Maine HOA Foreclosure

1. Overview: How HOA foreclosure works in Maine

Maine forecloses through the courts, and only through the courts. An association cannot simply sell a delinquent owner's unit. First it files a civil action, wins a court judgment, waits out a 90-day post-judgment redemption period, and then holds a court-supervised public sale — and any appeal goes straight to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, because Maine keeps no intermediate appellate court.^1,2,3 Condominium associations draw their lien and foreclosure rights from the Maine Condominium Act, 33 M.R.S. § 1601-101 et seq., a statute the Legislature built on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act rather than the later Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.^4,5 Non-condominium homeowners associations work without a comprehensive planned-community statute; their assessment and lien rights come from recorded declarations of covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs), backed by the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act and common law.^6,7 A contested matter moves through a familiar sequence: a pre-suit notice of the right to cure, then the foreclosure complaint, then mediation where the property qualifies, then judgment, then the 90-day redemption period, and finally the public sale.^8,9 Federal law can slow or freeze all of it — the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay each constrain what an association may do.¹⁰ The sections that follow walk through the statutory framework, the procedural sequence step by step, and the recent legislative and judicial developments.

2. The statutory framework

2A. The Maine Condominium Act

The Legislature enacted the Maine Condominium Act, 33 M.R.S. § 1601-101 et seq., through P.L. 1981, c. 699, and it took effect on January 1, 1983.⁴ The Act follows the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act — a model that predates the 1982 Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act — and Maine has never adopted UCIOA. The Act governs condominiums, and only condominiums, not planned communities.⁵ Its applicability provision reaches every condominium created in Maine on or after the effective date. Condominiums created earlier under the Unit Ownership Act, 33 M.R.S. § 560 et seq. — the 1965 framework — stay under that older chapter unless they amend their instruments to opt in, though a defined set of Act sections, including the lien-for-assessments section, still reaches pre-1983 condominiums for events that occur after the effective date.^11,12

Section 1603-116 establishes the association's lien. Subsection (a) gives the association a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit, and for any fine imposed on its owner, from the moment the assessment or fine comes due — and it provides that the lien "may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate."¹³ Unless the declaration says otherwise, fees, charges, late charges, fines, and interest all enforce as assessments under the section, and recording the declaration gives record notice and perfects the lien, so the association records no separate claim of lien.¹³ The lien dies unless the association begins enforcement within six years after the full amount comes due.¹³

On super-priority, Maine stands out among the states whose condominium statutes descend from the Uniform Condominium Act. Section 1603-116(b) makes the association lien prior to most other liens and encumbrances — but it carves out, among others, "[a] first mortgage recorded before or after the date on which the assessment sought to be enforced becomes delinquent."¹³ Maine never enacted the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act's optional six-month super-priority over first mortgages. A bill to create exactly that priority, LD 994 in the 127th Legislature, drew an "Ought Not to Pass" report and died in 2015, and the statute today carries no super-priority subsection.¹⁴ So a first mortgage holder's lien sits ahead of the association's assessment lien, no matter who recorded first.¹³

2B. The CC&R-primary framework for planned communities

Maine has no comprehensive planned-community statute to match the Condominium Act. For a non-condominium homeowners association, the recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions controls. Whatever lien rights the association holds for unpaid assessments flow from the CC&Rs themselves and from the deeds that bind the lots to them — not from any statutory lien grant.⁶ An association that wants to foreclose a CC&R-based lien generally must rely on the contractual lien language in its declaration and pursue judicial foreclosure under the general real-property foreclosure statute.⁸

Two other bodies of law fill in around the CC&Rs. Most Maine associations organize as nonprofit corporations, so the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act, 13-B M.R.S. § 101 et seq., governs their corporate structure, meetings, board authority, and records.⁷ Common-law contract and property principles cover the rest — how to read the covenants, whether they hold up, and what remedies follow. The practical point for boards and managers: a non-condominium association's collection and lien-enforcement strength rises or falls on how well someone drafted its declaration. A condominium board can point to a statute; a planned-community board must point to its recorded covenants.⁶

2C. Judicial foreclosure, mediation, and federal overlays

Every Maine foreclosure runs through court under the civil-action foreclosure statute, 14 M.R.S. § 6321 et seq.¹ For owner-occupied residential property, a parallel mediation requirement kicks in under 14 M.R.S. § 6321-A. That statute directs the Supreme Judicial Court to run the Foreclosure Diversion Program, and it requires a plaintiff foreclosing a mortgage on owner-occupied residential property of no more than four units — the owner's primary residence — to attach a mediation-notice form to the complaint.⁹ The program reaches only a primary residence; vacation properties, second homes, and commercial property do not qualify.¹⁵ Because the statute speaks of foreclosing "a mortgage," whether it applies to an association assessment-lien foreclosure turns on whether courts treat that action as a mortgage foreclosure. Section 1603-116 says the association lien forecloses "in like manner as a mortgage," and Maine condominium-association foreclosure complaints cite both § 1603-116 and § 6321.^13,16

After the complaint and service, a defendant has 20 days to respond and may ask for mediation. An uncontested case can move to default judgment; a contested case runs through litigation to judgment.⁸ Once the court enters a judgment of foreclosure and sale, the redemption period under 14 M.R.S. § 6322 runs 90 days from the date of judgment for mortgages executed on or after October 1, 1975, after which the selling party may advertise and hold the sale under 14 M.R.S. § 6323.^2,17 Appeals run from the Superior Court or District Court straight to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court. There is no intermediate appellate court.³

Federal law sits on top of the state process. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., governs third-party debt-collection conduct, and the Maine Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 32 M.R.S. § 11001 et seq., separately licenses and regulates debt collectors who operate in Maine, including anyone who regularly enforces security interests.^10,18 The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq., gives active-duty servicemembers stays and other protections, and the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay, 11 U.S.C. § 362, halts foreclosure the moment an owner files.¹⁰ Maine names no dedicated HOA regulator, and the state does not require community association managers to hold a license.¹⁹

3. The Maine HOA foreclosure procedural sequence

A. Lien establishment and recording

For condominiums, the lien arises on its own, by statute. Under 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116(a), it attaches the moment an assessment or fine comes due, and subsection (d) treats recording of the declaration as record notice and perfection — so the association files no separate notice of lien for each delinquency.¹³ The lien secures assessments and, unless the declaration says otherwise, fees, late charges, fines, and interest.¹³ Pre-1983 condominiums still under the Unit Ownership Act follow a different mechanism: 33 M.R.S. § 581 lets the association claim a lien 60 days after the assessment due date, signed by the manager or a board member and perfected by filing in the registry of deeds.²⁰ Planned communities get no statutory lien at all; the association must create and record the lien exactly as its declaration provides, which usually means recording a notice of lien in the county registry of deeds.⁶ CC&Rs often go beyond the statutory floor, spelling out late fees, interest rates, and attorney-fee recovery.

B. Pre-foreclosure notice, demand, and mediation

Before it files, an association foreclosing on residential property follows the same front-end notice steps as a mortgage lender. Maine requires a notice of default and right to cure under 14 M.R.S. § 6111, which gives the owner at least 35 days to cure before anyone files a foreclosure action; the Tidewater Loft condominium foreclosure shows associations sending these cure notices before filing.^21,22 A condominium association must also hand over, on written request, a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within 10 business days under § 1603-116(h).¹³ Where the unit is the owner's owner-occupied primary residence of no more than four units, the mediation framework of 14 M.R.S. § 6321-A applies, and the plaintiff must attach the one-page mediation-request form to the complaint; the Foreclosure Diversion Program then convenes an informational session, and a mediation if the owner asks for one or shows up.^9,15 Mediation does not reach non-owner-occupied units, second homes, or commercial property, which pulls many vacation-community condominium units out of the program.¹⁵ Condominium declarations and CC&Rs often add their own demand-letter and payment-plan steps before counsel files suit.

C. Foreclosure complaint, judgment, and 90-day redemption

The association starts the foreclosure by filing a civil complaint under 14 M.R.S. § 6321 and, for a condominium, § 1603-116. The Oak Hill Condominiums complaint, for instance, alleged default on unpaid common charges, assessments, rule-violation fines, and legal fees, and it cited both statutes.¹⁶ The owner then has 20 days to respond.⁸ The court works through the elements and, if the proof holds, enters a judgment of foreclosure and sale.¹⁷ Under 14 M.R.S. § 6322, the redemption period runs 90 days from the date the court enters judgment on the docket — for mortgages or instruments executed on or after October 1, 1975. If the owner pays the adjudged amount with interest inside that window, the lien discharges and the action ends.^2,17 That structure sets Maine apart from states with post-sale redemption: here the redemption window closes before the auction, not after.²³ Condominiums and planned communities both take this judicial path, and declarations routinely allow recovery of costs and attorney fees — which § 1603-116(g) makes mandatory for the prevailing party in a condominium lien action.¹³

D. Sale and post-sale rights

Once the redemption period runs out without payment, the property goes to public sale under 14 M.R.S. § 6323. The selling party publishes a notice of sale in a newspaper once a week for three weeks and mails notice to everyone who appeared at least 30 days before the sale.^8,23 When a foreclosing first mortgagee sells a condominium unit, 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116(i) provides that common-expense assessments accrue free of the foreclosing first mortgagee's lien from and after the date of sale — which sets how much the association can collect from a post-foreclosure buyer.¹³ The foreclosing party may pursue a deficiency as part of the action, subject to the fair-market-value limits of 14 M.R.S. § 6324 when that party is also the buyer.²⁴ Planned communities track the same general foreclosure statute and their own declarations. Any surplus proceeds go out by the priority of recorded interests.

4. Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent legislation

The most directly relevant recent enactment for condominium and residential associations is Maine's "right-to-charge" law.

No bill in the 131st or 132nd Legislature amended the condominium assessment-lien or foreclosure provisions of 33 M.R.S. § 1603-116, and the Legislature enacted no comprehensive planned-community statute. A separate 2025 measure, LD 403 (Public Law 2025, Chapter 275), amended the pre-foreclosure notice statute, 14 M.R.S. § 6111, to add anti-fraud warning language; it cross-references the mediation option but leaves the mediation and redemption mechanics alone.²⁶

B. Recent appellate rulings

Maine's HOA-specific appellate activity stays thin, but the Supreme Judicial Court decided two condominium-foreclosure appeals in 2026.

C. Active legislative debates

No active, advancing bill in the 132nd Legislature would add a condominium super-priority lien or enact a comprehensive planned-community statute. In the housing arena, legislative attention has gone to density and zoning reform, not to association-lien priority.²⁷

5. National positioning and related coverage

Maine occupies a distinct slice of the national landscape. Its condominium law descends from the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act rather than UCIOA, so it lacks both the broader common-interest-community coverage and the assessment super-priority that UCIOA states grant. Connecticut, for example, gives a nine-month super-priority under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-258(b) (as amended by P.A. 13-156), and Colorado gives a six-month priority under C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316(2)(b)(I) — while in Maine a first mortgage outranks the association lien no matter the recording order. Maine's planned communities run on CC&Rs, with no overarching statute, unlike states that have a general common-interest law. On procedure, Maine is a full-judicial-foreclosure state with mandatory mediation for owner-occupied residences, which sets it apart from trustee-sale regimes: California's Davis-Stirling Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 5710, lets an HOA foreclose non-judicially (subject to the $1,800-or-12-month threshold of Cal. Civ. Code § 5720), and Texas requires a court order in an expedited-foreclosure application even for an association lien under Tex. Prop. Code § 209.0092. Maine's redemption period runs comparatively short and, unusually, runs pre-sale from the judgment rather than post-sale. And its single-tier appellate structure, with no intermediate court, sends association disputes straight to the state's highest court.

For Maine boards and managers, the operational takeaways come down to three things: treat the first-mortgage priority as fixed, build foreclosure files that survive due-process and fair-housing scrutiny, and confirm mediation eligibility early — because owner-occupancy status decides whether the Foreclosure Diversion Program applies.

1. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6321 (mortgages and civil-action foreclosure; judicial-only foreclosure in Maine) ↩
2. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6322 (hearing and judgment; 90-day redemption period for instruments executed on or after Oct. 1, 1975) ↩
3. Appeals, State of Maine Judicial Branch (appeals proceed directly to the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court; no intermediate appellate court) ↩
4. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 1601-101 et seq. (Maine Condominium Act, ch. 31; enacted by P.L. 1981, c. 699, eff. Jan. 1, 1983) ↩
5. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 1601-102 (applicability; modeled on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act; UCIOA not adopted; condominiums only) ↩
6. Maine HOA Laws and Resources, Homeowners' Protection Bureau (no comprehensive planned-community statute; CC&R-based lien rights for non-condominium associations) ↩
7. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 1603-101 (unit owners' associations organized as nonprofit corporations under Title 13-B) ↩
8. Foreclosure, State of Maine Judicial Branch (civil-action foreclosure procedure; 20-day response period; judicial path) ↩
9. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6321-A (Foreclosure Diversion Program; mediation for owner-occupied residential property of no more than four units) ↩
10. Maine Foreclosure Laws and Procedures, Nolo (federal overlays: FDCPA, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and 11 U.S.C. § 362 automatic stay) ↩
11. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 1601-102 (applicability; opt-in for pre-1983 condominiums; selected sections reach pre-1983 condominiums for post-effective-date events) ↩
12. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 560 et seq. (Unit Ownership Act, 1965 framework); Maine HOA & Condominium Law Summary, CommunityPay ↩
13. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 1603-116 (lien for assessments; foreclosure "in like manner as a mortgage"; first-mortgage priority; six-year enforcement limit; mandatory attorney fees under subsec. (g)) ↩
14. L.D. 994, 127th Leg. (Me. 2015), An Act To Create a Priority Lien Securing 6 Months of Assessments under the Maine Condominium Act (reported Ought Not to Pass, Apr. 29, 2015) ↩
15. Foreclosure Diversion Program, State of Maine Judicial Branch (primary-residence requirement; vacation, second-home, and commercial property excluded) ↩
16. Oak Hill Condominiums v. Marchetti, 2026 ME 31 (Me. Apr. 2, 2026) (affirming denial of occupant's motion to intervene; occupant lacked direct, legally protectable interest) ↩
17. Practical Guidance: Commercial Foreclosure (Me.), Pierce Atwood LLP (citing Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, §§ 6321, 6322, 6323) ↩
18. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 32, § 11001 et seq. (Maine Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; licensing of debt collectors, including persons regularly enforcing security interests) ↩
19. Community Association Manager State-Mandated Licensing, Community Associations Institute (Maine does not require community association managers to be licensed) ↩
20. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 581 (Unit Ownership Act; lien claimed 60 days after due date, signed and filed in the registry of deeds) ↩
21. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6111 (notice of default and right to cure; at least 35 days to cure before a foreclosure action may be filed) ↩
22. Tidewater Loft Condominium Ass'n v. Moskal-Kanz, 2026 ME 46 (Me. May 21, 2026) (vacating foreclosure judgment on due-process grounds; FHA and ADA counterclaim; $36,962.09 attorney-fee award not fully supported) ↩
23. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6323 (public sale; notice published once a week for three weeks and mailed to parties who appeared at least 30 days before sale); Maine Foreclosure Laws and Procedures, Nolo ↩
24. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6324 (deficiency; fair-market-value limits when the foreclosing party is the buyer); Understanding Maine's Judicial Foreclosure Process, Lawyers.com ↩
25. Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 33, § 576-A (electric-vehicle charging stations allowed; application, insurance, cost-bearing, and maintenance conditions), P.L. 2025, c. 280 (L.D. 1133, signed June 12, 2025) ↩
26. L.D. 403, 132d Leg., P.L. 2025, c. 275 (Me. 2025) (amending Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 14, § 6111 to add anti-fraud warning language) ↩
27. L.D. 1829, 132d Leg., P.L. 2025, c. 385 (Me. 2025), An Act to Build Housing for Maine Families and Attract Workers to Maine Businesses by Amending the Laws Governing Housing Density ↩