylvania boards follow CAI's Reserve Study Standards: a full study first, then a fresh walk-through no more than three years apart, with desk-only revisions filling the gap. It is also a schedule a lender or auditor will recognize.
• No qualification. The Acts do not say who may prepare a study. Look for someone who studies reserves for a living and holds a recognized designation from CAI or APRA, and bring in an engineer where the building raises structural questions.
• No funding standard. The board picks a funding goal. Full funding aims at a balance that matches wear to date; threshold funding keeps the balance above a floor; baseline funding only keeps it above zero. Ask the provider to show at least two so the board can see the trade-off in owner contributions.
• No duty to share the study. Owners can ask for association records under the Acts' records provisions and the bylaws. Plan on the study being read by owners and buyers, and write the board's response to it into the budget minutes.

How Pennsylvania compares

Pennsylvania is the outlier in its region. New Jersey requires a study every five years for condos, HOAs and co-ops under N.J.S.A. 45:22A-44.2, and Maryland does the same under Real Property 11-109.4. Ohio requires adequate reserves in the budget but no study. A board with owners who moved from Cherry Hill or Montgomery County will often be asked why Pennsylvania has no rule, and the honest answer is that the legislature has not passed one. Bills are introduced from time to time; you can follow them on the General Assembly's bill search.

The full side-by-side is on the Pennsylvania reserve study overview.