Kansas HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: Overview

Kansas takes a partial approach to the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. The state's Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act — known as KUCIOBORA, K.S.A. 58-4601 et seq. — follows the Uniform Law Commission's owner-rights model rather than the full UCIOA. It governs association duties, meetings, notice, records, and budgets, but it creates no assessment lien and no lien-priority scheme.¹ For lien authority, you have to look elsewhere. Condominiums formed under the Apartment Ownership Act carry a lien for unpaid common expenses under K.S.A. 58-3123, and townhouse projects formed under the Townhouse Ownership Act carry a parallel lien under K.S.A. 58-3710.^2,3 Planned communities formed outside either act rely on their recorded Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions, the contractual lien those covenants create, and the Kansas general corporation law that governs the association as a nonprofit corporation.

For condominiums and townhouses, the lien arises by statute on levied but unpaid assessments, and the association records a claim of lien to give public notice and preserve enforcement. Kansas grants no super-priority. Both the condominium and townhouse liens sit behind the first mortgage of record and behind tax liens, which places the association firmly behind the first mortgage rather than ahead of it. Foreclosure is judicial only. Kansas carries no power-of-sale mechanism for mortgages or for association liens; both proceed through a district court suit and a sheriff's sale.⁴ No Kansas statute sets a minimum dollar amount or a minimum delinquency period before an association may foreclose. Nationally, Kansas sits at the lender-protective end of the spectrum, closer to CC&R-primary states than to the super-priority UCIOA states. The sections below detail the lien, its priority, the collection and foreclosure sequence, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Kansas HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: K.S.A. 58-3123, 58-3710, 58-4601 et seq., 60-2410, 60-2414. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

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

Kansas splits lien authority based on the act under which a community was formed. For condominiums under the Apartment Ownership Act, K.S.A. 58-3123 specifies that all association-levied sums left unpaid for a unit's share of common expenses constitute a lien on that apartment.² For townhouse projects under the Townhouse Ownership Act, K.S.A. 58-3710 carries the same rule: all assessed but unpaid sums for a unit's share of common expenses constitute a lien on that unit.³ In both cases, the lien attaches to the individual unit and to the appurtenant percentage of undivided interest in the common areas, and it secures the unpaid common expenses. The recorded declaration or bylaws can add late fees, interest, fines, collection costs, and attorney fees to the lien, because both acts leave the detailed terms of assessment to the declaration. The lien arises when assessments go unpaid; recording a claim of lien in the county register of deeds puts the public on notice and supports enforcement.

KUCIOBORA creates no lien. K.S.A. 58-4601 et seq. is a bill of rights that covers association duties, board conduct, meetings, voting, records, and budgets, and it applies to common interest communities of 12 or more residential units.⁵ It sets governance rules but leaves the assessment lien to the Apartment Ownership Act, the Townhouse Ownership Act, or the recorded covenants. For a planned community formed outside either ownership act, the lien is contractual: the recorded CC&Rs create it and bind successor owners, and the association enforces it as a nonprofit corporation under the Kansas general corporation law, K.S.A. 17-6001 et seq. A separate provision, K.S.A. 58-3109 in the Apartment Ownership Act, addresses mechanics' and materialmen's liens against apartments and the removal of those liens; it is distinct from the assessment lien in K.S.A. 58-3123.⁶

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

Kansas grants no super-priority and no rolling super-lien. Both statutory liens sit behind the first mortgage. K.S.A. 58-3123 states that the condominium assessment lien takes priority over all other liens except (i) tax liens on the apartment in favor of any assessing unit and special district, and (ii) all sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record.² K.S.A. 58-3710 sets the identical rule for townhouse units.³ The practical consequences appear in those same sections: where a first mortgagee or another purchaser obtains title through foreclosure of the first mortgage, that acquirer bears no liability for common expenses or assessments that became due before the acquisition of title, and that unpaid share becomes a common expense collectible from all remaining owners. A first-mortgage foreclosure therefore wipes out the association's pre-foreclosure assessment claim against the new titleholder, and the remaining owners absorb the loss. This is the opposite of the UCIOA super-priority model, where a defined slice of association assessments outranks the first mortgage. Kansas has not adopted that slice. Against mechanics' liens and other junior encumbrances, the association lien holds the priority the statute describes — above everything except tax liens and the first mortgage of record. For planned communities relying on CC&Rs, priority is whatever the recorded covenants establish in relation to other recorded interests, and covenant drafters in Kansas commonly subordinate the assessment lien to a first mortgage to keep units financeable.

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

For planned communities outside the two ownership acts, CC&Rs do the work that statute does for condominiums and townhouses. They create the assessment obligation, the lien, the priority, and the enforcement remedy as a matter of contract that runs with the land. KUCIOBORA supplements those covenants with mandatory governance rules and, under K.S.A. 58-4622, makes the law of corporations apply to the association except where it conflicts with KUCIOBORA.⁵ The statute of limitations on assessment debt turns on the nature of the obligation. Kansas allows five years for an action on any written agreement, contract, or promise under K.S.A. 60-511, and three years for an action on an implied or oral contract under K.S.A. 60-512.^7,8 Because assessment obligations flow from a recorded written declaration, the five-year written-contract period is the one that ordinarily governs an action to collect Kansas assessment debt. Federal overlays apply on top of state law: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act reaches third-party collectors and law firms pursuing association debt, the Bankruptcy Code automatic stay halts collection and foreclosure on the petition date, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act constrains enforcement against active-duty servicemembers.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Kansas sets no statutory pre-lien notice period, no statutory itemized-statement requirement, and no statutory payment-plan mandate for association assessments. The steps required before recording a claim of lien come from the recorded declaration and the bylaws, not from a state collections statute. KUCIOBORA does impose collateral obligations that shape the sequence: the association must keep detailed records of receipts and expenditures and make those records available to owners under K.S.A. 58-4616, and it may suspend certain owner privileges for nonpayment but may not deny an owner access to the unit, may not suspend an owner's vote except on assessment and fee matters, and may not withhold services where doing so would endanger health, safety, or property.⁵ KUCIOBORA also authorizes an association to require that disputes go to nonbinding alternative dispute resolution before a judicial proceeding. Because these are governance limits rather than collection deadlines, the operative day-counts, dispute rights, and any payment-plan offer come from each community's governing documents. For planned communities relying on CC&Rs, every pre-lien step is contractual and you should read it from the declaration.

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

To preserve and publicize the lien, the association records a claim of lien with the register of deeds in the county where the property sits. Kansas imposes no separate statutory pre-foreclosure notice unique to association liens; instead, the association enforces by filing a foreclosure suit and serving the owner with the petition under the ordinary rules of civil procedure. One Kansas recording rule is worth noting: K.S.A. 58-2254, which imposes a 30-day enforce-or-lapse deadline on certain filed claims, does not apply to a recorded notice of nonpayment of dues or assessments filed under a recorded HOA declaration, so the association's recorded notice does not lapse under that section. No Kansas statute requires a board vote before foreclosure, sets a mediation prerequisite specific to association liens, or compels a payment-plan offer; any such requirement is contractual under the declaration or bylaws, or it arises from KUCIOBORA's alternative-dispute-resolution provision if the association has elected to require it. For communities governed only by CC&Rs, treat each of these steps as contractual rather than statutory: the authority to record, the contents of the notice, and the right to proceed all derive from the covenants.

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Both statutory liens foreclose judicially. K.S.A. 58-3123 provides that a condominium lien may be foreclosed by suit by the manager or board of directors in the same manner as a mortgage of real property, and K.S.A. 58-3710 provides that a townhouse lien may be foreclosed by suit by the association in the same manner as a mortgage of real property.^2,3 Kansas mortgages foreclose only through the courts, so an association lien follows the same judicial path: the association files a petition in the district court of the county where the property is located, serves the owner and any junior lienholders, and obtains a judgment and an order of sale. The townhouse act adds that an association may maintain a suit for a money judgment for unpaid common expenses without foreclosing or waiving the lien, so the association may pursue the debt and the lien as alternatives. No Kansas statute sets a minimum dollar threshold or a minimum delinquency duration before an association may foreclose — unlike states that gate foreclosure behind a dollar floor or a months-delinquent floor. Whether fines and fees support the foreclosure depends on whether the recorded declaration folds them into the secured assessment lien. As for the sale, K.S.A. 60-2410 governs the sheriff's sale of real property: the officer must publish notice of the time and place of sale once each week for three consecutive weeks before the sale, and the last publication must fall not less than seven nor more than 14 days before the sale date.⁴ The court must confirm the sale before title passes.

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

Kansas gives the defendant owner a robust statutory right of redemption after the sheriff's sale under K.S.A. 60-2414. The owner may redeem the real property within 12 months of the sale by paying the amount the holder of the certificate of purchase paid, plus interest, costs, and taxes, and the owner holds the right to possession during the redemption period.⁹ The 12-month period is reduced to three months where the owner had not paid off one-third of the original mortgage principal before default; the court may extend a three-month period by an additional three months where the owner involuntarily loses a primary source of income during the redemption period; and the court may shorten or extinguish redemption where it finds the property abandoned or not occupied in good faith. Where the total of all mortgages or liens falls below one-third of the property's market value, the court must set a 12-month period. For the first portion of the redemption period, the owner's right to redeem is exclusive before junior creditors may step in. Deficiency judgments are available in Kansas judicial foreclosures, though the court may decline to confirm a sale at a substantially inadequate price or may set an upset price under K.S.A. 60-2415. Surplus funds beyond the amounts owed on the liens go to the former owner or junior claimants according to priority. Reinstatement — curing the default by paying arrears plus costs before the sale — can stop the foreclosure where the governing documents or a negotiated agreement allow it.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

No bill enacted or introduced in the Kansas Legislature in the past 24 months amended K.S.A. 58-4601 et seq., the Apartment Ownership Act lien provision, the Townhouse Ownership Act lien provision, or the foreclosure and redemption statutes at K.S.A. 60-2410 and 60-2414, and no bill in that window created a new HOA collection or foreclosure rule. The closest HOA-affecting measure does not touch collections or liens.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

No Kansas appellate opinion in the past 36 months interpreted the Apartment Ownership Act lien provision, the Townhouse Ownership Act lien provision, KUCIOBORA's assessment-related provisions, or association lien foreclosure specifically. The recent appellate activity involving associations concerns covenant and declaration interpretation rather than assessment collection.

4C. Active legislative debates

The live debate touching common interest communities concerns covenant-use limits — illustrated by the home-based-business measure above — rather than any proposal to change assessment collection, lien priority, or the judicial-foreclosure and redemption framework, which has not been the subject of active amendment.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Kansas sits at the lender-protective end of the national spectrum. Super-priority states give a defined slice of association assessments priority over the first mortgage: Nevada grants nine months' priority over the first deed of trust under NRS 116.3116(2)(b), to the extent of "the assessments for common expenses based on the periodic budget adopted by the association…which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the 9 months immediately preceding the date on which the notice of default and election to sell is recorded." The six-month UCIOA model is more common: Colorado's super-lien (C.R.S. 38-33.3-316(2)(b)) gives priority "in an amount equal to the common expense assessments…which would have become due, in the absence of any acceleration, during the six months immediately preceding institution…of an action or a nonjudicial foreclosure," and Connecticut (Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-258(b)), Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, and Minnesota follow the same six-month limited priority. Threshold-restricted states keep ordinary priority but gate foreclosure behind a floor. California Civil Code §5720 bars foreclosure of an assessment lien unless the delinquent assessments are "$1,800 or more" (excluding accelerated assessments, late charges, fees, collection costs, attorney's fees, and interest) or "more than 12 months delinquent." Arizona's planned-community floor, as amended by SB 1494 (signed 2025, effective Sept. 26, 2025), now permits foreclosure only where the owner "has been and remains delinquent…for a period of eighteen months or in the amount of $10,000 or more, whichever occurs first," raised from the prior 12-month/$1,200 threshold (A.R.S. §33-1807), while Arizona condominiums remain at the lower floor of "$1,200 or more" or one year delinquent under A.R.S. §33-1256(A). Against all of these, Kansas grants no super-priority, subordinates the condominium and townhouse liens to the first mortgage by statute, requires judicial foreclosure with court confirmation, and adds a 12-month statutory redemption right. Its direction of travel is steady; recent legislative attention has been on covenant-use questions, not on importing a super-priority lien. For a multi-state operator, Kansas behaves less like Nevada and more like a judicial, CC&R-primary jurisdiction with strong post-sale owner protections.

This page is reviewed quarterly against the Kansas statutes and Kansas appellate dockets. Read it alongside the federal frameworks that overlay state collections, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Bankruptcy Code automatic stay, and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

1. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-4601, Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act, findings and purpose ↩
2. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-3123, Apartment Ownership Act, priority of liens ↩
3. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-3710, Townhouse Ownership Act, common expenses, liens, foreclosure sale ↩
4. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-2410, sale of real property under execution ↩
5. Kansas Legislative Research Department, The Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act and Homeowners Associations (2026) ↩
6. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 58-3109, Apartment Ownership Act, liens against apartments ↩
7. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-511, actions limited to five years ↩
8. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-512, actions limited to three years ↩
9. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-2414, redemption of real property ↩
10. Kansas Legislature, HB 2343, No-Impact Home-Based Business Fairness Act (2025-2026 session) ↩
11. Parkwood Hills Homes Ass'n v. Ramakrishnan, No. 126,318, 549 P.3d 415 (Kan. Ct. App. 2024) ↩
12. Restum v. Hawthorne Master Homeowners' Ass'n, No. 125,567 (Kan. Ct. App. 2024) (unpublished) ↩