Alabama HOA Foreclosure

Section 1: Overview

Alabama gives condominium associations a statutory assessment lien, and since 2016 it gives many planned-community homeowners' associations one too. Associations that formed before the 2016 Act and never opted in rely instead on a lien that their recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) create. Which statute controls depends on when and how the community came together. The Alabama Uniform Condominium Act of 1991 governs condominiums created on or after January 1, 1991, and its lien statute is Ala. Code § 35-8A-316.¹ Condominiums created before that date still answer to the older Condominium Ownership Act, Ala. Code § 35-8-1 et seq., which places the association lien at § 35-8-17.² Planned-community HOAs created on or after January 1, 2016 — along with pre-2016 associations that elect coverage — hold a statutory lien under the Alabama Homeowners' Association Act, Ala. Code § 35-20-12; older associations that don't opt in can enforce a lien only through their recorded CC&Rs.³ Alabama runs foreclosures non-judicially: once a community grants a power of sale, it may exercise that power under Ala. Code § 35-10-1 et seq.⁴ The state also gives owners a one-year statutory right of redemption after foreclosure under Ala. Code § 6-5-247 et seq., and the condominium lien statute expressly makes condominium-lien foreclosure subject to that right.⁵ The sections below lay out the statutory framework, the procedural sequence, recent legislative and judicial activity, and where Alabama stands relative to other states.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. The condominium lien under the 1991 Act and predecessor

Ala. Code § 35-8A-316 gives a condominium association a lien on a unit for any assessment and any other money the owner owes — special assessments, charges such as water or repairs, and fines — from the moment the assessment or fine comes due.¹ Recording the declaration puts the world on notice and perfects the lien; the association doesn't need to record a separate claim of lien. That lien outranks every other lien except three: liens and encumbrances recorded before the declaration, a first security interest recorded before the assessment went delinquent, and liens for real estate taxes and other government charges. Alabama adopted the six-month super-priority feature from the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act. Under it, the association's lien also jumps ahead of a first mortgage or deed of trust, but only to the extent of the common-expense assessments that would have come due during the six months right before the association sues to enforce its lien or the first mortgagee forecloses. That six-month priority leaves out the association's costs and attorney fees, and a 2018 amendment (Act 2018-403) trims the priority when Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, or Ginnie Mae owns or guarantees the first mortgage.¹ The lien dies unless the association starts enforcement within three years after the full amount comes due. Pre-1991 condominiums answer to § 35-8-17, which gives the association a lien recorded in the county records and says the association may foreclose unpaid-assessment liens "by an action brought in the name of the association in the same manner as a foreclosure of a mortgage on real property." The predecessor statute carries neither the 1991 Act's six-month super-priority nor its advance-notice requirement.²

2B. Planned-community liens: statutory and CC&R-based

For planned communities, Alabama law splits on a date. The Alabama Homeowners' Association Act, effective January 1, 2016, declares a statutory lien on every lot for unpaid assessments from the date each assessment comes due, under Ala. Code § 35-20-12.³ That lien takes priority over later liens and encumbrances, except for state and county ad valorem taxes, municipal improvement assessments, UCC fixture filings, mortgages, and deeds of trust that secure an indebtedness.³ The Act covers associations whose declarations were recorded on or after January 1, 2016, plus older associations that vote by majority to opt in; it does not reach associations governed by the condominium chapters, non-residential developments, cooperatives, time-shares, or campgrounds.⁶ Associations formed before January 1, 2016 that never opt in hold no statutory lien at all — they depend entirely on a lien their recorded CC&Rs create. For those associations, recording dates set priority: the CC&R lien takes its place from the day the declaration hit the records relative to other recorded interests. Developers typically record CC&Rs before individual lot purchases but after their own financing, and rarely before an institutional first mortgage, so the CC&R lien usually sits behind a first mortgage. And unlike the condominium statute, the Homeowners' Association Act grants no six-month super-priority over a first mortgage; the statute expressly subordinates its lien to mortgages and deeds of trust that secure an indebtedness.³

2C. Foreclosure method and federal overlays

Alabama forecloses non-judicially. Where the documents grant a power of sale, foreclosure runs under Ala. Code § 35-10-1 et seq., and Article 1A governs sales of mortgages executed after December 31, 1988.⁴ Judicial foreclosure through the Circuit Court is available too, and it's required when no power of sale exists. The one-year statutory right of redemption under Ala. Code § 6-5-247 et seq. applies after a foreclosure.⁵ The condominium lien statute ties itself directly to that right: § 35-8A-316(a) says the association may foreclose its lien like a mortgage "provided the declaration is in conformity with Article 1A of Chapter 10 of this title and subject to the rights under Article 14A of Chapter 5 of Title 6" — the redemption statute.¹ The Homeowners' Association Act lien statute, § 35-20-12, carries no comparable cross-reference, which leaves an open question: does statutory redemption apply to an HOA-lien foreclosure at all?³ Federal law overlays all of this, whatever the lien type. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Supreme Court held in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 466 (2019), decided March 20, 2019, that "a business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a 'debt collector' under the FDCPA, except for the limited purpose of §1692f(6)"; collectors who dun owners before the sale stay fully covered.⁷ The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq., requires a court order before a non-judicial foreclosure against servicemember-protected property, and it allows stays.⁸ A bankruptcy filing triggers the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 and halts the foreclosure.⁹ Federal residential mortgage servicing rules under RESPA and CFPB Regulation X generally don't touch association-lien foreclosure.

Section 3: The procedural sequence

3A. Lien establishment and priority

For post-1991 condominiums, the § 35-8A-316 lien attaches the moment an assessment or fine comes due, and recording the declaration perfects it with no further filing.¹ For pre-1991 condominiums, the § 35-8-17 lien takes effect from the time the association records it in the county records.² For post-2016 planned communities, the § 35-20-12 lien arises from the date the assessment comes due; the association must give the owner written notice by personal delivery or first-class mail, must record a verified statement of lien in the probate office within 12 months of the assessment coming due, and must give the owner 30 days' written notice by certified mail before it records.³ For pre-2016 associations that never opted in, the lien arises only from the recorded CC&Rs. The condominium lien secures assessments, special assessments, charges, fines, late charges, interest, and — once reduced to judgment — costs and attorney fees.¹ Condominium liens carry a six-month priority over a first mortgage; the Homeowners' Association Act lien and CC&R liens do not.

3B. Notice requirements and cure period

For a non-judicial power-of-sale foreclosure, Ala. Code § 35-10-13 requires the association to publish notice of the sale once a week for three straight weeks in a newspaper in the county where the land sits, and the notice must state the time, place, and terms of the sale along with a description of the property.¹⁰ The condominium statute adds its own requirement: under § 35-8A-316(a), the association must send reasonable advance notice of its proposed action to the unit owner and every lienholder of record.¹ Under the Homeowners' Association Act, § 35-20-12(d) requires 30 days' written certified-mail notice to the owner before the association records a statement of lien.³ When a third-party collector or an association-affiliated collector handles the pre-foreclosure account, the FDCPA's validation-notice requirements govern that dunning.⁷

3C. Foreclosure sale procedure

On the non-judicial path, once the association publishes notice, it conducts the sale at the courthouse door of the county where the property — or a material part of it — sits, under § 35-10-14.¹¹ A condominium association may foreclose by power of sale only if it gives the reasonable advance notice that § 35-8A-316 demands.¹ On the judicial path, the association files a complaint, wins a decree, and the court orders a sale after notice; associations enforce pre-1991 condominium liens under § 35-8-17 and Homeowners' Association Act liens under § 35-20-12 this way, and § 35-20-12(f) requires three straight weeks of published notice.^2,3 An association may bid at the sale, and § 35-8-17 expressly lets a condominium association bid in the unit and then acquire, hold, lease, mortgage, and convey it.² If a servicemember occupies the unit, the SCRA requires a court order before any non-judicial sale.⁸

3D. Post-sale rights

Alabama's statutory right of redemption under Ala. Code § 6-5-247 et seq. runs one year from the foreclosure sale for most property. For residential property where the owner claimed a homestead exemption in the tax year of the sale and the mortgage was created on or after January 1, 2016, the period shrinks to 180 days — provided the required redemption notice went out — but it never runs later than one year after the sale.¹² For condominium-lien foreclosures, § 35-8A-316(a)'s cross-reference to Article 14A of Chapter 5 of Title 6 makes the statutory redemption right apply.¹ For Homeowners' Association Act liens and CC&R liens, no statutory cross-reference settles the question, and we found no controlling Alabama appellate decision applying statutory redemption to an HOA-lien foreclosure.³ After a sale, the purchaser must serve a ten-day written demand for possession before eviction, and an owner who fails to vacate within ten days forfeits the right to redeem under § 6-5-251.¹³ Surplus sale proceeds go to junior lienholders by priority and then to the former owner. The foreclosing party may pursue a deficiency judgment.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Alabama's recent legislative attention has landed on how long a developer can control an HOA board — not on lien or foreclosure mechanics. The most notable measure never became law, but it touches the same chapter that creates the planned-community lien.

No act passed in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 Regular Sessions amended the Homeowners' Association Act (§ 35-20), the condominium lien statute (§ 35-8A-316), the foreclosure statutes (§ 35-10), or the redemption statutes (§ 6-5-247 to 6-5-257) in any way that affects association liens or foreclosure.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Alabama's courts aren't rewriting HOA law from the bench. They're doing something more practical: holding associations to their own statutes and to the right forum. Two recent Court of Civil Appeals decisions address Homeowners' Association Act lien enforcement, and a 2014 Alabama Supreme Court decision still governs condominium-lien foreclosure procedure.

C. Active legislative debates

Recent legislative attention has centered on declarant control of HOA boards, not on lien or foreclosure mechanics, and no foreclosure-specific reform is moving right now.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Alabama sits in the middle on lien priority. Its condominium associations hold a six-month super-priority over a first mortgage under § 35-8A-316 — a feature it drew from the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act — while its planned-community liens, whether statutory under § 35-20-12 or contractual under CC&Rs, carry no super-priority and almost always sit behind a first mortgage. On method, Alabama forecloses non-judicially, like Arizona, Texas, and Georgia, and allows power-of-sale foreclosure where the documents grant it. On redemption, Alabama's one-year statutory period runs longer than most non-judicial states allow; California, by contrast, gives no post-sale statutory redemption after a non-judicial trustee's sale, the most common residential type. And Alabama spells out redemption for association-lien foreclosure only on the condominium side. For a multi-state operator, the practical takeaway is simple: Alabama condominium files behave like super-lien files, planned-community files behave like junior-lien files, and the two demand different escalation strategies.

Because a single procedural misstep can void a foreclosure or expose a manager to liability, associations should confirm which statute governs a given property, follow the exact notice sequence, and treat the condominium and planned-community tracks as separate workflows.

1. Ala. Code § 35-8A-316 (Lien for assessments; six-month priority over first mortgage; 2018 amendment, Act 2018-403; cross-reference to Article 14A redemption rights) ↩
2. Ala. Code § 35-8-17 (Liens in favor of association; judicial foreclosure "in the same manner as a foreclosure of a mortgage on real property"; power to bid in unit), Condominium Ownership Act, § 35-8-1 et seq. ↩
3. Ala. Code § 35-20-12 (Liens for unpaid assessments; priority subject to mortgages; 12-month recording; 30-day certified-mail notice; judicial enforcement and sale), Alabama Homeowners' Association Act ↩
4. Ala. Code § 35-10-1 et seq. (Power of sale; non-judicial foreclosure) ↩
5. Ala. Code § 6-5-247 et seq. (Redemption of real estate; definition of "sale") ↩
6. Ala. Code § 35-20-3 (Applicability of the Homeowners' Association Act; January 1, 2016 trigger; opt-in by majority vote; exclusions for condominium-regulated, non-residential, cooperative, time-share, and campground developments) ↩
7. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 466 (2019) (No. 17-1307, decided Mar. 20, 2019) (a business engaged in no more than nonjudicial foreclosure is not a "debt collector" under the FDCPA except for the limited purpose of 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(6)) ↩
8. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq. (court order required for non-judicial foreclosure against protected property; stays available) ↩
9. 11 U.S.C. § 362 (automatic stay upon bankruptcy filing) ↩
10. Ala. Code § 35-10-13 (Notice of sale; publication once a week for three successive weeks) ↩
11. Ala. Code § 35-10-14 (Place and time for conducting foreclosure by power of sale; courthouse door) ↩
12. Ala. Code § 6-5-248 (Who may redeem; one-year period for non-homestead and most property; 180-day period for homestead residential where mortgage created on or after January 1, 2016) ↩
13. Ala. Code § 6-5-251 (Demand for possession; ten days to vacate or forfeit right of redemption) ↩
14. Alabama SB 344, 2024 Regular Session (Sen. Hovey), amending §§ 35-20-3, 35-20-5, 35-20-7 (declarant control; election of lot owners; retroactive effect); introduced and first read Apr. 25, 2024; did not pass ↩
15. Stoney Point Landing Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Lee, No. CL-2025-0881 (Ala. Civ. App. June 12, 2026) (reversing summary judgment against association enforcing § 35-20-12 lien; tax-sale title-reversion analysis) ↩
16. The Shires Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Clark, No. CL-2024-0797 (Ala. Civ. App. Mar. 14, 2025) (appeal dismissed; district court lacked jurisdiction over claim that was, in substance, declaratory; judgments void) ↩
17. Ex parte Howard Ross, No. 1120636 (Ala. Apr. 4, 2014) (matter of first impression; § 35-8A-316 power-of-sale foreclosure requires reasonable advance notice, while § 35-8-17 requires only a recorded lien but must proceed judicially), published through the Alabama Judicial System ↩