Nebraska HOA Collections & Liens

Quick-Reference Mechanics Table

Nebraska HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 76-874, 76-860, 76-826, 76-817, 76-818, 52-2001, 25-1530, 25-1531, 25-205. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Details

Section 1 — Overview

Nebraska divides its assessment-collection law by community type and era — and none of those tracks grants an association super-priority over a first mortgage. For condominiums created on or after January 1, 1984, the Nebraska Condominium Act controls. Its lien statute, § 76-874, follows the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act, not the later Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.^1,2 For condominiums created before that date, the Condominium Property Act applies, with several Condominium Act sections — including § 76-874 — reaching pre-1984 condominiums for events occurring after January 1, 1984.² Planned communities have no comprehensive Nebraska statute. Their associations use the dedicated lien statute at § 52-2001, along with their recorded covenants and the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act.³

A delinquency alone does not create the lien. It arises when the assessment comes due and the association records a notice stating the dollar amount, filed where mortgages or deeds of trust are recorded.^1,3 On priority, the lien stands ahead of other liens, with three exceptions: liens recorded before the declaration, a first mortgage or deed of trust recorded before the association's lien notice, and governmental tax liens. There is no super-priority carve-out ahead of the first mortgage.^1,3 Foreclosure is judicial — each statute provides that the lien "may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate."¹ Nebraska sets no minimum dollar amount and no minimum delinquency period before an association may foreclose. The court must award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party, and the lien expires unless enforcement begins within three years after the full amount comes due.^1,4 Nationally, that puts Nebraska at the lender-favorable end of the spectrum: judicial foreclosure, no threshold restrictions, no super-lien. The sections below walk through the lien, its priority, and the collection-and-foreclosure sequence by community type.

Section 2 — The lien and its priority

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

For condominiums created on or after January 1, 1984, § 76-874(a) gives the association a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit — arising "from the time the assessment becomes due and a notice containing the dollar amount of such lien is recorded in the office where mortgages are recorded."¹ Two things must happen: the assessment must come due, and the association must record a notice stating the dollar amount. The same structure governs planned-community associations under § 52-2001(1), which uses nearly identical language and points to the office "where mortgages or deeds of trust are recorded."³

What the lien secures is set by statute. Under § 76-874(a), unless the declaration provides otherwise, "fees, charges, late charges, and interest charged pursuant to subdivisions (a)(10), (a)(11), and (a)(12) of section 76-860 are enforceable as assessments."¹ Section 76-860 lists the association's powers, including the ability to impose charges for late payment and reasonable charges for preparing statements.⁷ When an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount may become a lien when the first installment comes due. For planned communities, § 52-2001(1) makes "fees, charges, late charges, and interest charged" enforceable as assessments, again subject to the declaration.³

In Twin Towers Condo. Assn. v. Bel Fury Invest. Group, 290 Neb. 329 (2015), the Nebraska Supreme Court confirmed two operational points: a condominium association may foreclose a § 76-874 lien without first obtaining a personal judgment for the underlying debt, and a prevailing-party fee award under § 76-874 is mandatory.⁴ Sections 76-874(f) and 52-2001(6) both require a judgment or decree to include costs and reasonable attorney fees for the prevailing party.^1,3 On written request, the association must furnish a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days, and that statement binds the association.^1,3

For pre-1984 condominiums, the Condominium Property Act handles the pro-rata expense lien, and § 76-818 directs that on a sale, unpaid assessments are paid out of the sale price ahead of most other charges except taxes and recorded mortgage liens.⁵ Under § 76-826(a), several Condominium Act sections — including § 76-874 — also apply to pre-1984 condominiums for events occurring after January 1, 1984, which is why the validity of a lien for assessments is determined under § 76-874 when the relevant events postdate that line.²

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

Nebraska does not grant association liens super-priority. Under § 76-874(b), the lien is prior to all other liens and encumbrances on a unit except three categories: liens and encumbrances recorded before the declaration; "a first mortgage or deed of trust on the unit recorded before the notice required under subsection (a) of this section has been recorded for a delinquent assessment for which enforcement is sought"; and liens for real estate taxes and other governmental charges.¹ Section 52-2001(2) carries the identical three exceptions for planned communities.³ In both, the first mortgage or deed of trust that beats the association is the one recorded before the association records its lien notice.

This tracks the original 1980 Uniform Condominium Act pattern. The later Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act added a limited priority for several months of assessments ahead of the first mortgage — Nebraska did not adopt that carve-out. The practical result: the rolling-lien question does not arise the way it does in super-lien states. The association cannot leapfrog a prior first mortgage by waiting and re-recording, and a foreclosure by the first mortgagee that postdates the association's notice can still extinguish the junior association lien. Section 52-2001(8) reinforces this by barring a declaration from providing that the lien relates back to the declaration's filing date or takes priority over a mortgage or deed of trust recorded after the declaration but before the association's notice.³

Among multiple association liens on the same parcel, the statutes give equal priority unless the declaration provides otherwise.^1,3 The lien is not subject to the homestead exemption.^1,3 The lien is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings are instituted within three years after the full amount of the assessments becomes due.^1,3

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

Where the declaration and the bylaws or rules conflict, the declaration prevails except where it is inconsistent with the statute.³ For planned communities, the lien rests jointly on § 52-2001 and the recorded covenants, with corporate authority supplied by the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act (§ 21-1901 et seq.), under which most Nebraska associations are organized. Steps that lack a statutory basis for planned communities — such as specific notice sequences or board-vote prerequisites — are contractual or corporate rather than statutory and depend on the declaration and bylaws.

Standing matters here. In Hillsborough Homeowners Assn. v. Karnish, 33 Neb. App. 228 (2024), the Court of Appeals dismissed an association's covenant-enforcement appeal for lack of standing because the declaration granted enforcement rights only to the declarant and lot owners, not the association.¹⁰ The lesson for collections: an association's authority to act — including its authority to enforce or foreclose — is only as broad as its declaration and corporate documents make it.

The underlying assessment debt is a written-contract obligation. The five-year statute of limitations for written contracts applies to a suit on the debt under § 25-205, distinct from the three-year window to enforce the lien itself.¹¹ Federal overlays apply on top of state law. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act reaches third-party collectors and attorneys pursuing assessment debt. A bankruptcy filing triggers the automatic stay, halting collection and foreclosure. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides protections — including limits on default judgments and foreclosure — for servicemembers.

Section 3 — The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Nebraska's lien statutes do not prescribe a statutory pre-lien dunning sequence, a mandatory payment-plan offer, or a formal dispute procedure for assessments. For condominiums, those steps come from the declaration and bylaws and from the association's powers under § 76-860 — which include adopting budgets, collecting assessments, imposing late charges, and, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, levying reasonable fines for violations.⁷ The "notice and opportunity to be heard" requirement in § 76-860(a)(11) attaches to fines, not to ordinary assessments. For planned communities, the parallel fine power and its notice-and-hearing requirement appear in the § 52-2001(11) definition of a homeowners' association.³ Any payment-plan right, grace period, or internal appeal for assessments is contractual.

One statutory disclosure tool exists for owners: on written request, the association must furnish a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days, binding on the association and the board.^1,3 That statement is the mechanism an owner or closing agent uses to fix the payoff figure.

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

The recorded instrument that perfects and dates the lien is the notice containing the dollar amount, recorded where mortgages or deeds of trust are recorded.^1,3 That recording date is also the reference point for priority against intervening first mortgages. Before foreclosing, the association "shall give reasonable notice of its action to all lienholders of the unit whose interest would be affected" under § 76-874(a); § 52-2001(1) imposes the same duty as to affected lienholders of the real estate.^1,3 Nebraska's statutes impose no separate statutory mediation prerequisite and no statutory board-vote threshold to foreclose an assessment lien; where such requirements exist, they come from the declaration, bylaws, or corporate law. For planned communities, the authority to bring the foreclosure action must be traceable to the declaration and corporate documents — the point underscored by Karnish.¹⁰

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

All three lien regimes foreclose judicially. Each statute provides that the lien "may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate."^1,3 A real estate mortgage in Nebraska is foreclosed judicially in the district court where the mortgaged premises sit.⁶ The Nebraska Trust Deeds Act (§ 76-1001 et seq.) supplies a nonjudicial power-of-sale route, but it operates on a trust deed that confers a power of sale on a qualified trustee. An association assessment lien arising under § 76-874 or § 52-2001 is not a trust deed and is foreclosed judicially — not by a trustee's sale — unless a separate trust deed independently secures the obligation.¹² Because Twin Towers holds that the association need not first obtain a personal judgment for the debt, the foreclosure action can proceed directly on the lien.⁴

Nebraska's lien statutes set no minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency period before an association may foreclose.^1,3 On fines: for condominiums, § 76-874 makes enforceable as assessments only the charges in § 76-860(a)(10), (11), and (12); § 52-2001(1) lists "fees, charges, late charges, and interest" as enforceable as assessments and does not list fines.^1,7,3 The timeline tracks judicial foreclosure: complaint in district court, decree, order of sale, sheriff's sale, and confirmation. A defendant who files a written request within twenty days after the decree obtains a statutory stay of the order of sale, generally nine months — though a shorter three-month or other period can apply to certain platted or smaller residential parcels.¹³

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

Redemption in a Nebraska judicial foreclosure runs until the court confirms the sale. Under § 25-1530, owners "may redeem the same from the lien of such decree or levy at any time before the sale of the same shall be confirmed by a court of competent jurisdiction by paying into court the amount of such decree or judgment together with all interests and costs."⁸ Once the court confirms the sale under § 25-1531, the redemption right ends — there is no post-confirmation statutory redemption period.⁹ A judicial foreclosure preserves redemption up to confirmation, whereas a trustee's sale under the Trust Deeds Act conveys title "without right of redemption" — but that trustee's-sale route does not apply to a bare association assessment lien.¹⁴

At confirmation, the court examines the proceedings and may refuse confirmation if the price is unconscionably low relative to value.⁹ Surplus proceeds after satisfying the decree and costs are distributed according to lien priorities. Because Twin Towers permits foreclosure without a separate personal judgment, an association seeking to recover any shortfall as a personal debt generally proceeds on the underlying assessment obligation, subject to the five-year written-contract limitations period.¹¹ Reinstatement of an assessment-lien foreclosure is governed by the judicial-foreclosure framework and the parties' documents rather than by any statutory cure provision specific to association liens.

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills (past 24 months)

No bill enacted in the 2024, 2025, or 2026 Nebraska legislative sessions amended § 76-874, § 52-2001, the Nebraska Condominium Act (§§ 76-825 to 76-894), the Condominium Property Act (§§ 76-801 to 76-823), or the Nebraska Trust Deeds Act (§§ 76-1001 to 76-1018). The "Source" history on the official statute pages confirms that the most recent amendment to both § 76-874 and § 52-2001 remains Laws 2013, LB442.^1,3

Status: No enacting legislation in window  |  Effective: N/A  |  Sunset: N/A  |  Last verified: June 9, 2026

4B. Recent appellate rulings (past 36 months)

One published decision from the Nebraska Court of Appeals shapes the current collections framework directly.

The Nebraska Supreme Court's controlling collections decision remains Twin Towers Condo. Assn. v. Bel Fury Invest. Group, 290 Neb. 329, 860 N.W.2d 147 (2015), which establishes that a condominium association may foreclose its § 76-874 lien without a prior personal judgment and that a prevailing-party fee award is mandatory.⁴

4C. Active legislative debates

No active legislative debate specific to association assessment collections, lien priority, or the foreclosure framework was identified in the 2026 session materials. Recent assessment-and-lien legislative attention in Nebraska has centered on adjacent areas such as the Property Assessed Clean Energy Act rather than the condominium or homeowners'-association lien statutes.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Nebraska sits at the lender-favorable end of the collections spectrum. It is not a super-lien state: unlike Nevada, whose NRS 116.3116(2) caps a true-priority lien at nine months of common-expense assessments preceding the notice of default — which the Nevada Supreme Court in SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, 334 P.3d 408 (Nev. 2014), held can extinguish the first deed of trust — and unlike Connecticut, whose Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-258 gives a six-month-plus-fees-and-costs priority over first and second mortgages on the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 3-116 model, Nebraska leaves a pre-existing first mortgage ahead of the association. Nebraska is one of a small group of states — including Kentucky, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia — that adopted portions of the UCIOA but specifically not its limited super-priority language. Nebraska also differs from threshold-restricted states: California bars assessment foreclosure unless the debt is at least $1,800 or more than 12 months delinquent (Civ. Code § 5720(b)); Arizona, after a 2025 amendment, permits planned-community foreclosure only at 18 months delinquent or $10,000, whichever comes first (A.R.S. § 33-1807); and Colorado requires the equivalent of six months of assessments (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316(11)). Nebraska sets no statutory minimum debt or waiting period and forecloses judicially rather than by trustee's sale. For planned communities, the framework is heavily CC&R-driven. For multi-state operators, the practical implication is direct: a Nebraska association recovers through a judicial foreclosure that does not prime the mortgage and offers no post-confirmation redemption period — in contrast to, for example, California's 90-day post-sale redemption under Civ. Code § 5715. Collection strategy in Nebraska leans on the personal assessment debt, fee-shifting, and pre-foreclosure leverage rather than on extinguishing the lender. The controlling lien statutes have not changed since 2013.

Footnotes

1. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874, Lien for assessments ↩
2. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-826, Sections, applicability ↩
3. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-2001, Lien; foreclosure; notice; priority; homeowners' association ↩
4. Twin Towers Condo. Assn. v. Bel Fury Invest. Group, 290 Neb. 329, 860 N.W.2d 147 (2015), as annotated under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-874, Nebraska Legislature ↩
5. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-818, Sale of apartment; expenses; deducted from sale ↩
6. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-2137, Complaint for foreclosure; filed in district court ↩
7. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-860, Unit owners association; powers ↩
8. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1530, Foreclosure; redemption of land from levy and sale ↩
9. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1531, Mortgage foreclosure; confirmation of sale ↩
10. Hillsborough Homeowners Assn. v. Karnish, 33 Neb. App. 228 (2024), No. A-23-836, Nebraska Judicial Branch ↩
11. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-205, Actions on written contracts; five years ↩
12. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1005, Power of sale conferred on trustee ↩
13. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-1506, Stay of order of sale on foreclosure decree ↩
14. Nebraska Legislature, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 76-1010, Sale of trust property; deed; without right of redemption ↩