Nebraska HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

Nebraska sets no statutory percentage cap on assessment increases. For condominiums, the executive board adopts the budget, and that budget takes effect — ratified by default — unless a majority of all association votes reject it at a ratification meeting. For non-condominium homeowners associations, the declaration drives assessment authority, backed by a statutory assessment lien. Condominiums built after January 1, 1984 fall under the Nebraska Condominium Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-825 to 76-894; the budget ratification mechanism sits at Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-861(c).¹ Regular increases move through board adoption and then take effect automatically unless owners vote them down — no numeric ceiling in the statute applies.² Special assessments follow the same framework for condominiums; for non-condominium associations, the statutory homeowners' association lien in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001 governs collection of unpaid assessments.³ On the national spectrum, Nebraska stands apart from statutory-cap states like California, which limits regular and special increases by percentage. Nebraska condominiums belong to the ratification-mechanism camp — an owner veto controls increases — while non-condominium associations operate as declaration-driven communities. The sections below walk through the authority to levy, limits on increases, lien and statement rules, procedures in practice, recent legislative and judicial activity, and where Nebraska stands relative to other states.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

For condominiums, the Nebraska Condominium Act is the source of assessment authority. The unit owners association may adopt and amend budgets for revenue, expenditures, and reserves, and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-860.⁴ Section 76-873 requires that after the board makes any assessment, it must make assessments at least annually; once unit owners other than the declarant elect one-third of the executive board, those assessments must rest on a budget the association adopts at least annually.⁵ Common expenses fall on all units according to the allocations in the declaration, and the declaration sets the formulas for distributing undivided interests in the common elements, common expense liability, and votes to each unit under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-844.⁶ The executive board acts on behalf of the association to adopt the budget, and the declaration controls how that liability divides among units.⁷

For non-condominium homeowners associations, Nebraska has no comprehensive statute governing assessment authority or budgeting. Planned-community associations draw their power to levy assessments from their recorded declarations of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, and they operate as nonprofit corporations under the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 21-1901 et seq. The recorded covenants define who sets assessments, how often, and on what basis, and they control how the assessment burden falls across lots. Where the covenants are silent, the association looks to the Nonprofit Corporation Act for corporate governance — but that act supplies no percentage cap, no budget ratification mechanism, and no assessment-specific procedure.

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

Nebraska imposes no statutory percentage cap on regular assessment increases — for condominiums or non-condominium homeowners associations alike. The state has no equivalent to a fixed numeric limit on year-over-year increases.

For condominiums, the control on increases is procedural, not numeric, and it runs through the budget ratification process in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-861(c). The statute reads: "Within thirty days after adoption of any proposed budget for the condominium, the executive board shall provide a summary of the budget to all the unit owners, and shall set a date for a meeting of the unit owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than fourteen nor more than thirty days after mailing of the summary. Unless at that meeting a majority of all votes in the association or any larger vote specified in the declaration reject the budget, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present."⁸ That is ratification by rejection: the board's budget takes effect unless owners affirmatively defeat it by a majority of all votes. Silence or a failure to assemble a quorum results in ratification. The process applies to any proposed budget, including one that raises assessments, so a regular increase reflected in an adopted budget takes effect unless owners reject the entire budget. If owners do reject the proposed budget, the last ratified budget stays in effect until the unit owners approve a subsequent budget the executive board proposes.⁹

For non-condominium homeowners associations, limits on regular increases come from the declaration, not from statute. Any cap, required owner vote, notice period, or year-over-year ceiling exists only if the recorded covenants impose it. Nebraska statute supplies no default limit, so governing documents are the operative source — and they vary from community to community. An association whose covenants set a maximum annual increase is bound by that figure; one whose covenants are silent faces no statutory ceiling.

2C. Special assessments, the lien, and the statement requirement

For condominiums, special assessments are part of the same common-expense framework, assessed against units according to the declaration's allocations. The Act permits the association to assess an expense caused by one unit's misconduct exclusively against that unit, and to assess limited-common-element costs against the units served.¹⁰ A condominium association holds a lien on a unit for any assessment from the time it becomes due, once the association records a notice stating the dollar amount; the association may foreclose that lien like a mortgage under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874.¹¹ A condominium lien for unpaid assessments expires unless enforcement proceedings start within three years after the full amount becomes due, and on written request the association must deliver a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days.¹²

For non-condominium homeowners associations, the statutory homeowners' association lien in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001 governs collection. The association holds a lien on a member's real estate for any assessment from the time it becomes due and the association records a notice of the dollar amount; the association may foreclose that lien like a mortgage.¹³ That lien expires unless enforcement proceedings begin within three years after the full amount becomes due, and on written request the association must deliver a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days — binding on the association, its governing board, and every member.¹⁴ Emergency handling of assessments is a declaration matter for both community types, because no Nebraska statute provides a separate emergency-assessment power. In practice, the declaration defines what the association may charge; the statutes supply the lien, the three-year enforcement window, and the ten-business-day statement duty.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

For condominiums, the executive board adopts a proposed budget, mails a summary to all unit owners within thirty days, and sets a ratification meeting fourteen to thirty days after that mailing; the budget is ratified unless a majority of all votes reject it (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-861(c)).¹⁵ For non-condominium homeowners associations, the procedure for a regular increase is declaration-defined — no Nebraska statute prescribes one.

B. Special assessment procedure

For condominiums, the board levies a special assessment as a common expense against units per the declaration's allocations, and adopts it through the same budget and assessment authority in Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-860 and 76-873.¹⁶ For non-condominium homeowners associations, any special assessment authority, vote threshold, or notice requirement is declaration-defined.

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

For condominiums, Nebraska supplies no percentage cap. The operative control is the ratification-by-rejection mechanism — owners can defeat an increase only by a majority of all votes rejecting the budget (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-861(c)).¹⁷ For non-condominium homeowners associations, any cap or ceiling is declaration-defined, and no statutory percentage limit applies.

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

For condominiums, the board must deliver a budget summary within thirty days of adoption, give fourteen to thirty days' notice of the ratification meeting (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-861(c)), and on request provide a statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874(g)).¹⁸ For non-condominium homeowners associations, the statutory disclosure tied to assessments is the § 52-2001 statement of unpaid assessments, due within ten business days of a written request.¹⁹ Other notice and documentation duties are declaration-defined.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

Nebraska has limited recent activity specific to condominium and homeowners' association assessment authority, budgets, and liens. The findings below reflect verification against the Nebraska Legislature's statute source notes and the courts' published opinions and annotations.

4A. Recent bills

No Legislative Bill enacted in the 109th Legislature — 2025 first session or 2026 second session — amends the Nebraska Condominium Act's assessment, budget, or lien provisions (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-861, 76-873, or 76-874) or the statutory homeowners' association lien (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001). The official source notes for those sections record their most recent amendments well before the current window: § 76-861 was last amended by Laws 2020, LB808, § 47; § 76-874 by Laws 2013, LB442, § 5; § 52-2001 by Laws 2013, LB442, § 1; and § 76-873 has not been amended since Laws 1983, LB433, § 49.^20,21,22,23 Because no qualifying bill exists, this subsection presents no metadata block or audience-implication table.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

No Nebraska Court of Appeals or Nebraska Supreme Court opinion in the past 36 months squarely addresses assessment authority, the validity of a regular increase or special assessment, condominium budget ratification, the condominium assessment lien under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874, or the statutory homeowners' association lien under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001. The official statutory annotations under § 76-874 continue to cite only Twin Towers Condo. Assn. v. Bel Fury Invest. Group, 290 Neb. 329, 860 N.W.2d 147 (2015), which held that a condominium association can foreclose a lien for unpaid assessments under this section without first obtaining a personal judgment for the underlying debt — and that decision falls outside the 36-month window.²⁴ The recent appellate decision closest to this subject matter, Hillsborough Homeowners Assn. v. Karnish, 33 Neb. App. 228 (Neb. Ct. App. Oct. 8, 2024), turned on an association's standing to enforce a restrictive covenant barring business activity rather than any assessment, increase, or lien question, and so it does not bear on assessment limits.²⁵ Because no qualifying ruling exists within the window, this subsection presents no metadata block or audience-implication table.

4C. Active legislative debates

LB1094, introduced in the 2026 session to adopt the By-Right Housing Development Act and the Permitting Approval Timeliness Act, references the enforcement of condominium and homeowners' association covenants and regulations but does not amend the condominium budget ratification provision, the assessment lien, or § 52-2001. Nebraska has no pending proposal to adopt a comprehensive statutory homeowners' association assessment framework.²⁶

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Nebraska occupies a middle position on the assessment-limit spectrum. At one end sit statutory-cap states led by California, whose Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) provides that the board may not impose a regular assessment more than 20 percent greater than the association's preceding fiscal year regular assessment, or impose special assessments that in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses for that fiscal year, without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members.²⁷ In the middle are ratification-mechanism states — Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Vermont, Washington, and Nebraska for condominiums — which control increases not by a percentage ceiling but through an owner veto on the board-adopted budget. At the other end are declaration-driven states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia, where assessment limits come from the recorded governing documents rather than statute. That is the model Nebraska applies to its non-condominium homeowners associations. For multi-state operators entering Nebraska, compliance turns on correctly classifying each community: apply the § 76-861(c) ratification calendar to condominiums, and read each non-condominium association's covenants for any contractual cap. Nebraska condominiums follow the Uniform Condominium Act model through the Nebraska Condominium Act; the state's non-condominium homeowners associations lack a comprehensive statutory assessment framework and rely on their declarations and general nonprofit corporation law.