Michigan HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: Overview

Michigan's Condominium Act — MCL 559.101 et seq., Public Act 59 of 1978 — governs condominiums and the site-condominium developments that use detached single-family homes. It gives associations the power to impose an assessment lien and foreclose it either by judicial action or by advertisement (nonjudicial). Michigan is not a UCIOA state, and the lien generally sits behind a first mortgage of record.¹ The lien comes into existence automatically on the date an assessment is levied against a co-owner — not when it is recorded. A notice of lien must still be recorded before any foreclosure may begin.² Michigan grants no super-priority ahead of a first mortgage; the one exception runs in the association's favor: a recorded notice of lien outranks any first mortgage recorded after it.³ The association can foreclose either judicially or nonjudicially by advertisement, following the same procedure as a mortgage foreclosure.⁴ Michigan sets no minimum dollar amount and no minimum delinquency period before an association can foreclose.⁵ Nationally, Michigan aligns with the no-super-priority, CC&R-primary states — unlike super-priority states such as Nevada and Connecticut, and unlike threshold-restricted states such as California, Arizona, and Colorado.⁶ The sections below cover the lien's creation and priority, the collection and foreclosure sequence, recent legislative and judicial activity, and where Michigan stands nationally.

Michigan HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: MCL 559.208; MCL 600.3201 et seq.; MCL 600.3240; MCL 450.2101 et seq. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

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

The authority for Michigan condominium assessment liens comes from Section 108 of the Condominium Act, MCL 559.208. Subsection (1) specifies that unpaid assessments — along with interest, collection and late charges, advances the association makes for taxes or protective liens, attorney fees, and fines the condominium documents authorize — constitute a lien on the co-owner's unit from the moment of assessment.¹⁰ The statute ties the lien to assessment, not to recording, so it arises automatically when the charge becomes due.²

Recording is still a prerequisite to enforcement. Before starting a foreclosure, the association must record a notice of lien with the register of deeds in the county where the project sits, and serve it on the delinquent co-owner.⁸ That notice must contain the unit's legal description, the co-owner of record's name, and the amounts due as of the notice date — exclusive of interest, costs, attorney fees, and future assessments. It must be in recordable form and signed by an authorized representative of the association.¹³ (Applies to condominiums; statutory.)

The lien reaches a broad set of charges: unpaid assessments, interest, collection and late charges, tax advances or other protective-lien advances, attorney fees, and fines where the condominium documents authorize them. It attaches to every unit the delinquent co-owner holds. If a co-owner once owned multiple units, each remaining unit carries a proportionate share of assessments that came due during the earlier ownership.¹⁴ The lien is limited to the unit itself — it does not reach the co-owner's other assets — though the association retains the option to pursue a separate money judgment.¹⁵

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

MCL 559.208(1) puts the association lien ahead of most other liens, but two carve-outs govern every collection file. The lien sits behind state and federal tax liens and behind any unpaid balance on a first mortgage of record. One shift runs in the association's favor: past-due assessments backed by a recorded notice of lien take priority over a first mortgage recorded after that notice.³ Michigan is a race-notice state, so recording date controls that contest.¹⁶

Michigan recognizes no super-priority component. The association lien does not jump ahead of a prior-recorded first mortgage for any period of time. This is the most consequential priority rule in any Michigan collection file: a condominium association lien is generally junior to a first mortgage of record, and a senior mortgage foreclosure can extinguish the association's pre-sale delinquency.¹⁷ There is no rolling or renewable super-priority window because no super-priority exists in the first place. The practical consequence is direct: early collection action matters more in Michigan than in super-priority states. Once a senior lender forecloses, the association generally cannot recover pre-sale arrears from the lender who takes title — that purchaser is liable only for assessments accruing from the date of the sheriff's sale forward.¹⁸

Priority against construction (mechanics') liens is contested. The Construction Lien Act (MCL 570.1119) suggests a condominium lien recorded after a duly recorded construction lien does not outrank it, which sits in tension with the broad priority language of MCL 559.208; the question remains unsettled. Associations should run a title search before electing to foreclose.¹⁶

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

Recorded condominium documents — the master deed and bylaws — supplement the statutory lien and frequently authorize interest, late charges, attorney fees, acceleration of remaining installments, and the treatment of fines as assessments. The documents can expand recoverable charges within statutory limits, but they cannot manufacture a priority position the statute denies; they cannot place the association ahead of a prior-recorded first mortgage.¹⁹ For non-condominium associations, the lien and collection authority rest entirely on the recorded declaration of covenants rather than on MCL 559.208.¹²

The statute of limitations on the underlying assessment debt is six years — the general limitations period for breach of contract under MCL 600.5807(9).²⁰ The Court of Appeals applied that period in the assessment context in Main Street Lofts Condominium Ass'n v Parodi, dismissing a co-owner's contract and related counterclaims as time-barred.²¹

Three federal frameworks operate on top of the Michigan structure. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies when an association routes collection through a law firm or third-party collector (the association collecting on its own behalf is generally not a "debt collector").²² The Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay halts collection and foreclosure on the filing of a co-owner's bankruptcy petition. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act constrains foreclosure against active-duty servicemembers. These frameworks apply regardless of what Michigan state law provides.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Michigan's Condominium Act imposes no statutory pre-lien notice, no mandatory notice of delinquency, no statutory itemized-statement requirement, and no statutory right to demand a payment plan before a notice of lien is recorded. Those steps, where they exist, come from the condominium documents and the association's collection policy rather than from the Act.⁷ (Applies to condominiums; imposed by typical condominium documents, not statute.) In practice, associations and their counsel send a demand letter with a payment deadline before recording, and many collection policies build in a notice-and-cure period — but these are contractual, not statutory.²³

For non-condominium (platted-subdivision) associations, the entire pre-lien sequence is contractual: the recorded declaration, not the Condominium Act, dictates whether and how the association may demand payment, assess late charges, and record a lien.¹² (Applies to planned communities; contractual.) Where federal law is triggered because a law firm or collector is involved, the FDCPA's debt-validation and communication rules layer on top of these contractual steps.²²

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

The statutory pre-foreclosure sequence for condominiums appears in MCL 559.208(3). No foreclosure proceeding may begin without recording and serving a notice of lien. That notice must contain the unit's legal description, the co-owner of record's name, and the amounts due — exclusive of interest, costs, attorney fees, and future assessments. It must be in recordable form and signed by an authorized representative.¹³ (Applies to condominiums; statutory.)

The association must record the notice with the register of deeds in the county where the project sits and serve it on the delinquent co-owner by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to the co-owner's last known address, at least 10 days before commencing the foreclosure proceeding.⁸ The Court of Appeals has held that the statute requires the notice to be sent, not that the co-owner actually receive it; mailing to the last known address satisfies the requirement.²⁴

The Act does not require a recorded board vote, a mandatory payment-plan offer, or mandatory mediation before foreclosure. Those prerequisites, if any, come from the condominium documents. Many condominium bylaws add a requirement that the association advise the co-owner of the right to bring suit and request a judicial hearing before proceeding by advertisement.²⁵ (Applies to condominiums; the 10-day notice is statutory; board-vote and ADR prerequisites arise from typical governing documents.) For planned communities, the recording and pre-foreclosure steps come from the declaration.¹² (Applies to planned communities; contractual.)

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

MCL 559.208(1) allows the association to foreclose the lien "by an action or by advertisement," and subsection (2) directs that the foreclosure proceed in the same manner as a mortgage foreclosure by advertisement or judicial action. Michigan offers both routes.⁴ Foreclosure by advertisement is nonjudicial and follows MCL 600.3201 et seq.: the association publishes notice of sale once each week for four successive weeks in a newspaper in the county where the property sits, and posts a copy on the premises within 15 days after the first publication.²⁶ The sale is a public sheriff's sale. Judicial foreclosure follows MCL 600.3101 et seq., begins with a circuit court complaint, and can combine a request for a money judgment.²⁷ The association may bid at the sale and acquire, hold, lease, mortgage, or convey the unit, and a court may appoint a receiver to take possession and collect rents.²⁸ (Applies to condominiums; statutory.) Non-condominium associations may foreclose only if their recorded covenants grant that remedy.¹² (Applies to planned communities; contractual.)

Michigan sets no minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency duration before a condominium association may foreclose; the Act contains no figure comparable to California's $1,800-or-12-month rule.⁵ Fines, as opposed to assessments, generally cannot by themselves support a foreclosure. In Channel View East Condominium Ass'n v Ferguson, the Court of Appeals held that an association lacked authority to foreclose a lien composed solely of unpaid fines where the bylaws did not treat fines as assessments.¹¹ Associations whose documents expressly assess fines stand on stronger ground, but a fines-only lien remains vulnerable.

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

Michigan provides a post-sale right of redemption. Under MCL 559.208(2), the redemption period for an association-lien foreclosure is six months from the date of sale, shortened to one month if the property is abandoned.⁹ This tracks the mortgage-foreclosure redemption framework of MCL 600.3240. The co-owner, the co-owner's heirs or personal representative, or a person with a recorded interest may redeem by paying the amount bid at sale plus interest at the mortgage rate, the sheriff's fee, and other statutorily allowed costs.²⁹ A co-owner whose unit is foreclosed remains liable for assessments that come due before the redemption period expires.³⁰

A deficiency judgment is available. The association may also pursue a separate money action for unpaid assessments without foreclosing or waiving the lien, and money damages and foreclosure may combine in one action.¹⁵ After a sale by advertisement, a former owner may challenge a deficiency under MCL 600.3280 where the foreclosing party bought the property for substantially less than fair market value.³¹ Surplus sale proceeds, after the foreclosing lienholder is paid, go to junior lienholders in order of priority and then to the former owner.³² The co-owner may stop the process before sale by paying the full amount owed, and may reclaim title after sale by redeeming within the redemption period. (Applies to condominiums; statutory, operating through the mortgage-foreclosure statutes.)

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted or pending in the Michigan Legislature in the past 24 months amends or directly affects the assessment-collection, lien, or foreclosure rules of MCL 559.208 or the foreclosure statutes at MCL 600.3201 et seq.³³ The most significant recent condominium and HOA legislation — the Homeowners' Energy Policy Act (2024 Public Act 68, originating as House Bill 5028, effective April 1, 2025) — addresses solar-energy installations and does not touch assessments, liens, or foreclosure.³⁴ The Senate Bills numbered 520 through 524 of the 2025–2026 session, sometimes mistaken for an HOA collections package, are a criminal-law and parental-rights package on human trafficking and prostitution and have no application to association collections.³⁵ HOA Weekly identifies no Michigan collections, lien, or foreclosure bill in the relevant window.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Two decisions define the current enforcement landscape in Michigan. The first addresses what happens when an owner uses an assessment dispute as a shield rather than a sword. The second draws a clear line on fines-only foreclosures.

C. Active legislative debates

Michigan condominium counsel anticipate a reserve-study bill that could require periodic professional reserve studies for certain condominium associations, but as of mid-2026 no such bill has been introduced. No measure to create a super-priority lien or a statutory foreclosure threshold is pending.³⁴

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Michigan sits squarely among the no-super-priority, CC&R-and-statute states. It grants no priority window ahead of a first mortgage, in contrast to super-priority states such as Nevada — whose lien under NRS 116.3116(2) for "the 9 months immediately preceding" the notice of default can extinguish a first deed of trust (per SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 334 P.3d 408, 410 (Nev. 2014) (en banc), holding the HOA lien is "a true superpriority lien" that the buyer takes "free and clear") — and Connecticut, whose super-priority lien covers up to nine months of common charges under CGS § 47-258(b) (raised from six months by a 2013 amendment).⁶ Michigan also lacks the foreclosure brakes of threshold-restricted states such as California under Civil Code § 5720(b), which bars foreclosure where delinquent assessments "exclusive of any accelerated assessments, late charges, fees, attorney's fees, interest, and costs of collection, is less than one thousand eight hundred dollars ($1,800)," unless more than 12 months delinquent, and Colorado under C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316(2)(b), granting a super-lien equal to common expense assessments that would have come due during the six months immediately preceding institution of an action.³⁶ What distinguishes Michigan is the opposite combination: no super-priority and no minimum threshold, paired with a fast nonjudicial foreclosure-by-advertisement option and a six-month redemption period. For multi-state operators, the practical implication is clear: Michigan rewards early, documented collection because a senior mortgage foreclosure can wipe out pre-sale arrears, while the absence of a debt threshold lets associations move sooner than in California or Colorado. Michigan's current direction of travel is incremental — recent legislation has addressed energy and records issues, not collections — and no super-priority or threshold reform is on the table.

1. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208, Michigan Condominium Act (Act 59 of 1978), Assessment lien; priority; foreclosure ↩
2. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1) (lien constituted upon the unit owned "at the time of the assessment"); § 559.208(3) (recordation required before foreclosure) ↩
3. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1) (lien before other liens "except tax liens . . . and sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record," except that past-due assessments evidenced by a recorded notice of lien have priority over a first mortgage recorded subsequently) ↩
4. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1)–(2) (lien may be foreclosed "by an action or by advertisement," in the same manner as a foreclosure of real estate mortgages by advertisement or judicial action) ↩
5. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208 (no minimum debt or delinquency-duration threshold for foreclosure stated in statute) ↩
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-258, Connecticut condominium super-priority lien (OLR Report); Nev. Rev. Stat. § 116.3116(2); SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 334 P.3d 408 (Nev. 2014) ↩
7. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208 (no statutory pre-lien notice, payment-plan, or board-vote requirement; such steps arise from condominium documents) ↩
8. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(3)(c) (notice of lien recorded with register of deeds and served by first-class mail at least 10 days before commencement of foreclosure) ↩
9. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(2) ("The redemption period for a foreclosure is 6 months from the date of sale unless the property is abandoned, in which event the redemption period is 1 month from the date of sale.") ↩
10. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1) (sums secured: unpaid assessments, interest, collection and late charges, advances for taxes or other protective liens, attorney fees, and fines in accordance with the condominium documents) ↩
11. Channel View East Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v Ferguson, Mich. Ct. App. Docket No. 351888 (Feb. 25, 2021) (unpublished) (association cannot foreclose a lien consisting solely of unpaid fines where bylaws do not treat fines as assessments) ↩
12. Mich. Comp. Laws § 450.2101 et seq., Michigan Nonprofit Corporation Act (corporate framework for associations); non-condominium associations rely on recorded covenants for lien and collection authority ↩
13. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(3)(a)–(b) (contents and form of notice of lien) ↩
14. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1) (lien on each unit includes proportionate share of unpaid assessments attributable to units no longer owned by the co-owner) ↩
15. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(5)–(6) (money judgment may be maintained without foreclosing or waiving the lien; money damages and foreclosure may be combined in one action) ↩
16. Mich. Comp. Laws § 570.1119, Michigan Construction Lien Act (relative priority of construction liens); race-notice recording priority ↩
17. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1) (association lien subordinate to sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record) ↩
18. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.158, Michigan Condominium Act (acquisition of title by foreclosure of first mortgage; liability for assessments from sale date forward) ↩
19. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(1)–(2) (recoverable charges and reasonable interest, expenses, costs, and attorney fees "to the extent the condominium documents provide") ↩
20. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5807(9) (six-year limitations period for breach of contract) ↩
21. Main Street Lofts Condominium Ass'n v Parodi, Mich. Ct. App. Docket No. 362990 (Nov. 21, 2023) (unpublished per curiam) (Michigan Courts case search) ↩
22. Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (applies to third-party collectors and collection law firms) ↩
23. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.206, Michigan Condominium Act (remedies for default, including foreclosure of lien for default in payment of assessment) ↩
24. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(3)(c) (notice must be sent by first-class mail to last known address; actual receipt not required, as applied in Trademark Properties of Mich., LLC v Federal National Mortgage Ass'n, 308 Mich. App. 132 (2014)) ↩
25. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208 (no statutory board-vote or ADR prerequisite; such requirements arise from condominium documents) ↩
26. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3208 (notice of foreclosure published once each week for four successive weeks; posted on premises within 15 days of first publication) ↩
27. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3101 et seq. (judicial foreclosure of mortgages) ↩
28. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(4), (7) (association may bid in and acquire the unit; receiver may be appointed to take possession and collect rents) ↩
29. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3240(1)–(2) (redemption by mortgagor, heirs, personal representative, or persons with a recorded interest; amount required to redeem) ↩
30. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208(8) (co-owner and successors liable for assessments coming due before expiration of redemption period) ↩
31. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3280 (defense to deficiency where foreclosing party purchased for substantially less than fair market value) ↩
32. Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.3240 (distribution and redemption framework following foreclosure sale) ↩
33. Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.208 (history: 1978 PA 59; last amended 2002 PA 283; no 2024–2026 amendment) ↩
34. House Bill 5028 of 2023 (2024 Public Act 68), Homeowners' Energy Policy Act, Mich. Comp. Laws § 559.301 et seq. (effective Apr. 1, 2025) ↩
35. Senate Bill 522 of 2025 (parental-rights/human-trafficking package, SB 520–524; not related to association collections) ↩
36. Cal. Civ. Code § 5720(b) ($1,800-or-12-month foreclosure threshold); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-316 (six-month super-lien) ↩