Some of the developments that real estate developers build are common interest developments, a category that includes planned?unit developments of single?family houses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments. Before the first unit is sold of one of these developments, the developer records restrictive covenants ? on all of the properties ? that "run with the land," meaning that all successive buyers are bound by the same covenants as the original purchaser. These covenants, among other agreements, form the basis for the homeowners association.

Homeowners associations collect fees, fines, and assessments from homeowners, maintain the common areas of the development, and enforce the association's governing documents. These may include detailed rules regarding construction and maintenance of individual homes. The common areas maintained and governed may include landscaping, common buildings (e.g., clubhouses) and recreational facilities, common walls in attached housing developments, and infrastructure such as streets, mailboxes, sidewalks, and parking lots.

Often, a homeowners association collects special assessments from all its members in addition to set fees. Assessments can be made to cover legal expenses for a judgement against the homeowners association, to repair damage from a natural disaster, or to make improvements.

In some states, California or Texas for instance, a homeowners association can sell a member's house without any judicial procedure in order to collect a fine. Other states, like Florida, require a judicial hearing.

Some of the responsibilities that the covenants delegate to homeowners association boards would otherwise be performed by local governments or require private legal (civil) action.

Nevertheless, only owners -- who need not be residents -- are allowed to vote in elections to choose the board. Residents of the community who are not owners (e.g., renters) do not typically receive a vote.

Some of the first homeowners associations in the United States were the private places, or private streets, of St. Louis, Missouri. The earliest, Benton Place, opened in 1867. In the next five decades, over one hundred of these streets were laid out in St. Louis. Many more appeared in nearby suburbs, such as University City, Missouri. Under the covenants of these private places, the residents not only owned the street but the utility easements and sewer and water mains as well. After years of decline, the places underwent a revival in the 1960s. Most are in the prosperous Central West End, but a few homeowners associations were all-black, such as nearby Lewis Place, and were prosperous enclaves surrounding by blighted neighborhoods. Studies by urban planners, such as Oscar Newman, found that these private places were less likely to suffer from crime and other aspects of urban decay than the nearby public streets.

In recent decades, homeowners associations have become increasingly common in the United States, exercising control over 22.1 million American homes in 2005, according to the [Community Associations Institute].