Massachusetts HOA Foreclosure

1. Overview

Massachusetts centers its condominium law on a single statute — Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A — and one provision in that statute defines how assessment disputes end up in court: the six-month "super-priority" lien under § 6. Under the Drummer Boy doctrine, that priority can roll forward through successive legal actions, allowing an association to stack six-month tranches rather than accepting a single capped amount. Mortgagee foreclosure takes a different path entirely — a non-judicial power-of-sale auction under ch. 244, § 14, with no post-sale right of redemption.

The governing statute is ch. 183A, enacted in 1963. Massachusetts wrote its own condominium law; it did not adopt the Uniform Condominium Act or the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. The state also lacks a comprehensive planned-community statute, so the small population of non-condominium HOAs operates under recorded covenants, ch. 180 nonprofit corporation law, and common law.

The § 6 lien secures unpaid common-expense assessments plus costs and reasonable attorney fees. The super-priority over a first mortgage runs to the six months of regular assessments preceding suit. Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n v. Britton allows an association to capture successive six-month tranches by filing successive actions — which makes the rolling priority a more powerful tool than a flat cap. Two distinct foreclosure paths run through the Commonwealth: a mortgagee uses a non-judicial power-of-sale auction under ch. 244, § 14, while a condominium association enforces its § 6 lien through a judicial civil action ending in a court-ordered sale. Before any mortgagee auction involving a natural-person owner, a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act proceeding — typically filed in the Land Court — confirms the borrower is not in active military service. Federal overlays, including the FDCPA, the bankruptcy automatic stay, and the SCRA, apply alongside state consumer-protection law.

2. The statutory framework

2A. The Massachusetts Condominium Act and the § 6 lien

The Massachusetts Condominium Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, has governed condominium creation, governance, and lien enforcement since 1963.¹ Massachusetts wrote this statute independently — it is not based on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act or the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. Calling ch. 183A a uniform-act adoption is an error. Massachusetts also has no comprehensive planned-community statute. Non-condominium homeowner associations are governed by their recorded declarations and covenants, the ch. 180 nonprofit corporation law for incorporated associations, and common law. There is no dedicated state HOA regulator and no community association manager licensing requirement.²

The market is substantial. The Foundation for Community Association Research's 2024 U.S. National and State Statistical Review reports that Massachusetts has 11,600 community associations, 664,000 units, and 1,678,000 residents — ranking the state 8th nationally.³ That market concentrates in Greater Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and the coastal communities along Cape Cod.

Section 6 is the operative lien provision. A lien arises automatically in favor of the organization of unit owners from the time each assessment is due, and recording of the master deed constitutes record notice — no separate recording is required for each delinquency.⁴ The lien also reaches other sums: fees, attorney fees, charges, late charges, fines, costs of collection and enforcement, court costs, and interest — all enforceable as common-expense assessments.⁵ Unit owners are personally liable for their share. They may not withhold payment or assert a setoff while disputing an assessment. Section 6(d) requires the association to issue a "6(d) certificate" stating amounts due — a document closing attorneys need to deliver clean title on any sale or refinance.⁶

2B. The six-month super-priority and the Drummer Boy doctrine

The distinctive feature of § 6 is its priority over a prior recorded first mortgage. Section 6(c) gives the association's lien priority over the first mortgage to the extent of common-expense assessments — based on the budget adopted under § 6(a) — that are due during the six months immediately preceding the enforcement action, together with costs and reasonable attorney fees in that action.⁷ The priority amount is narrower than the total lien: it covers regular budgeted common-expense assessments and collection costs and fees, and it expressly excludes special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties, and interest.⁸ The association can still recover those excluded amounts from the unit owner, but those amounts do not carry super-priority over the first mortgage.

Section 6(c) imposes notice prerequisites. The association must send a delinquency notice to the first mortgagee by certified and first-class mail, and at least 30 days before filing an enforcement action it must send the first mortgagee a notice of intent to file.⁹ Practitioners also send a 60-day notice to the unit owner once the owner is at least 60 days in arrears. Failing to send the required mortgagee notice does not destroy the lien or its priority, but it forfeits the ability to claim enforcement attorney fees as part of the priority amount.¹⁰ The statute also allows a first mortgagee to extinguish the priority by paying the prescribed six-month amount plus costs and fees within 60 days of agreeing in writing that the priority lien exists.¹¹

The marquee Massachusetts development is Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n, Inc. v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016). In that decision, the Supreme Judicial Court held that ch. 183A, § 6 permits an organization of unit owners to establish multiple contemporaneous priority liens on a unit by filing successive legal actions, each carrying its own six-month period of priority over the first mortgage, for successive periods of unpaid common expenses.¹² The Court reversed the Appeals Court, which had limited the association to a single six-month tranche.¹³ The practical effect: the priority amount is not capped at a single six-month figure. An association that files successive actions while a delinquency continues can stack successive six-month priorities. Each tranche still requires a separate action, the priority still excludes special assessments and fines, and the doctrine governs the priority over the first mortgage — not the association's total recoverable claim. As of June 2026, no later decision or statutory amendment has overruled or narrowed the Drummer Boy rolling-lien holding. It remains good law.

2C. Foreclosure paths, redemption, court structure, and federal overlays

A mortgagee enforces its mortgage through non-judicial power of sale under ch. 244, § 14, which requires published and mailed notice and a public auction. Massachusetts is a title-theory state.¹⁴ Before the auction, for a natural-person owner, the foreclosing party files a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act proceeding — typically in the Land Court — to confirm no owner is in active military service. This proceeding is not itself the foreclosure; it is a step to avoid a defective title.¹⁵ The condominium § 6 lien follows a different route: enforcement is judicial, brought as a civil action under ch. 254, § 5, and once the court establishes the lien amount, it enters an order authorizing sale of the unit under ch. 254, § 5A.¹⁶ The two procedures should not be conflated.

Massachusetts provides no post-sale statutory right of redemption after a completed mortgagee power-of-sale foreclosure. The equity of redemption is extinguished by the sale, though an equitable right to redeem exists up to the moment of sale.¹⁷ A separate redemption framework applies to municipal tax takings; it does not apply to HOA or mortgage foreclosure.

The court structure is distinctive. The Land Court is a statewide trial court with specialized real-property jurisdiction, including the SCRA proceeding. The Superior Court and the District and Housing Courts handle related matters. The intermediate appellate court is the Massachusetts Appeals Court. The highest court is the Supreme Judicial Court — not, as it is sometimes called, the "Massachusetts Supreme Court."

Federal overlays apply. Under Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019), a business engaged only in non-judicial foreclosure is not a "debt collector" under the FDCPA except for the limited purpose of 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(6).¹⁸ Because the condominium § 6 path is judicial, broader FDCPA obligations may attach there. The mortgagee power-of-sale path may fall within the Obduskey safe harbor. The Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, ch. 93A, and the Attorney General's debt-collection regulations at 940 CMR 7.00 may govern collection conduct.¹⁹ The SCRA, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq., and the bankruptcy automatic stay, 11 U.S.C. § 362, also apply. A unit owner's bankruptcy filing halts foreclosure activity until the stay is lifted.

3. The Massachusetts HOA foreclosure procedural sequence

A. Lien establishment and the § 6 priority

The § 6 lien arises automatically when each common-expense assessment becomes due. Recording of the master deed perfects it — no separate recording is required for each delinquency (ch. 183A, § 6(a)).²⁰ The lien secures regular assessments plus late charges, fines, interest, costs of collection, and reasonable attorney fees — all enforceable as common-expense assessments. Priority over the first mortgage, however, attaches only to the six months of regular budgeted assessments preceding the enforcement action, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees (ch. 183A, § 6(c)). Under Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016), an association may establish successive six-month priority liens by filing successive actions, so a long-running delinquency can yield stacked six-month priorities rather than a single capped amount. Recorded master deeds, declarations of trust, and by-laws supplement the statutory minima — setting assessment schedules, late-charge formulas, and fine structures — but the priority components are fixed by statute and may not be expanded by the governing documents.

B. Pre-foreclosure notice and demand

For § 6 enforcement, the association sends a notice of lien to the unit owner once the owner is at least 60 days in arrears, sends a delinquency notice to the first mortgagee, and sends the first mortgagee a notice of intent to file an action at least 30 days before filing (ch. 183A, § 6(c)).²¹ Failing to send the mortgagee notice does not void the lien or its priority, but it forfeits priority treatment of enforcement attorney fees.

The 90-day right-to-cure notice under ch. 244, § 35A, and the modified-mortgage notice under § 35B govern residential mortgage loans — not condominium § 6 lien enforcement. The § 35A cure period was reduced from 150 days to 90 days effective January 1, 2016. Attributing these mortgage-loan notices to HOA foreclosure is an error.²² Because the § 6 path is judicial, FDCPA obligations may attach to collection conduct. Counsel should run bankruptcy and SCRA checks and observe ch. 93A and 940 CMR 7.00 before and during collection.

C. Enforcement and sale: condominium § 6 action and mortgagee power of sale

The condominium § 6 action is a civil suit filed under ch. 254, § 5, in the Superior Court or District Court where the unit is located. An attested copy of the complaint must be recorded in the registry of deeds within 30 days of commencement, or the lien dissolves.²³ The complaint names the unit owner, the first mortgagee, and other lienholders, and it seeks to establish and enforce the lien with priority over the first mortgage. Under Drummer Boy, the association may file successive actions to capture rolling six-month priorities. Once the court establishes the lien amount, ch. 254, § 5A directs that the court "shall" enter an order authorizing sale of the unit to satisfy the lien, followed by a public auction under the statutory framework.²⁴

The mortgagee path works differently. After the Land Court SCRA proceeding concludes, the mortgagee publishes notice of the sale once a week for three successive weeks — with the first publication not less than 21 days before the sale — mails notice to the owner of record of the equity of redemption as of 30 days before the sale, and conducts a public auction (ch. 244, § 14).²⁵ The two paths intersect at the priority line: when a first mortgagee forecloses, the association's properly preserved six-month priority — and, under Drummer Boy, successive six-month tranches — must be satisfied ahead of the mortgage. That is why mortgagees frequently pay the priority amount rather than lose their first position.

D. Post-sale rights and remedies

After a completed mortgagee power-of-sale foreclosure, there is no post-sale statutory right of redemption. The equity of redemption is extinguished at the sale. An equitable right to redeem before the sale exists, but it expires at the moment of sale (ch. 244, § 18; ch. 183, § 21).²⁶ Sale proceeds distribute by priority: a properly preserved § 6 priority is paid ahead of the first mortgage to the extent of the protected six-month amount and fees. Any surplus distributes to junior lienholders in order, and any remaining balance goes to the former owner — typically through an interpleader action in the Superior Court.²⁷ After either a mortgagee auction or a condominium lien sale, a purchaser who takes title must use summary process (eviction) in the District or Housing Court to remove a holdover occupant. Self-help is not an option. Deficiency exposure is a mortgagee concern, not an association one. A mortgagee seeking a deficiency after a power-of-sale auction must have complied with the statutory pre-sale deficiency-notice requirements.

4. Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Two enacted measures from the past 24 months bear directly on ch. 183A and ch. 244. The clean-energy act, St. 2024, c. 239, amended ch. 183A, § 6(a)(ii) and § 10(b)(6) and added a new § 10A governing the installation of electric-vehicle supply equipment and energy-conservation devices in condominiums.²⁸ Separately, the Affordable Homes Act, St. 2024, c. 150, added ch. 183A, § 24, authorizing condominium associations to conduct meetings and voting by electronic and remote means notwithstanding contrary provisions in their governing documents.²⁹ A 2025 enactment, St. 2025, c. 73, § 55, added ch. 244, § 42, providing temporary protections against mortgage foreclosure for impacted federal workers during a federal government shutdown.³⁰ None of these measures altered the § 6 six-month super-priority mechanics or the Drummer Boy rolling-lien framework.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No Massachusetts appellate decision in the past 36 months has interpreted the ch. 183A, § 6 super-priority or the Drummer Boy rolling-lien doctrine. The governing authority on the rolling lien remains Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016), which no court has disturbed. The most consequential recent condominium decision is Geezil v. White Cliffs Condominium Four Association, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 103 (2024), in which the Massachusetts Appeals Court held that a condominium association is not the "owner" of common areas for purposes of the antidiscrimination statute, ch. 151B, and is not liable for the cost of disability-accommodation modifications to common-area patios subject to exclusive-use easements.³¹ On the mortgagee side, the controlling notice authority predates the window but remains settled: in Turra v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, 476 Mass. 1020 (2017), the Supreme Judicial Court held that a mortgagee's failure to send the post-foreclosure notice required by ch. 244, § 15A does not render a foreclosure void,³² and in Thompson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 486 Mass. 286 (2020), the Court held that a single "hybrid" pre-foreclosure notice satisfying both ch. 244, § 35A and the mortgage's reinstatement paragraph was neither inaccurate nor deceptive.³³

C. Active legislative debates

Condominium-industry advocates have periodically sought a legislative clarification confirming that § 6 permits rolling priority liens — a position the Supreme Judicial Court adopted judicially in Drummer Boy. National mortgage lenders have historically resisted expansions of super-priority across states. No measure changing the super-priority amount or the Drummer Boy framework passed in the current session.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Massachusetts sits apart from most super-priority states. Its six-month priority is distinctive both for its early statutory origin and for the Drummer Boy rolling-lien doctrine, which lets an association stack successive six-month tranches rather than accept a single capped amount — a feature absent in most jurisdictions that adopted the flat six-month UCIOA model. Mortgagee foreclosure is non-judicial by power of sale with no post-sale redemption, in contrast to strict judicial-foreclosure states and to states with lengthy statutory redemption periods.

Against UCIOA super-priority states with a flat six months, and against Nevada's nine-month super-priority under NRS 116.3116, the Massachusetts rolling priority is unusual because the protected amount depends on how long a delinquency runs and how diligently the association files. For multi-state operators, the practical implication is concrete: the rolling priority can materially change recovery math, because a stale Massachusetts delinquency aggressively pursued through successive actions can recover far more ahead of the first mortgage than a single six-month tranche would in a flat super-priority state.

Massachusetts rewards associations that act early and document carefully, because the super-priority and its rolling tranches reward diligence while the judicial § 6 path and the federal overlays punish procedural shortcuts.

1. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, Massachusetts Condominium Act ↩
2. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Condominiums ↩
3. Foundation for Community Association Research, 2024 U.S. National and State Statistical Review (data as of year-end 2024) ↩
4. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6, Liens for unpaid assessments ↩
5. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(a)(ii), Fees, fines, and costs enforceable as common-expense assessments ↩
6. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(d), Certificate of unpaid assessments ↩
7. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c), Six-month super-priority over first mortgage ↩
8. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c), Exclusions from super-priority (special assessments, fines, penalties, interest) ↩
9. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c), Notice prerequisites — delinquency notice and 30-day notice of intent to file ↩
10. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6, Consequence of failure to send mortgagee notice ↩
11. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c), Mortgagee option to extinguish priority by payment within 60 days ↩
12. Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n, Inc. v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016) (S.J.C.) (rolling priority liens permitted) ↩
13. Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n, Inc. v. Britton, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 624 (2014) (Appeals Ct.) (single six-month tranche, reversed by S.J.C.) ↩
14. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 14, Power of sale — published and mailed notice requirements ↩
15. Land Court Servicemembers Cases Resources, Mass.gov ↩
16. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254, §§ 5 and 5A, Judicial enforcement of condominium lien and court-ordered sale ↩
17. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 18, No post-sale statutory right of redemption after power-of-sale foreclosure ↩
18. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 466 (2019) (non-judicial foreclosure and FDCPA debt-collector definition) ↩
19. 940 CMR 7.00, Massachusetts Debt Collection Regulations ↩
20. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(a), Automatic lien arising on assessment due date; master deed perfects lien ↩
21. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c), Pre-foreclosure notice sequence — 60-day owner notice, mortgagee delinquency notice, 30-day intent notice ↩
22. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 35A; Massachusetts Division of Banks FAQ on January 1, 2016 right-to-cure updates ↩
23. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254, § 5, Civil action to enforce condominium lien; 30-day registry recording requirement ↩
24. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 254, § 5A, Court-ordered sale to satisfy established condominium lien ↩
25. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 14, Mortgagee power-of-sale notice — three successive weeks of publication; mail to equity-of-redemption owner ↩
26. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 18, Equity of redemption extinguished at sale; equitable right to redeem before sale only ↩
27. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183, § 27, Disposition of foreclosure sale proceeds by priority ↩
28. St. 2024, c. 239, § 84, amending Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(a)(ii) and adding § 10A (clean energy act), effective February 18, 2025 ↩
29. St. 2024, c. 150, § 47, adding Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 24 (Affordable Homes Act — electronic meetings and voting), effective August 6, 2024 ↩
30. St. 2025, c. 73, § 55, adding Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 244, § 42 (foreclosure protections for impacted federal workers), effective November 25, 2025 ↩
31. Geezil v. White Cliffs Condominium Four Association, 105 Mass. App. Ct. 103 (2024), Docket 23-P-1103 (association not "owner" of common areas under ch. 151B) ↩
32. Turra v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, 476 Mass. 1020 (2017) (S.J.C.) (failure to send ch. 244, § 15A post-foreclosure notice does not void foreclosure) ↩
33. Thompson v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 486 Mass. 286 (2020) (S.J.C.) (hybrid ch. 244, § 35A and mortgage reinstatement notice was neither inaccurate nor deceptive) ↩