District of Columbia HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

The DC Condominium Act—D.C. Code § 42-1901.01 et seq. (Title 42, Chapter 19)—gives unit owners' associations in the District of Columbia the authority to levy and collect assessments.¹ The District sets no statutory percentage cap on regular assessment increases and uses no Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA)-style owner veto of the budget. The operative limit on an increase comes from each condominium's own governing instruments—the declaration and bylaws—not from the Code.

The power to adopt and amend the budget, and to collect assessments for common expenses, belongs to the unit owners' association and its executive board under § 42-1903.08(a)(2).² The allocation rule that converts that budget into each owner's individual obligation lives in § 42-1903.12.³ Special assessments also fall under § 42-1903.12, but the caps and approval thresholds that constrain them come from the condominium instruments, not from the Code.

On the national assessment-limit spectrum, the District occupies a distinct position. California boards cannot impose a regular increase greater than 20 percent of the prior year—or aggregate special assessments exceeding 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses—without a member vote. UCIOA-family states like Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, and Washington use a ratification mechanism: a proposed budget takes effect unless the membership rejects it. The District uses neither approach. It supplies the allocation rule and a strong assessment lien but leaves the limits on increases entirely to each condominium's instruments.⁴ The sections that follow detail how that framework operates in practice.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

The DC Condominium Act gives the unit owners' association explicit authority to levy common-expense assessments at least annually. Under § 42-1903.12(c), assessments "shall be made by the unit owners' association annually, or more often if the condominium instruments so provide."³ Any common expense not specially assessed goes against each unit in accordance with those instruments.

The bylaws set each unit's share as a fraction or percentage proportionate to either the unit's size or its par value; absent that provision, bylaws allocate equal liability to each unit. One exception applies: a convertible space bears liability proportionate to its size relative to the aggregate size of all units, while the remaining liability is distributed equally among the other units.

Two narrower allocation rules also apply. Common expenses for maintenance, repair, renovation, restoration, or replacement of a limited common element are specially assessed against the unit to which that element is assigned, unless the instruments provide otherwise. Where the instruments expressly permit it, common expenses that benefit fewer than all units—or that flow from the conduct of fewer than all owners—may be specially assessed against the units involved.

The power to set the assessment rests with the association through its budget. Section 42-1903.08(a)(2) grants the association "[p]ower to adopt and amend a budget for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners."² The declaration and bylaws then translate that budget into each owner's individual obligation.

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

The DC Condominium Act sets no statutory percentage cap on regular assessment increases and provides no UCIOA-style owner veto of the budget. The District never enacted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act; it governs condominiums through its own 1976 statute—D.C. Law 1-89—substantially amended by D.C. Law 8-233, which took effect March 8, 1991.¹ Under § 42-1903.08, the budget-adoption power belongs to the association and its executive board; the Act does not condition a regular increase on a membership ratification vote.²

That stands in contrast to the UCIOA-family approach. In Colorado, for example, a proposed budget is deemed approved "in the absence of a veto at the noticed meeting by a majority of all unit owners," whether or not a quorum is present.⁴

Because the Act sets no ceiling and requires no owner ratification, the operative limit on a regular increase comes from the condominium instruments. Those instruments may set a dollar or percentage cap, require a stated owner-approval threshold, or impose a notice requirement before a higher assessment takes effect. They are binding: § 42-1903.08 grants the association's powers "[e]xcept to the extent expressly prohibited by the condominium instruments, and subject to any restrictions and limitations specified" in them.² An increase imposed without following a cap, vote, or notice step required by the instruments may be challengeable, so the board must confirm what its own declaration and bylaws require before adopting a higher assessment.

2C. Special assessments, emergency assessments, and the instruments

Special assessments operate under § 42-1903.12. The statute addresses two specific types: assessments tied to limited common elements, levied against the unit to which that element is assigned, and assessments for expenses benefiting fewer than all units, permitted where the instruments expressly allow it. The Code sets no numeric cap on special assessments and prescribes no District-wide approval threshold.³

The assessment lien under § 42-1903.13 attaches to unpaid amounts. Any assessment "levied against a condominium unit in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and any lawful provision of the condominium instruments"—together with applicable interest, late fees, costs of collection, and legal fees—becomes a lien from the time the assessment is due and payable. That lien reaches both regular and special assessments.⁵

The condominium instruments therefore carry the operational work: setting any special-assessment cap, any owner-approval threshold, and any emergency-assessment procedure. To determine the limit on a special assessment and the approval needed to levy it, the board reads the instruments, not the Code.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

The board adopts the operating budget under its § 42-1903.08 authority to adopt and amend a budget and collect assessments for common expenses—a statutory power; the increase takes effect as the instruments and the budget provide.² Any owner-approval step, percentage cap, or special notice tied to a regular increase is instrument-defined; the Act itself requires no membership ratification.

The Act does establish a statutory floor for meeting practice. The association must hold at least one meeting each year, and the bylaws must specify an officer who—"at least 21 days in advance of any annual or regularly scheduled meeting, and at least 7 days in advance of any other meeting"—sends each owner written notice of the time, place, and purposes of the meeting.⁶

B. Special assessment procedure

A special assessment is levied by board action under the same budget-and-assessment authority in § 42-1903.08, subject to the allocation rules of § 42-1903.12 for limited common elements and for expenses benefiting fewer than all units.³ Any approval threshold—for example, an owner vote above a stated dollar amount—and any pre-levy notice are instrument-defined. The Act fixes no special-assessment cap or vote requirement.

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

The District supplies no statutory percentage cap on regular assessments and no owner veto of the budget. Where a cap or ceiling exists, it is instrument-defined.² Any emergency or contingency mechanism that would let the board exceed an ordinary cap is also a matter for the instruments; the Act contains no statutory emergency-assessment override.

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

Meeting notice content and timing are statutory under § 42-1903.03: 21 days before annual or regular meetings, and 7 days before any other meeting.⁶

Disclosure of current assessment levels and reserves to a prospective purchaser is statutory at resale. Under § 42-1904.11, the selling owner must furnish the buyer—on or before the tenth business day after the contract is executed—the condominium instruments and a certificate that includes the statement of unpaid assessments, planned capital expenditures, the status and amount of reserves, the most recent financial statement, and the current operating budget. The buyer then holds a three-business-day right to cancel after receipt.⁷

A statement of unpaid assessments is also a statutory right under § 42-1903.13(h): any unit owner or purchaser may request a recordable statement of the amount currently levied against the unit, and the association's failure to furnish it within 10 days extinguishes the lien as to that unit.⁵

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent DC Council legislation

The DC Council's most significant recent action on condominium governance—not directly on assessment caps, but closely related in practice—permanently authorized remote meetings and electronic voting for unit owners' associations.

B. Recent rulings

The most consequential recent DC Court of Appeals decision on condominium assessments addresses lien priority—specifically, how the six-month super-priority rule operates when an association forecloses.

A review of published DC Court of Appeals and Superior Court opinions from mid-2023 through mid-2026 found no opinion addressing the substantive validity of a regular assessment increase or a special assessment, as distinct from lien priority and foreclosure. The District's reported condominium-assessment case law remains concentrated on lien priority.

C. Active legislative debates

One bill under active consideration would affect special-assessment practice indirectly by shifting how insurance costs fall between the association and individual unit owners.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

The District occupies a middle position on the assessment-limit spectrum. It is not a statutory-cap jurisdiction like California, where Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) prohibits a board from imposing a regular assessment more than 20 percent greater than the prior year—or special assessments that in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses—without member approval. Nor does it belong to the UCIOA-family ratification states—Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, and Washington—where a proposed budget is ratified unless the membership rejects it; in Washington, for example, an association budget is ratified unless owners representing a majority of votes reject it at the meeting, whether or not a quorum is present.⁴

Instead, the District has a detailed condominium statute that supplies the allocation rule and a strong assessment lien but leaves the limits on increases to each condominium's instruments. For a multi-state operator entering the District, that means the limit on a regular or special assessment must be read from each condominium's declaration and bylaws, not from the Code. The District's six-month assessment-lien priority over a first mortgage is a distinctive enforcement feature treated in detail in HOA Weekly's collections coverage.

1. D.C. Code § 42-1903.12 (Condominium Act of 1976, D.C. Law 1-89, as amended by D.C. Law 8-233, eff. Mar. 8, 1991) ↩
2. D.C. Code § 42-1903.08(a)(2) (powers of unit owners' association; budget and assessments) ↩
3. D.C. Code § 42-1903.12 (liability for common expenses; special assessments; proportionate liability; allocation; installments; interest) ↩
4. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-303(4); Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.025(3); and Community Associations Institute, Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) adopting states ↩
5. D.C. Code § 42-1903.13 (lien for assessments; six-month priority over first mortgage; statement of unpaid assessments) ↩
6. D.C. Code § 42-1903.03(a) (meetings; 21-day and 7-day notice; electronic participation) ↩
7. D.C. Code § 42-1904.11 (resale by unit owner; certificate and disclosure; three-business-day cancellation right) ↩
8. D.C. Law 25-324, Fairness and Stability in Housing Amendment Act of 2024 (Association Meeting Flexibility title amending § 42-1903.03) ↩
9. Wonder Twins Holdings, LLC v. 450101 DC Housing Trust, No. 23-CV-0719 (D.C. Nov. 21, 2024) ↩
10. Bill 26-0495, Condominium Insurance Amendment Act of 2025 (DC Council LIMS) ↩