Missouri HOA Assessment Limits

Missouri draws a clear line on assessment limits — and then leaves a gap. The state sets no statutory percentage cap on how much associations can raise dues. For condominiums, the executive board's proposed budget takes effect unless a majority of all unit owners vote it down at a ratification meeting. For non-condominium homeowners associations, assessment authority and any limits come from the recorded declaration, not from any general statute.

Section 1: Overview

Missouri sets no statutory percentage cap on assessment increases. For condominiums, the executive board's proposed budget takes effect unless a majority of all unit owners reject it at a ratification meeting. For non-condominium homeowners associations, assessment authority and any limits come from the recorded declaration rather than from a general statute.¹

Condominiums created in Missouri after September 28, 1983, fall under the Missouri Uniform Condominium Act, Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 448 (§ 448.1-101 to § 448.4-120), with the budget process set at § 448.3-103(3).² Regular increases work through board adoption of a budget, distribution of a summary, and ratification by rejection: the budget stands unless owners affirmatively vote it down, and no percentage ceiling applies.³ Special assessments and their limits flow from the declaration and from the common-expense assessment rules in § 448.3-115.⁴

On the national spectrum, Missouri sits between two camps. Statutory-cap states such as California bar a board from raising regular assessments more than 20 percent above the prior fiscal year — or imposing special assessments exceeding 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses — without a member vote, under Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b). Declaration-driven states leave assessment limits entirely to recorded covenants. Missouri's condominiums follow a ratification mechanism; its non-condominium associations remain declaration-driven.⁵ The sections below detail the assessment framework, the procedures in practice, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

For condominiums, the Missouri Uniform Condominium Act is explicit about who holds the power to levy. Under § 448.3-102(1)(2), the unit owners' association can adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves — and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners.⁶ The executive board carries out that authority on behalf of the association and, except as the declaration or the Act limits it, "may act in all instances on behalf of the association" under § 448.3-103(1).⁷

The Act requires that after the association makes its first assessment, subsequent assessments "shall be made at least annually and shall be based on a budget adopted at least annually by the association" under § 448.3-115(1).⁸ Allocation follows the declaration: common expenses "shall be assessed against all the units in accordance with the allocations set forth in the declaration" pursuant to § 448.2-107, with statutory exceptions for limited common elements, insurance, and utilities under § 448.3-115.⁹

For non-condominium HOAs, Missouri offers no comprehensive statute. Assessment authority flows from the recorded covenants — the declaration or CC&Rs — and the association, typically incorporated, operates under the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act, Chapter 355, which governs corporate governance rather than assessments.¹⁰ In both settings, the board sets the assessment through the budget. The source of authority differs, though: statute plus declaration for condominiums, declaration plus corporate law for other HOAs.

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

For condominiums, the central control on regular increases is the ratification process in § 448.3-103(3). Within thirty days of adopting a proposed budget, the board must send a summary to all unit owners and schedule a ratification meeting — no sooner than fourteen days and no later than thirty days after mailing that summary.¹¹ "Unless at that meeting a majority of all the unit owners, or any larger vote specified in the declaration, reject the budget, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present."¹²

To state it plainly: Missouri imposes no percentage cap on how much a condominium board may raise assessments. The control is the ratification procedure itself, plus any larger rejection threshold the declaration specifies.¹³ When owners reject a budget, the prior ratified budget stays in effect "until such time as the unit owners ratify a subsequent budget proposed by the executive board."¹⁴

A board that skips the summary or misses the statutory meeting windows risks an assessment that owners can later challenge as never validly ratified — exposing collection efforts to challenge along with it. For non-condominium HOAs, no statutory ratification mechanism exists. The procedure and any cap on increases are whatever the declaration provides, and where the declaration is silent, the board's budget authority is correspondingly broad.¹⁵

2C. Special assessments, the lien, and the declaration

For condominiums, special assessments run through the same structure: § 448.3-115 ties assessments to an annually adopted budget and allocates common expenses per the declaration, and § 448.3-103(3) governs ratification of any proposed budget.¹⁶ The declaration controls additional limits, special-purpose levies, and emergency handling.

The association's collection tool is the assessment lien under § 448.3-116: "The association has a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner from the time the assessment or fine becomes due" — and associations can foreclose that lien like a mortgage.¹⁷ The lien carries limited priority over a prior mortgage: up to six months of delinquent common expense assessments based on the periodic budget adopted under § 448.3-115. That super-priority disappears, however, if the association forecloses non-judicially under Chapter 443.¹⁸

For non-condominium HOAs, a lien and any emergency-assessment power must appear in the declaration. Missouri provides no general statutory assessment lien outside Chapter 448. In practice, condominium associations hold a defined statutory lien with a six-month priority window; other HOAs depend entirely on their recorded documents.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure (condominiums and HOAs)

For condominiums, the board adopts a budget, sends a summary to all owners within thirty days, and holds a ratification meeting fourteen to thirty days after mailing; the budget is ratified unless a majority of all owners vote it down (§ 448.3-103(3)).¹⁹ For non-condominium HOAs, the increase procedure is declaration-defined — no statutory ratification rule applies, and the board follows whatever notice and approval steps the governing documents require.²⁰

B. Special assessment procedure (condominiums and HOAs)

For condominiums, special assessments run through the annual-budget and allocation rules of § 448.3-115 and, when proposed as a budget, the ratification process of § 448.3-103(3); the declaration adds any further limits.²¹ For non-condominium HOAs, special assessment authority and any ceiling come entirely from the declaration, with no statutory rule.²²

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

For condominiums and non-condominium HOAs alike, Missouri sets no statutory percentage cap on regular or special assessment increases.²³ For condominiums, the practical ceiling is the ratification-by-rejection mechanism under § 448.3-103(3): owners can override a board budget only by a majority of all unit owners — or any larger vote the declaration requires.²⁴ For non-condominium HOAs, any cap or ceiling is declaration-defined, with no statutory rule.²⁵

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

For condominiums, the board must deliver a budget summary to all owners within thirty days of adoption and give notice of the ratification meeting (§ 448.3-103(3)).²⁶ On written request, the association must furnish a recordable statement of unpaid assessments — delivered "within ten business days after receipt of the request" and binding on the association, the executive board, and every unit owner unless the recipient knows it to be false (§ 448.3-116(8)).²⁷ The resale certificate under § 448.4-109 requires assessment disclosure on any transfer.²⁸ For non-condominium HOAs, assessment notice and disclosure on transfer are declaration-defined — no statutory rule applies.²⁹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Missouri's General Assembly has seen recurring attempts to create a comprehensive HOA statute for planned communities. None has become law, but the pattern of legislative activity — particularly around assessment authority and budget procedures — is worth tracking closely.

B. Recent appellate rulings

Missouri's appellate courts have sharpened two areas of assessment practice in recent decisions: the limitation period for collection suits, and the scope of attorney's-fee recovery. Both rulings carry direct operational consequences for associations and their managers.

C. Active legislative debates

The push for a comprehensive HOA statute keeps returning to the Missouri General Assembly, and it keeps falling short. SB 481 in 2025 — along with similar bills HB 1177 (2025), HB 2270 (2024), and SB 1324 (2024) — would have built a statutory planned-community framework covering assessment, budget-ratification, and reserve provisions. None has become law.³⁵

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

On the assessment-limit spectrum, states break into three broad groups. Statutory-cap states impose numeric ceilings: California's Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) provides that "the board may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year" without a member vote.³⁶ Ratification-mechanism states — including Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington, and Missouri for condominiums — follow the Uniform Condominium Act model under which a board budget is ratified unless owners reject it.³⁷ Declaration-driven states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia, along with Missouri's non-condominium HOAs, leave assessment limits to the recorded covenants.³⁸

For multi-state operators entering Missouri, the practical implication is this: condominium budgets cannot be blocked by owner apathy — no quorum is required to ratify — but a board can raise assessments without any percentage ceiling. Non-condominium communities require close reading of each declaration. Missouri condominiums follow the Uniform Condominium Act model; its non-condominium HOAs lack any statutory framework.

Recommendations

1. Condominium boards: treat the § 448.3-103(3) calendar as a hard compliance gate. Adopt the budget, mail the summary within 30 days, and hold the ratification meeting 14 to 30 days after mailing. Document each step. A defective process is the single most likely ground on which an owner can attack an increase, because the statute supplies no percentage cap to litigate over. Benchmark that would change this advice: enactment of any bill (such as a future version of SB 481) importing a numeric cap or affirmative-approval requirement.
2. Condominium boards: raise assessments through the budget, not ad hoc. Because there is no percentage ceiling, a properly ratified budget can carry a large increase. Fund reserves through the annual budget so that special assessments stay rare; ratification still applies to any proposed budget.
3. All associations: collect within the limitation periods. Per Lands' End, file suit for unpaid assessments within five years of each assessment's due date, and per § 448.3-116(5), institute lien-enforcement proceedings within three years. Calendar both clocks per delinquency.
4. Condominium boards: preserve the six-month super-priority deliberately. The limited priority over a prior mortgage exists only if the association does not foreclose non-judicially under Chapter 443; weigh judicial foreclosure where preserving priority over a lender matters.
5. Non-condominium HOAs and their managers: the declaration is the operative law. Audit the CC&Rs for the assessment-increase procedure, any cap, lien authority, and notice requirements before levying or raising assessments, and obtain a recordable statement of unpaid assessments only where the declaration provides for one (the § 448.3-116(8) ten-business-day statement is a condominium right).
6. Multi-state operators: do not port California, Florida, or other states' caps and approval rules into Missouri. Build separate condominium and non-condominium playbooks. Reassess if the General Assembly enacts a planned-community statute; the recurring HOA-act bills make that the key trigger to watch.

Caveats

• Missouri has no comprehensive HOA statute for non-condominium communities; statements about "Missouri law" governing such HOAs refer to the recorded declaration plus Chapter 355 corporate law, not an assessment statute.
• Budget ratification under § 448.3-103(3) is ratification by rejection, not affirmative owner approval. The budget stands unless a majority of all unit owners vote it down.
• Chapter 448's Uniform Condominium Act provisions apply to condominiums created after September 28, 1983; certain sections (including § 448.3-115 and § 448.3-116) reach earlier condominiums only as to events after that date and without invalidating existing declaration provisions (§ 448.1-102). Condominiums created before that date may instead fall under the older Condominium Property Act (§§ 448.005–448.210).
• Dougherty v. Coppergate is primarily a discovery-sanctions and attorney-fee decision; it confirms fee recovery under § 448.3-116(7) but does not analyze assessment-increase validity or lien priority. No published S.W.3d reporter citation was located for either Dougherty or Lands' End as of the verification date; cite by docket number.
• SB 481 (2025) and SB 1059 (2026) are tracked here as legislative activity only. SB 481 died in committee and SB 1059 remains pending; neither is law, and neither amends Chapter 448. No bill enacted in the past 24 months was found to amend the condominium assessment, budget, or lien provisions of Chapter 448. The most recent substantive amendment to those provisions was the August 28, 2014 revision of the § 448.3-116 lien.
• Figures, dates, and quotations were verified against the Missouri Revisor of Statutes, the Missouri Senate bill system, LegiScan, and the published court opinions. Legislative status can change; verify current bill status before relying on it.

Footnotes

1. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
2. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.1-102 (applicability after September 28, 1983) ↩
3. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
4. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-115 ↩
5. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) ↩
6. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-102(1)(2) ↩
7. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(1) ↩
8. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-115(1) ↩
9. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-115(2) ↩
10. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 (Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act) ↩
11. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
12. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
13. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
14. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
15. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 ↩
16. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-115 ↩
17. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-116(1) ↩
18. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-116(2) ↩
19. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
20. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 ↩
21. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-115 ↩
22. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 ↩
23. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103 ↩
24. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
25. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 ↩
26. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
27. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-116(8) ↩
28. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.4-109 ↩
29. Mo. Rev. Stat. Chapter 355 ↩
30. SB 481 (2025), Missouri Senate bill summary ↩
31. SB 481 (2025) status, LegiScan ↩
32. SB 1059 (2026) status, LegiScan ↩
33. Lands' End Properties, LLC v. Grand Meridian Condominium Owners' Ass'n, No. SD38117 (Mo. App. S.D. Mar. 26, 2025) ↩
34. Dougherty v. Coppergate Commons Condominium Ass'n, No. ED112984 (Mo. App. E.D. June 10, 2025) ↩
35. SB 481 (2025) summary noting similar HB 1177 (2025), HB 2270 (2024), SB 1324 (2024) ↩
36. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) ↩
37. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 448.3-103(3) ↩
38. Homeowners Protection Bureau, Missouri HOA Law overview ↩