For Homeowners & Residents

Does The Villages Have an HOA? Fees, CDDs and Deed Restrictions Explained

The Villages, Florida has no mandatory HOA. Here's who runs it instead — community development districts, the monthly amenity fee, the bond and maintenance assessments, and who enforces the deed restrictions.

For Homeowners Verified 2026-10-08

No. The Villages does not have a mandatory homeowners' association. Most of what an HOA would do there is done by government instead. The Villages is run by a group of community development districts (CDDs), special-purpose local governments created under Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes. Homeowners pay a monthly amenity fee on their District utility bill and bond and maintenance assessments on their property tax bill. Recorded Declarations of Restrictions control what you can do to your home, and the District's Community Standards department checks compliance.

That difference matters. Florida's HOA law, Chapter 720, covers associations where membership is a mandatory condition of owning a parcel. A CDD isn't one, so the HOA rules about fines, hearings and liens don't apply to it the same way. It's a government, so the open-meetings and public-records laws do.

Who runs The Villages

The Villages spans Sumter, Lake and Marion counties and had about 79,000 residents in the 2020 census. According to the District's own site, it is served by more than 25 special-purpose districts:

  • 15 residential districts (District 1 through District 15) plus the Lady Lake/Lake County district. Every home is in one of these. Each has an elected board of supervisors that adopts a budget and sets the maintenance assessment for its area.
  • Four commercial districts: Village Center, Sumter Landing, Brownwood and Eastport, covering the town squares and commercial areas.
  • Dependent districts for utilities and public safety, including North Sumter County Utility, Wildwood Utility and The Villages Public Safety Department.

District staff work under a council-manager form of government, and you can find your district and unit on the District's maps at districtgov.org.

What you pay, and to whom

A Villages home carries four kinds of cost that an HOA community would usually roll into one dues bill.

Charge What it pays for How it's billed Does it go away?
Amenity fee Recreation centers, pools, executive golf, activities and clubs, trails, community watch Monthly, on your District utility statement No. It rises with inflation.
Bond assessment The debt that paid for your area's original roads, drainage and infrastructure Yearly, a non-ad valorem line on your property tax bill Yes, when the bond is paid off
Maintenance assessment Ongoing upkeep in your district: landscaping, roads, ponds, common areas Yearly, on your property tax bill No. It's set each year in the district budget.
Utilities and trash Water, wastewater, irrigation, sanitation Monthly, on your District utility statement No

The developer's own cost-of-living page estimates total monthly costs, including taxes and insurance, from about $970 for a patio villa to $1,500 or more for a designer home. Check it against your own bills, since every home's figures differ.

The amenity fee

The amenity fee is set in each property's Declaration of Restrictions, not by a board vote. The District says the fee is adjusted by the national Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), either every year or every three years depending on your deed restrictions, on a date tied to your home's original land sale or contract date. The CPI change caps the adjustment. That is why neighbors on the same street often pay different amounts.

For homes sold after a given date, the developer also sets a prevailing rate. On January 1, 2026 it rose from $199 to $204 a month, the first time it has topped $200. It applies to new homes contracted, and previously owned homes closed, on or after that date. Many websites still quote older figures such as $189.

To see what you actually pay, check your District utility statement or your Declaration of Restrictions, or call Community Standards at 352-751-3912.

The bond and maintenance assessments

Most residential districts borrowed money through bonds to build their infrastructure, and each lot repays its share through a bond assessment on the county property tax bill. The District publishes an amortization schedule for every unit on its Finance & Bonds page, and you can pay the remaining balance off early by contacting the District Finance Department. Some older districts have no bonds left: the District says there are no outstanding bond assessments in Districts 1 or 2.

Paying off the bond does not end the maintenance assessment. That charge funds ongoing upkeep, is set every year in the district budget, and can go up when the board raises it. When you sell, the remaining bond balance is usually either paid off at closing or taken over by the buyer, so it's worth knowing which before you list.

Who enforces the rules

The Villages has deed restrictions that work much like an HOA's covenants. They're recorded against each lot in a Declaration of Restrictions, and they cover things like exterior changes, landscaping and the look of the home. Enforcement is split:

  • External deed restrictions (what's visible from outside) go to the District's Community Standards department. Its Deed Compliance division checks reported violations, and residents can file a report online.
  • Internal deed restrictions are the responsibility of the Declarant, the developer. Community Standards will pass a resident's concern along to the Declarant as a courtesy.
  • Exterior changes need an Architectural Review application. A resident Architectural Review Committee and a hearing officer approve or deny them in public meetings.

So if you want to repaint, add a pergola or change your landscaping, the approval process looks a lot like an HOA's. The difference is that the people deciding are a government department and committee, not an association board you elect as a member.

What about the POA and the VHA?

The Villages has two well-known residents' groups, and both have "homeowners" or "owners" in their names. Neither is an HOA in the legal sense:

  • The Property Owners' Association (POA), founded in 1975, is The Villages' original owners' group. It's independent of the developer, acts as a watchdog on the developer and local government, and costs $15 a year per household. Joining is your choice.
  • The Villages Homeowners Advocates (VHA) is a residents' advocacy and service organization focused on dialogue, education and community programs. Membership is also optional.

Neither group can levy assessments, fine you or enforce deed restrictions.

Buying in The Villages: what to check

  • Your district and unit number. It determines your bond and maintenance assessments. It's on your Villages ID card and the District maps.
  • The remaining bond balance and whether the seller will pay it off. Look up the unit's amortization schedule.
  • The amenity fee in your own deed restrictions and its adjustment cycle: yearly or every three years.
  • The Declaration of Restrictions for the lot, especially if you plan exterior changes.
  • The CDD disclosure. Florida law requires the first sale contract for a property in a CDD to warn that the district can levy taxes and assessments (§190.048). Ask for the current year's assessments, not just the disclosure language.

Frequently asked questions

Does The Villages have HOA fees? Not in the usual sense. Instead of HOA dues, owners pay a monthly amenity fee to the District, plus bond and maintenance assessments on the property tax bill. Some individual condominium or villa buildings may have their own association, so check the documents for the specific property.

How much is the amenity fee in The Villages? The developer's prevailing rate for new contracts and resales closing in 2026 is $204 a month. Older homes pay whatever their deed restrictions set, adjusted by CPI, so the amount varies by home.

Can the amenity fee go up? Yes. It's adjusted by the Consumer Price Index every year or every three years, depending on your deed restrictions, and the CPI change caps the increase.

Can I pay off the bond in The Villages? Yes. You can pay off your unit's bond assessment early through the District Finance Department. The maintenance assessment continues after the bond is paid.

Who enforces the deed restrictions in The Villages? The District's Community Standards department handles external deed restrictions and architectural review. The developer (the Declarant) is responsible for internal deed restrictions.

Does Florida's HOA law apply to The Villages? Chapter 720 governs mandatory homeowners' associations, and The Villages' CDDs aren't associations. They're local governments under Chapter 190, so their board meetings and records are open to the public under Florida's government-in-the-sunshine and public records laws.

Learn more

Statutory content on this page was last verified against the 2025 Florida Statutes on . Confirm current statute text at flsenate.gov before relying on it.

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