Alabama HOA Collections & Liens

Quick-Reference Mechanics Table

Alabama HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: Ala. Code §§ 35-8A-316, 35-8-17, 35-20-12, 35-10-13, 6-5-248, 35-8A-315. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Details

Section 1: Overview, how assessment collection and liens work in Alabama

Alabama runs its delinquent assessment collection through a split structure, and which track applies turns on two facts: the type of community and the date it was created. Condominiums created on or after January 1, 1991 collect under the Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 (Ala. Code § 35-8A-101 et seq.), which follows the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act and carries a limited-priority lien concept.¹ Condominiums created before that date fall under the predecessor Condominium Ownership Act (Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq.).² Planned communities are not entirely without a statute — contrary to a common assumption: the Alabama Homeowners' Association Act (Ala. Code § 35-20-1 et seq.), effective January 1, 2016, creates a statutory lot lien for HOAs formed on or after that date and for older HOAs that opt in, while pre-2016 HOAs that have not opted in collect through their recorded CC&Rs and common law.³

The condominium lien arises automatically when the assessment or fine comes due, and recording the declaration perfects it without any further filing.¹ The planned-community lien arises on the due date as well, but the association must perfect it by recording a statement of lien.³ Alabama grants a six-month limited-priority lien ahead of a first mortgage for condominiums only; the planned-community lien carries no super-priority and sits behind mortgages.¹ Foreclosure can proceed non-judicially — by power of sale — for the 1991 condominium lien when the declaration conforms to the power-of-sale statute; it is judicial for the pre-1991 condominium lien; and it is court-supervised for the HOA Act lien.¹ Alabama sets no statutory minimum dollar amount and no minimum delinquency duration before an association may foreclose under either track.¹ Nationally, Alabama sits among the Uniform Condominium Act super-priority states for condominiums — alongside Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington — distinct from the nine-month true-priority approach in Nevada, the threshold-restricted regimes in states such as California and Arizona, and CC&R-primary jurisdictions; its planned-community framework is closer to the CC&R-primary model.⁸ The sections below detail lien creation, priority, the collection sequence, and recent activity. A federal overlay — including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the bankruptcy automatic stay, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act — applies on top of this state framework.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

2A. Lien creation, authority, and what it secures

For condominiums under the 1991 Act, the association holds a lien on a unit for any assessment and other money due — including special assessments, service charges such as water or repairs, and fines imposed against the unit owner — from the time the assessment or fine becomes due.¹ The lien is self-perfecting: recording the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection, and the association need not record a separate claim of lien.¹ When an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount becomes a lien from the time the first installment comes due.¹ Fees, late charges, fines, and interest charged under § 35-8A-302(a)(10), (11), and (12) are enforceable as assessments unless the declaration provides otherwise, and § 35-8A-315(b) caps interest at 18% per year.⁷ The lien attaches to the unit, not to the owner's other property. Pre-1991 condominium liens under § 35-8-17 work differently in a structurally important way: the lien takes effect only from the date the association records a claim of lien stating the unit description, the record owner, the amount due, and the date due, and the claim may include only sums due at the time of recording.²

For planned communities under § 35-20-12, the association holds a declared lien on every lot for unpaid assessments, arising from the date the assessment is due as fixed by the board.³ To enforce that lien, the association must record a verified statement of lien in the office of the judge of probate within 12 months of the due date, containing the lot description, the name of the association, the name of the owner, the amount of unpaid assessments and dates, and any other interests and costs claimed.³ The lien attaches to the lot.

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

The condominium lien is prior to all other liens and encumbrances except liens recorded before the declaration, a first security interest recorded before the date the enforced assessment became delinquent, and tax liens.¹ The rule that matters most is the six-month carve-out: the lien is also prior to the first mortgage "to the extent of the common expense assessments based on the periodic budget adopted by the association pursuant to Section 35-8A-315(a) which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six months immediately preceding" the association's enforcement action or a mortgage foreclosure.¹ That six-month priority lien expressly excludes the association's costs and attorney fees; the statute states that "the association's six-month priority lien does not include the association's costs or attorney fees in enforcing its lien under this subsection."¹ A 2018 amendment (Act 2018-403) added that "upon a showing by the holder of a mortgage or deed of trust ... that the instrument has been assigned to or is owned or guaranteed by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Government National Mortgage Association, the six-month priority lien" is limited to what those entities' rules allow.¹ Whether Alabama's six-month priority operates as a true lien-extinguishing super-priority — as Nevada's does — or only as a payment priority remains unsettled by Alabama's appellate courts, so practitioners should treat reassertion in successive periods as unresolved.⁸ The planned-community lien under § 35-20-12(b), by contrast, is expressly subordinate to ad valorem taxes, municipal improvement assessments, UCC fixture filings, mortgages, and deeds of trust, and it carries priority only over later, lower-ranked encumbrances.³

2C. CC&R interaction, corporate-law overlay, and federal overlay

Recorded CC&Rs supplement the statutory lien. In the condominium context, they can vary several default rules ("unless the declaration otherwise provides"), but they cannot manufacture priority the statute withholds or waive an owner's statutory protections such as the assessment-statement remedy.¹ For planned communities, § 35-20-12 defers heavily to the declaration on enforcement and foreclosure, making the recorded documents central. Title 10A — the Alabama Business and Nonprofit Entity Code — supplies corporate formalities such as board notice and authority; it is not a collections statute and creates no assessment lien.⁴ The statute of limitations on the underlying assessment debt, treated as a contract claim, runs six years for a written instrument under Ala. Code § 6-2-34 (ten years if under seal under § 6-2-33).⁹ Separately, the condominium lien itself is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings begin within three years after the full amount becomes due under § 35-8A-316(e).¹ The federal overlay — including the FDCPA, the bankruptcy automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362, and the SCRA — applies on top of the Alabama framework.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

For planned communities (HOA Act), the statute sets out a defined pre-recording sequence: the association must give the owner written notice of the assessment and lien by personal delivery or first-class mail, and at least 30 days before recording the statement of lien it must send written notice by certified mail to the owner or other person obligated, as shown in the association's records.³ For condominiums, the statute does not prescribe a pre-lien notice in the same way — the lien is already perfected by the recorded declaration — but it gives owners a statutory information right: on written request, the association must furnish a statement of assessments levied and past due within 10 business days, and failure to do so releases the lien for the amount as of that date (though not the underlying debt), with a fee of up to $25 permitted if the condominium instruments so provide.¹ Neither track requires a statutory payment plan or a formal dispute procedure before a lien attaches.

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

For condominiums, no claim of lien need be recorded under the 1991 Act because the recorded declaration already perfects the lien; the pre-foreclosure prerequisite is "reasonable advance notice of its proposed action to the unit owner and all lienholders of record."¹ Alabama case law treats that requirement as demanding an actual title search and direct notice, not merely a published advertisement.¹⁰ For pre-1991 condominiums under § 35-8-17, the rule runs the other way: a recorded claim of lien is required, but advance notice to the owner is not, and foreclosure must proceed judicially.² For planned communities, the association records the verified statement of lien (within 12 months) and then files a verified complaint in the county where the lot is located to enforce the lien under the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.³ Neither statute mandates a recorded board vote, mandatory mediation, or a payment-plan offer before foreclosing; whether the foreclosure decision can be delegated to management or counsel is governed by the declaration and Title 10A corporate authority, not by the collections statutes.⁴

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

The 1991 condominium lien "may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate provided the declaration is in conformity with Article 1A of Chapter 10 of this title" — Alabama's power-of-sale foreclosure statute — "and subject to the rights under Article 14A of Chapter 5 of Title 6," the redemption statute.¹ When the declaration includes a conforming power of sale and the association gives reasonable advance notice, it may proceed non-judicially; otherwise it proceeds judicially. The Alabama Supreme Court confirmed this two-track distinction in the 2014 Ex parte Ross decision, holding that § 35-8A-316 permits a power-of-sale foreclosure only with reasonable advance notice to the unit owner, while § 35-8-17 requires judicial foreclosure but no advance notice.¹⁰ The planned-community lien is enforced by a court-ordered sale after the association files its verified complaint.³ Sale notice on both the power-of-sale track and the HOA Act track requires publication once a week for three successive weeks in the county where the property is located, and a power-of-sale auction takes place at the courthouse door.⁵ Alabama sets no statutory minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency duration before foreclosure under either track. Fines are enforceable as assessments for condominiums and can therefore support the lien; for planned communities the lien basis is unpaid assessments, with fine treatment dependent on the declaration.¹

3D. Post-sale: redemption, deficiency, surplus, reinstatement

The condominium statute expressly subjects lien foreclosures to statutory redemption rights in Title 6, Chapter 5, Article 14A.¹ Under § 6-5-248, the redemption period runs generally one year from the sale for non-homestead property and 180 days for residential homestead property where the underlying mortgage originated on or after January 1, 2016 and proper notice was given, but in no event more than one year.⁶ The debtor or mortgagor, transferees, spouses, and heirs or devisees may all exercise redemption, and a purchaser's written demand for possession that goes unanswered within ten days cuts off the redemption right under § 6-5-251.⁶ The HOA Act statute is silent on redemption, so a court-ordered sale under § 35-20-12 is governed by general redemption and judicial-sale law rather than by any express incorporation. The statutes permit a separate action to recover the sums the lien secures, so a deficiency action against the former owner is available; § 35-8A-316(f) confirms that the lien sections do not bar an action to recover those amounts, and a money judgment for unpaid assessments may be pursued without waiving the lien.¹ Surplus sale proceeds are distributed to junior lienholders in order of priority and then to the former owner, consistent with general Alabama foreclosure law. Alabama provides no statutory pre-sale reinstatement right; any reinstatement depends on the governing documents or negotiation.⁶

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

A targeted review of the Alabama Legislature's bill database for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 regular sessions found no enacted bill that amends Alabama's assessment-collection, lien, or foreclosure rules for condominiums or HOAs.¹¹ The most recent substantive amendment to the core collections provision remains Act 2018-403, which revised § 35-8A-316(b) to add the federal-guarantor limitation on the six-month priority lien.¹ Because no qualifying 2024 to 2026 bill was found, no bill metadata block or audience-implication table appears here; a shorter, accurate entry is preferred over a padded one.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Two decisions from the long-running Ross v. West Wind litigation shape the current collections framework.

Both cases extend a dispute that began with Ex parte Ross, 153 So. 3d 43 (Ala. 2014) (reversing 153 So. 3d 29 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012), on remand 153 So. 3d 52 (Ala. Civ. App. 2014)); see also Ross v. West Wind Condominium Ass'n, 216 So. 3d 438 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016).¹⁰

C. Active legislative debates

No active Alabama legislative debate specific to association assessment collection, lien priority, or foreclosure was identified in the 2025 to 2026 sessions; the Community Associations Institute's Alabama legislative action committee continues to monitor association legislation generally.¹¹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Alabama occupies a middle position on the national collections spectrum. For condominiums, it is a Uniform Condominium Act super-priority state, granting a six-month limited-priority lien ahead of the first mortgage. That is narrower than Nevada's nine-month true-priority lien under NRS 116.3116(2), which the Nevada Supreme Court in SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 334 P.3d 408 (Nev. 2014) (en banc), held confers "true lien priority" so that "an HOA foreclosure may eliminate" a first deed of trust — not merely achieve payment priority.⁸ Alabama's approach is also more lender-favorable than the threshold-restricted regimes that cap or condition foreclosure in states like California and Arizona. For planned communities, Alabama's lien is subordinate to mortgages and carries no super-priority, placing it closer to CC&R-primary jurisdictions even though § 35-20-12 supplies a statutory lien for post-2016 and opt-in HOAs. For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is direct: the same delinquency can yield very different recovery depending on whether the property is a 1991-Act condominium (super-priority, possible power of sale) or a planned-community lot (subordinate lien, judicial enforcement). Alabama's current direction of travel is incremental — the legislature has not revisited the collections provisions since 2018, and the courts, not the legislature, are shaping the rules.

Recommendations

• Triage every delinquent file first by community type and creation date. Treat a post-1990 condominium under § 35-8A-316 (self-perfecting lien, six-month priority, possible power of sale), a pre-1991 condominium under § 35-8-17 (record a claim of lien, judicial foreclosure only), a post-2015 or opt-in HOA under § 35-20-12 (record a statement of lien within 12 months, court-supervised sale), and a pre-2016 non-opting HOA under its CC&Rs as four separate enforcement frameworks. Misclassifying the file is the most common path to an unenforceable lien.
• For condominium power-of-sale foreclosures, run a title search and give direct reasonable advance notice to the unit owner and all lienholders of record; published notice alone does not satisfy § 35-8A-316. For HOA Act enforcement, calendar the 30-day certified-mail notice and the 12-month recording deadline.
• Plead both the lien and a separate money claim for unpaid assessments. Ross (February 7, 2025) confirms the § 35-8A-316(e) three-year lien-extinguishment period does not bar a recovery action under subsection (f).
• Apportion special assessments exactly as the declaration directs. A building-only or subset assessment is unenforceable where the declaration requires equal allocation.
• Benchmarks that would change this guidance: an Alabama appellate ruling that the six-month condominium priority is a true lien-extinguishing super-priority (which would materially raise lender exposure and reassertion risk); any 2026 or later enacted bill amending §§ 35-8A-316, 35-8-17, or 35-20-12; or a decision extending or denying statutory redemption to HOA Act court sales.

Caveats

• This page corrects the premise that Alabama planned communities have no collections statute. Section 35-20-12 creates a statutory lot lien for HOAs created on or after January 1, 2016 and for pre-2016 HOAs that opt in; only pre-2016 HOAs that have not opted in rely solely on CC&Rs and common law.
• Whether Alabama's six-month condominium priority extinguishes a first mortgage on foreclosure (true priority) or operates only as a payment priority has not been resolved by an Alabama appellate court; this page does not assert extinguishment.
• The redemption analysis is express for condominium liens (incorporated by § 35-8A-316(a)) but inferred for HOA Act court sales, where the statute is silent; confirm with counsel in a specific matter.
• The Ross v. West Wind opinions did not carry final So. 3d reporter page numbers as of verification; cite by docket number and decision date until the permanent citation issues.
• The absence of a 2024 to 2026 collections bill reflects a targeted database review and the records available as of June 9, 2026; a late-session measure could change this.

Footnotes

1. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8A-316, Lien for assessments ↩
2. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-8-17, Liens in favor of association (Condominium Ownership Act) ↩
3. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-20-12, Liens for unpaid assessments (Act 2015-292, § 12) ↩
4. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-20-4, Construction and administration of chapter (incorporating nonprofit corporation law of Title 10A, Ch. 3) ↩
5. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 35-10-13, Notice of sale; minimum standards (Foreclosure by Power of Sale) ↩
6. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 6-5-248, Who may redeem; priorities (Redemption of Real Estate) ↩
7. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama §§ 35-8A-315 and 35-8A-316(a), (g), Assessment interest cap and recoverable charges ↩
8. Seattle University Law Review, Priority of Condominium Associations' Assessment Liens (listing Alabama among UCA super-priority states; analyzing Nevada's SFR Investments true-priority holding) ↩
9. Alabama Legislature, Code of Alabama § 6-2-34, Actions barred in six years (written contracts) ↩
10. Ex parte Howard Ross, 153 So. 3d 43 (Ala. 2014), Southeast Financial Litigation Monitor ↩
11. Community Associations Institute, Alabama Legislative Resources ↩
12. Ross v. West Wind Condominium Ass'n, No. CL-2023-0829 (Ala. Civ. App. Feb. 7, 2025) ↩
13. Ross v. West Wind Condominium Ass'n, No. CL-2025-0064 (Ala. Civ. App. Jul. 25, 2025) ↩