AP

Your Community. Your Wallet.

Members Deserve
a Vote

North Carolina wrote a homeowner-protection law. Neighbors call it NC47F, Chapter 47F of the state statutes, and it is about three simple things: your money, your documents, and your right to a real say in both.

NC47F
A neighbor-to-neighbor effort at Albemarle Plantation

Plain English

What is NC47F?

Chapter 47F is North Carolina's Planned Community Act, the state law that sets ground rules for how neighborhoods like ours are governed. Think of it as a floor of basic homeowner protections written into state law rather than left to whoever drafts the community's documents.

Because Albemarle Plantation was created in 1989, before the law passed, NC47F applies here in a patchwork. Some protections already apply to us by state law unless our documents expressly say otherwise, including the most important one: our Master Declaration, the community's rulebook, may only be amended by a two-thirds vote of the owners. Other protections apply only if a community adopts them into its documents.

That is why this effort exists: to make sure the protections are clearly written into our own governing documents, so that every owner, every board, and every future buyer knows the rules, without a patchwork and without a lawyer.

67%
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 47F-2-117

"The declaration may be amended only by affirmative vote or written agreement signed by lot owners of lots to which at least sixty-seven percent (67%) of the votes in the association are allocated..."

Read the full statute at ncleg.gov →

What adopting NC47F locks in

Four protections, one scorecard

Member ProtectionsFront Four
1
A vote on changes to our governing documents State law today

Changes to the Master Declaration require approval by 67% of owners (N.C.G.S. 47F-2-117). This applies to our community under state law today, unless our documents expressly say otherwise. Ours do not.

2
A real say on the annual budget Added by adopting NC47F

Under the full NC47F Act, the proposed budget goes to the members, who hold the power to reject it. This one does not reach older communities automatically; adopting NC47F is what adds it.

3
Open books State law today

Owners have the right to examine the association's records (N.C.G.S. 47F-3-118), and that provision reaches communities like ours by law. Transparency is not a favor; it is a rule.

4
Fair meetings and fair notice State law today

Proper notice of meetings and member rights at those meetings (N.C.G.S. 47F-3-108) also reach communities like ours by law. You elected the board; the rules should keep every owner in the room.

Accuracy note: because our community predates the law, each protection above applies as marked, and the "state law today" items apply unless the governing documents expressly provide otherwise. Adopting NC47F, and writing these protections plainly into our own documents, is what puts all of them beyond argument for every future board and every future buyer.

Thirty seconds, five questions

See where you stand

Answer honestly. After each answer, we show you one true, sourced fact. That is the whole trick: there is no trick.

Where do you stand?1 of 5

Why it matters, in dollars

$90,000
less in assessments. Every year.

That is not our number. According to signed April 2025 APPOA Board minutes, the community forgoes approximately $90,000 per year in assessment revenue because certain developer-held lots are exempt from assessments. Spread across the owners who do pay, that is roughly $180 per owner, per year. We believe provisions like this should be visible, understood, and subject to proper member approval before being carried forward into any new documents.

Source: APPOA Board of Directors meeting minutes, April 2025. Copy available to any owner on request.

One fair question

The ask

The Board is rewriting our Master Declaration right now

A complete rewrite of the community's rulebook is underway, with a target of this summer. We are asking one plain question, and it deserves a plain answer:

"Will the new Master Declaration be put to a vote of the members before it is adopted?"
Ask the question

Send the Board the question above in your own words. Every owner who asks makes the answer matter more.

Talk to a neighbor

Most owners have never heard of 47F. Share this page, pass along the one-page handout, or just explain it over coffee.

Join the working group

Residents are doing the research, the document work, and the outreach. There is a task for every comfort level.

Have a question?

Ask it here

Questions get answered by working-group volunteers, personally and from source documents. If we do not yet have the facts or the source material to answer something, we will say exactly that, and go find it.

Thank you. Your question was sent to the working group.

Questions may be added to the page above, without names, so every neighbor benefits from the answer.

Fair questions

Asked and answered

NC47F BasicsDoes NC47F really apply to Albemarle Plantation?
Partly, and the part that matters most does. Because our community predates the law, NC47F applies here in a patchwork. Some protections already apply by state law unless our documents expressly say otherwise, including the 67% amendment vote, records access, and meeting notice rules. Others apply only if adopted. The Board's own Documents Review Committee reached the same conclusion on amendments in 2025 and cited the same statute.
NC47F BasicsHow would our community actually adopt NC47F?
The law itself answers this. A community created before 1999 can elect to make the full Chapter apply by amending its declaration to say so, and that amendment is made by the owners: a vote or written agreement of owners holding at least 67% of the votes in the association. There is no board-only path to adopt it, and no board-only path to block it. Like everything else in this effort, it runs through a member vote.
The RewriteWhat exactly is the Board rewriting?
The Master Declaration is the community's rulebook: a recorded legal document that controls assessments, common areas, member rights, developer rights, and how the community is governed. The Board has announced a project to rewrite it. It matters because whatever ends up in the new document binds every owner and every future buyer, which is exactly why state law says changes of this kind belong to the owners.
The RewriteWill members get to vote on the new Master Declaration?
That is the question we have put to the Board, plainly and respectfully, and we believe the answer under state law is yes. N.C.G.S. 47F-2-117 provides that a declaration may be amended only by a 67% vote or written agreement of the owners, and that provision reaches communities like ours. We have asked the Board to confirm that the rewrite will be put to a member vote before it is adopted. When we receive an answer, we will share it here.
The RewriteWhat happens if a new Declaration is adopted without a member vote?
State law sets a clock worth knowing about. Under 47F-2-117(b), once an amendment is recorded, any challenge to its validity must be brought within one year. We mention this not as a threat but as information every owner deserves to have: questions about process do not stay open forever, which is one more reason the clean path is a member vote before adoption, not a dispute after it.
The MoneyWhere does the $90,000 figure come from?
From the Board itself. Signed April 2025 APPOA Board minutes state that the community is receiving approximately $90,000 less in annual assessments because developer-held lots are exempt from assessments under the Master Declaration. It is the Board's own number, in its own signed record. Spread across the owners who do pay, it is roughly $180 per owner per year. A copy of the minutes is available to any owner on request.
The MoneyWill this cost me anything?
Asking for a member vote costs nothing. If anything, the financial arrows point the other way: the current structure is what the Board's own minutes say costs the community about $90,000 a year.
The MoneyI heard about builder fees and higher initiation fees. What is that?
Under agreements entered in December 2024 and amended in 2025, a fee structure was created that includes a percentage fee on new home construction payable to the developer entity, and a higher initiation fee for buyers who use custom builders compared with the standard fee in our Declaration. Our concern is structural: obligations of this size and duration were created without a member vote. We are compiling the exact figures from the source documents, and when that summary is complete we will publish it here with citations.
The DocumentsWho is "the developer" now?
The Declaration gives special rights to a "Declarant" and "Subsequent Developer," originally held by Albemarle Plantation Holdings, LLC. In December 2024, 54 Association-owned lots were conveyed to a new entity, Albemarle Preserve, LLC, which was designated as successor developer. Which specific rights validly transferred, and which did not, is a fair and important question. The working group is running a chain-of-title search at the Perquimans County Register of Deeds right now to answer it from the public record, and we will publish what the records show.
The DocumentsWhat is the "developer veto" people mention?
Section 13.06 of our recorded Declaration says that no provision of Section 13, which includes the developer assessment exemption and a developer-appointed board seat, may be amended without the written consent of the developer entity named in the document. In plain terms: the provisions that cost the community money are also the provisions the members cannot change without the developer's permission. Whether that consent right is still valid, and who holds it today, is being researched from the public record, and we will report what we find.
The DocumentsWhy are developer lots exempt from assessments at all?
Developer assessment exemptions are common in young communities, where a developer is building amenities and carrying costs owners do not. The concern here is not that the provision ever existed; it is that in a community more than three decades old, the exemption has no end date, applies to a growing set of lots, and cannot be changed by the members because of the consent requirement in Section 13.06. Modern well-drafted documents give developer rights an automatic sunset. Ours do not.
This EffortIs this an attack on the Board?
No. This is about the structure, not the people. Boards change; documents stay. The same rules that constrain this Board would protect the community under every future Board. A rewrite ratified by 67% of owners is also far harder for anyone to challenge later, which protects the Board too.
This EffortWho is behind this?
Albemarle Plantation property owners. This effort grew out of the community's own process: a Board-appointed committee concluded in 2025 that Declaration amendments need membership approval. The working group is residents continuing that work with primary sources: the recorded Declaration, the state statute, and published North Carolina court decisions.
This EffortCan you give me legal advice about my situation?
No, and we will never pretend otherwise. Nothing on this site is legal advice. We are neighbors sharing research from primary sources, with citations so you can check everything yourself. If you need advice about your own rights or situation, please talk with a licensed North Carolina attorney. We are glad to share our source documents with you or your attorney.
This EffortHow can I help?
Three ways, in order of impact. First, ask the Board the one plain question in your own words: will the new Master Declaration be put to a vote of the members before it is adopted? Second, talk to a neighbor; most owners have never heard of NC47F, and this page exists to be shared. Third, join the working group. There is a task for every comfort level. Use the question form above and say you would like to help.
This EffortHaven't people tried this before? Why would it work this time?
A fair question, and it deserves a straight answer, not a pep talk. Three things are different now. First, the pathway is written state law, not goodwill: N.C.G.S. 47F-2-117 gives owners the amendment vote whether or not any particular board agrees. Second, the Board's own appointed Documents Review Committee already reached the same conclusion in 2025, in writing, citing the same statute. Third, there is a forcing moment: the Declaration is being rewritten right now, and once a rewrite is recorded, state law allows only one year to challenge it. So this time, doing nothing is also a decision, and it comes with a deadline. Nobody can promise an outcome. What we can promise is that every claim here is sourced, every step is lawful and transparent, and the ask is modest: a member vote.
PracticalCan I put up the bumper sticker or hand out flyers here?
Displaying a sticker on your own vehicle or golf cart is your own expression on your own property, and North Carolina law separately protects the display of political signs in planned communities in many circumstances (47F-3-121, which reaches communities like ours). Door-to-door distribution and placing materials in or on mailboxes are different matters: our Declaration contains a broad restriction on solicitation and distribution (Article 10, Section 27), and federal law restricts putting anything in a mailbox. That is why this campaign uses channels that do not raise those questions: the U.S. Mail itself, this website, and neighbor-to-neighbor conversation. The safest ways to share materials are handing them to a neighbor personally, sharing this page, or mailing.