Alaska condo and HOA units can now pass by transfer-on-death deed
Alaska condo and HOA units can now pass by transfer-on-death deed
2026-09-09 · Alaska · Legislation
A unit in an Alaska condominium or homeowners association can now be passed at death by a transfer-on-death deed, under a bill that became law without Governor Mike Dunleavy's signature on June 18, 2026. SB 104 was enrolled as Chapter 12, SLA 2026, and took effect July 1, 2026.1
The change is small in word count and easy to miss. It is one subparagraph added to a definition in a probate statute — and it did not appear in the bill as introduced.
What the measure does
Alaska adopted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act at AS ch. 13.48, which lets an owner record a deed naming a beneficiary who takes the property automatically at the owner's death, outside probate. The owner keeps full control while alive and can revoke the deed at any time.
Section 5 of SB 104 amends the definition of “property” in AS 13.48.190(5), adding a new subparagraph covering “an ownership interest in a unit, and all rights, obligations, and interests appurtenant to the unit, in a common interest community, or a leasehold interest in a leasehold common interest community subject to AS 34.08, which is transferable on the death of the owner.”2
Two phrases carry the weight. “Subject to AS 34.08” ties the provision to the Alaska Common Interest Ownership Act, the statute that governs most Alaska condominiums and planned communities. And “all rights, obligations, and interests appurtenant to the unit” means the transfer is not of the four walls alone: the membership, the voting rights and the assessment obligations travel with it.
It arrived as an amendment to a boat bill
SB 104 was introduced on February 19, 2025 by Senator Scott Kawasaki of Fairbanks as a vehicle-and-boat measure — it creates transfer-on-death titling at the DMV for cars and vessels. The common interest community language was added more than a year later, by the Senate Finance Committee, in a committee substitute reported on March 4, 2026. The committee's own explanation-of-changes document records the amendment plainly, including the addition to the bill's title.3
It then moved without opposition: the Senate passed it 20–0 on March 9, 2026, and the House 40–0 on May 16. It was transmitted to the governor on June 1 and became law without his signature.
What it changes for owners, boards and managers
The practical effect is that a unit owner now has a probate-avoidance tool that was previously unavailable, or at least of uncertain application, for common interest community property. For associations, the consequence is a change in how units arrive at a new owner.
Transfers will increasingly happen without a probate file. An association that has historically learned of an owner's death through a personal representative, or through a probate notice, may now find the unit has already vested in a beneficiary by operation of the recorded deed. There is no court proceeding to watch and no estate to notice.
The obligations transfer with the unit. Because the statute reaches “all rights, obligations, and interests appurtenant to the unit,” a beneficiary who takes under a transfer-on-death deed takes the assessment obligation as well. That matters for any unit carrying arrears at the date of death — the association's lien rights under AS 34.08.470 attach to the unit, and a change of owner does not extinguish a perfected assessment lien.
Records and estoppel practice will feel it first. Requests for payoff and status information at the point of transfer are handled under the association's records and disclosure obligations; a beneficiary taking outside probate is still a new record owner whose contact details, voting eligibility and billing address the association has to capture.
Manufactured-home communities are reached too, by a different route. The same Act creates DMV transfer-on-death titling for vehicles, and Alaska titles manufactured homes at the DMV where the home has not been affixed to a permanent foundation. A community whose residents own homes on leased lots may therefore see the same probate-avoidance mechanism applied to the home itself.
What to watch next
The statute is new enough that no Alaska appellate decision has construed it in this application. Two questions are unresolved on the face of the text and will be answered, if at all, by later litigation or a further amendment.
The first is declaration language that restricts transfers. Some Alaska declarations contain rights of first refusal, transfer approval provisions or occupancy restrictions. The statute reaches interests “transferable on the death of the owner,” which invites the question of how a transfer-on-death deed interacts with a declaration that conditions transfers — a question the Act does not answer expressly.
The second is sequencing against the association's lien. AS 34.08.470 gives the association's lien a limited priority measured against the institution of an action to enforce it; a transfer that happens automatically at death, without a probate proceeding, changes who the association is dealing with but not the underlying priority scheme.
Neither question is academic for an association with a delinquent unit whose owner has died. Both are, for now, open.
Related Alaska HOA Topics
- SB 104, 34th Alaska State Legislature — bill detail, status and history (Chapter 12, SLA 2026; became law without signature June 18, 2026; effective July 1, 2026) ↩
- CSSB 104(FIN), enrolled text — Section 5 amending AS 13.48.190(5), Alaska State Legislature ↩
- Senate Finance Committee, Explanation of Changes, version A to version G, SB 104 (adding the common interest community language and the title change) ↩
- Community Associations Institute, 2026 Alaska End of Legislative Session Report (June 3, 2026) ↩
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