North Dakota HOA Collections & Liens

North Dakota HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: Overview

North Dakota runs its condominium framework under the Condominium Ownership Act, N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1 — a traditional condominium statute — and has no comprehensive statute covering planned communities. Those associations collect through recorded covenants and common law. North Dakota is not a UCIOA state, and it operates as a judicial-foreclosure jurisdiction with a statutory post-sale redemption period.1 For condominiums, the assessment lien does not arise automatically on the due date; it arises only when the association records a notice of assessment with the county recorder where the unit sits.2 North Dakota grants no super-priority portion ahead of a first mortgage — the North Dakota Supreme Court confirmed that point in 2024.3 Foreclosure of an association lien proceeds judicially by action under N.D.C.C. ch. 32-19; foreclosure by advertisement is reserved by statute for mortgages held by the state.4 No statute sets a minimum dollar amount or minimum delinquency duration before an association may foreclose.5 In the national landscape, North Dakota belongs with the CC&R-primary, judicial-only states: it lacks the super-priority lien found in Nevada and Connecticut, it lacks the statutory dollar and time thresholds California, Arizona, and Colorado have adopted, and it relies instead on recorded covenants, the condominium statute's recording-based lien, and ordinary mortgage-foreclosure procedure.6 The sections below detail the lien, its priority, the collection and foreclosure sequence, and recent activity.

North Dakota HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Field North Dakota
Governing collections statute(s) Condos: N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1 (§ 47-04.1-11). Planned communities: recorded covenants + N.D.C.C. ch. 10-33 (nonprofit corporations) + common law7
Lien arises Condos: only upon recording a notice of assessment with the county recorder. Planned communities: as provided in the recorded covenants (contractual)8
Super-priority over first mortgage No9
Lien priority (general rule) First in time, first in right; priority runs from the time of the lien's creation/perfection10
Minimum debt before foreclosure None set by statute11
Minimum delinquency duration before foreclosure None set by statute12
Foreclosure type Judicial (by action under N.D.C.C. ch. 32-19); foreclosure by advertisement is unavailable to associations13
Pre-lien notice required Not specified by statute for condominiums; planned communities only as the covenants require (contractual)14
Pre-foreclosure notice required Yes, when foreclosing as a mortgage by action: 30 to 90 days before commencement, with a 30-day cure period (N.D.C.C. §§ 32-19-20, 32-19-21)15
Mandatory payment-plan offer No (not specified by statute)16
Board vote required to foreclose Not specified by statute17
Redemption period after sale 60 days after the sheriff's sale for residential property (N.D.C.C. § 32-19-18); 365 days for agricultural land18
Recoverable in the lien Unpaid assessments plus interest, costs, and penalties as provided in the declaration and bylaws; attorney fees only if the governing documents or a statute authorize them19
Fines foreclosable Yes, if the declaration or bylaws make fines/penalties part of the secured lien amount20
Applies to Condominiums (statutory) and planned communities (contractual); see body for the split21

Source: N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1; ch. 32-19; ch. 28-24; ch. 10-33; ch. 35-22; Industrial Comm'n v. Gould, 2024 ND 32. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

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

For condominiums, N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11 creates the assessment lien. A reasonable assessment for common expenses becomes a debt of the unit owner when the association makes it — but it becomes a lien on the unit only when the administrative body records a notice of assessment with the recorder for the county where the condominium sits.22 That recorded notice must state the amount of the assessment and other charges, name the record owner, and carry the signature of an authorized representative of the administrative body, or follow whatever the declaration and bylaws prescribe.23 The statute does not provide for automatic perfection on the due date; recording is the operative act. That distinguishes North Dakota from UCIOA states, where recording the declaration itself perfects the lien.24 Once an owner pays or satisfies the assessment, the administrative body must record a notice of satisfaction and release.25

The lien secures the unpaid assessment plus any additional charges — interest, costs, and penalties — as the declaration and bylaws provide.26 The statute does not separately enumerate attorney fees. Under the American Rule as North Dakota applies it, attorney fees are recoverable only when a statute or agreement expressly authorizes them, so an association can recover fees only if its governing documents allow it.27 The lien attaches to the individual unit and its appurtenant common-element interest, not to the entire project. Once a declaration is recorded, no lien attaches against the project as a whole; liens attach instead against individual units, just as they would against any separately owned parcel.28 For planned communities, there is no statutory assessment lien. The lien, if any, is a creature of the recorded covenants, and the association's collection authority comes from those covenants, its nonprofit corporate powers under N.D.C.C. ch. 10-33, and common law.29

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

North Dakota does not recognize a super-priority portion of an association lien ahead of a first mortgage. There is no month-count because there is no super-priority of any duration. Priority follows the general rule: different liens on the same property take priority in the order of their creation.30

In Industrial Commission of North Dakota v. Gould, 2024 ND 32, the North Dakota Supreme Court addressed a declaration that claimed to make the association's assessment lien "superior and senior to any lien hereafter placed upon any portion of the Subject Property, including the lien of any mortgage or deed of trust." The court rejected that "super lien" claim as a question of first impression. Because the assessment did not become due — and the lien did not exist — until after the mortgage was already recorded and assigned, the mortgage held the senior position under the first-in-time rule.31

The practical rule for North Dakota is unambiguous: a properly recorded first mortgage that predates the association's perfected lien is senior, and declaration language asserting "super" or senior status does not override the first-in-time rule.32 Because there is no statutory super-priority, there is also no rolling or reasserted super-priority lien for successive assessment periods. The "rolling lien" concept used in some UCIOA states has no counterpart here.33

Relative to other interests: recorded real property tax and special assessment liens are levied against each unit and generally take precedence as governmental liens; association liens compete with mortgages and other private encumbrances on a first-in-time basis; and construction liens under N.D.C.C. ch. 35-27 follow their own priority rules, relating back to the first furnishing of labor or materials but yielding to a good-faith construction-loan mortgage.34

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

Recorded CC&Rs supplement the statutory framework and, for condominiums, supply the interest, penalty, and fee terms the lien statute incorporates by reference.35 Covenants cannot, however, manufacture a priority position the law does not grant. Gould establishes that declaration language claiming seniority over a recorded first mortgage is unenforceable to that extent.36 The statute of limitations on the underlying assessment debt is six years — the period North Dakota applies to actions on a contract, obligation, or liability, express or implied, under N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16(1).37

Three federal frameworks operate on top of the North Dakota framework. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can reach associations and, more commonly, their attorneys and third-party collection agents acting as debt collectors. The automatic stay in bankruptcy halts collection and foreclosure activity the moment an owner files. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act restricts default judgments and foreclosure against protected servicemembers. These federal rules apply regardless of the state collection sequence.38

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

For condominiums, N.D.C.C. ch. 47-04.1 does not require the association to send a notice of delinquency or a notice of intent to record a lien before recording the notice of assessment. The statute sets no advance day-count, no required delivery method, and no required contents for a pre-lien demand. The only statutory recording prerequisite is the content of the recorded notice of assessment itself: the amount, other charges, and the record owner's name.39

The condominium statute gives the owner no statutory right to demand a payment plan, formally dispute the debt, or receive a pre-lien itemized statement. Those rights exist only if the declaration or bylaws create them.40 For planned communities, every step in the pre-lien sequence is contractual, governed by the recorded covenants rather than by statute.41

A separate statute, effective August 1, 2025, requires sellers of HOA and condominium property to furnish buyers detailed association financial and governance disclosures, including current unpaid assessments. This is a resale-disclosure rule, not a collection step.42

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

For condominiums, the association records the claim of lien as a notice of assessment in the county recorder's office where the unit sits. The notice must state the amount of the assessment and other charges, name the record owner, and carry the signature of an authorized representative.43 The condominium statute sets no deadline for recording after delinquency. For planned communities, recording follows whatever the covenants prescribe, filed in the same county recorder's office that maintains real property records.44

Before a mortgage on real estate may be foreclosed by action, N.D.C.C. § 32-19-20 requires a written notice served on the record title owner at least 30 days and no more than 90 days before commencement. That notice must itemize the amount needed to cure and state that proceedings will begin if the owner does not pay within 30 days.45 Because an association enforces its lien by foreclosing it in the manner of a mortgage under ch. 32-19, this pre-foreclosure notice and the 30-day cure right apply to that foreclosure — for both condominiums and planned communities foreclosing in like manner.46 Performing the conditions in default within 30 days of service reinstates the obligation under N.D.C.C. § 32-19-28.47 North Dakota imposes no statutory requirement of a recorded board vote, a mandatory payment-plan offer, or mandatory mediation before an association forecloses. Any such step is contractual.48

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Foreclosure is judicial. The plaintiff brings an action in district court, the court renders judgment for the amount due plus costs, and it orders a sale of the property to satisfy the judgment.49 Foreclosure by advertisement under N.D.C.C. ch. 35-22 is not available to associations. Section 35-22-01 permits power-of-sale foreclosure by advertisement only for mortgages held by the state or its agencies, and provides that "no other mortgage of real property shall be so foreclosed, but must be foreclosed by action."50

No statute sets a minimum dollar threshold or minimum delinquency duration before an association may foreclose. In Gould, the court noted the covenants stated no amount of fees that had to come due before the HOA could foreclose, and no statute supplies one.51 Fines and fees — as opposed to assessments — support the lien and the foreclosure only to the extent the declaration or bylaws make them part of the secured amount. The lien claimed in Gould included fines and legal fees.52 The sheriff of the county where the property is located conducts the sale, on the notice and in the manner prescribed for sale of real property on execution. The notice of sale publishes once a week for three successive weeks.53

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

North Dakota provides a post-sale right of redemption. For residential property, a party to the foreclosure action or that party's successor may redeem within 60 days after the sale under N.D.C.C. § 32-19-18. Agricultural land carries a 365-day period running from the filing of the summons and complaint or first publication, but not earlier than 60 days after the sale.54 Redemption follows the procedure in N.D.C.C. ch. 28-24, which governs redemption of real estate and applies to mortgage foreclosures. The owner holds a paramount right to redeem on paying the amount bid plus interest, and junior lienholders may redeem in order of priority.55 If the court finds the property abandoned, it may eliminate the redemption period.56

Deficiency judgments face restrictions. N.D.C.C. § 32-19-03 bars a deficiency judgment in the foreclosure of residential property of four or fewer units on up to 40 contiguous acres containing an owner-occupied homestead. In other cases, a deficiency may be obtained and is measured against the appraised value.57 An association foreclosing residential homestead property will generally be unable to obtain a deficiency for the same reason a mortgagee cannot.58 Surplus sale proceeds satisfy the debt and costs first; any remaining surplus goes to the court for the benefit of the debtor.59 On reinstatement: performing the defaulted conditions within 30 days of the pre-foreclosure notice reinstates the obligation under N.D.C.C. § 32-19-28, and the owner retains possession, rents, and use during the redemption period.60

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

The 2025 session produced one significant change to North Dakota's HOA framework: Senate Bill 2229, a new resale-disclosure requirement for sellers of HOA and condominium property that the legislature passed with near-unanimous support on both sides of the chamber.

Status Signed
⌾ Last verified June 9, 2026
Docket

SB 2229 · 2025 Regular Session · 69th Legislative Assembly

Effective
Aug 1, 2025
Sunset
N/A
Relating to HOA and condominium property resale disclosures
Synopsis

Prime sponsor Sen. Josh Boschee (District 44, Fargo) introduced SB 2229, which added a new section to N.D.C.C. ch. 47-10 requiring sellers of a condominium unit or property subject to a homeowners' association to furnish prospective buyers detailed written disclosures — covering the amount of periodic assessments, any unpaid common expenses or special assessments currently due, the association's budgets, governing documents, insurance, pending litigation, and the remedies available for nonpayment. The Community Associations Institute and the North Dakota Association of Realtors both offered supporting testimony before the Senate Industry and Business committee on January 29, 2025. The Senate passed the bill 44–2 on February 3, 2025; the House passed it 87–4 on March 12, 2025; and the Governor signed it on March 18, 2025. Carrying no emergency clause and no express effective date, it took effect August 1, 2025 under North Dakota's default rule.[61], [62]

Operational impact
What this means, by role
Property managers Build an association resale-disclosure packet that states current unpaid assessments and special assessments, and deliver it within the statutory window on request.
HOA board members Ensure the association can produce current ledgers, budgets, and a statement of nonpayment remedies within ten days of a seller's request.
Community association attorneys Advise clients that unpaid-assessment figures disclosed under ch. 47-10 cap a buyer's exposure, so accuracy in the disclosure directly affects post-sale collectibility.
Homeowners A buyer is not liable for unpaid assessments beyond the amount the disclosure states, and the purchase contract is voidable until the documents arrive.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

The North Dakota Supreme Court issued one major HOA collections ruling in 2024, settling the question of super-priority lien status as a matter of first impression for the state.

Status Final
⌾ Last verified June 9, 2026
Case

Industrial Commission of North Dakota v. Gould, 2024 ND 32

North Dakota Supreme Court · Docket No. 20230188
Decided
Feb 22, 2024
Court
N.D. S. Ct.
Synopsis

The court took up the question of whether declaration language can make an HOA assessment lien "superior and senior" to a previously recorded mortgage — and answered no, as a matter of first impression. Because the assessment did not become due and the lien did not exist until after the mortgage was already recorded and assigned, the mortgage held the senior position under the first-in-time rule. Declaration language does not create a priority position the law does not provide.[63]

Operational impact
What this means, by role
Property managers Do not assume an association lien jumps ahead of a mortgage; a bank foreclosure of a senior mortgage can extinguish the association's junior position.
HOA board members Declaration language claiming "senior" or "super" lien status will not defeat a recorded first mortgage in North Dakota.
Community association attorneys Litigate association lien priority on perfection dates under the first-in-time rule, not on declaration "super lien" clauses.
Homeowners An association cannot use covenant language to leapfrog a recorded mortgage lender on the same home.

4C. Active legislative debates

No bill in the 69th Legislative Assembly's 2025 regular session would create a planned-community statute, an assessment super-priority, or a non-judicial foreclosure path for association liens, and the legislature proposed nothing along those lines publicly. The direction of travel on collections and lien priority is static.64

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

North Dakota sits at the low-intervention end of the collections spectrum. It is not a super-priority-lien state: associations receive no priority portion ahead of the first mortgage. That sets it apart from Nevada's nine-month super-priority lien under NRS 116.3116(2) — held in SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 334 P.3d 408 (Nev. 2014) (en banc) to extinguish a first deed of trust — and from Connecticut's Common Interest Ownership Act, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-258(b), which grants a super-priority for up to nine months of common charges plus costs and attorney's fees ahead of a first mortgage.

It is not a threshold-restricted state either: North Dakota sets no dollar minimum or delinquency-duration minimum before foreclosure. That distinguishes it from California, where Cal. Civ. Code § 5720 prohibits foreclosure of an assessment lien unless delinquent assessments total at least $1,800 (excluding late charges, fees, collection costs, attorney's fees, or interest) or exceed 12 months of delinquency — and from the comparable threshold regimes in Arizona and Colorado.

For planned communities, North Dakota is effectively a CC&R-primary state with no assessment-collection statute, relying on recorded covenants, nonprofit corporate law, and the condominium statute's recording-based lien. It operates as a judicial-only foreclosure state for association liens.65

For multi-state operators, the practical implication is straightforward: collection sequence and foreclosure economics differ enough between states that a notice or process valid in one jurisdiction can be defective or barred in another. North Dakota files should follow the ch. 32-19 judicial path and the first-in-time priority rule, not a super-priority playbook.66 Given low legislative and judicial activity, North Dakota's current direction of travel is static.67

Footnotes

  1. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1, Condominium Ownership of Real Property ↩
  2. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  3. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  4. N.D. Cent. Code § 35-22-01 ↩
  5. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  6. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 32-19 ↩
  7. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11; ch. 10-33 ↩
  8. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  9. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  10. N.D. Cent. Code § 35-01-14 ↩
  11. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  12. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  13. N.D. Cent. Code § 35-22-01; ch. 32-19 ↩
  14. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  15. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 32-19-20, 32-19-21 ↩
  16. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  17. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  18. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-18 ↩
  19. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  20. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  21. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  22. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  23. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  24. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  25. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  26. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  27. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (American Rule); N.D. Cent. Code § 28-26-01 ↩
  28. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-12 ↩
  29. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33 ↩
  30. N.D. Cent. Code § 35-01-14 ↩
  31. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  32. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  33. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  34. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 35-27; § 47-04.1-13 ↩
  35. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  36. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  37. N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16(1) ↩
  38. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 32-19 (state foreclosure framework); 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act); 11 U.S.C. § 362 (bankruptcy automatic stay); 50 U.S.C. § 3931 et seq. (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) ↩
  39. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  40. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  41. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33; recorded covenants ↩
  42. 2025 S.B. 2229, N.D. 69th Leg. Assemb. (new section to N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-10) ↩
  43. N.D. Cent. Code § 47-04.1-11 ↩
  44. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 10-33; recorded covenants ↩
  45. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 32-19-20, 32-19-21 ↩
  46. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 32-19 ↩
  47. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-28 ↩
  48. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  49. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 32-19-01, 32-19-06 ↩
  50. N.D. Cent. Code § 35-22-01 ↩
  51. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  52. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32 (N.D. 2024) ↩
  53. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-08; ch. 28-23 ↩
  54. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-18 ↩
  55. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 28-24 ↩
  56. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-19 ↩
  57. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-03 ↩
  58. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-03 ↩
  59. N.D. Cent. Code § 32-19-10 ↩
  60. N.D. Cent. Code §§ 32-19-06, 32-19-28 ↩
  61. 2025 S.B. 2229, N.D. 69th Leg. Assemb. (bill overview, sponsors, testimony) ↩
  62. 2025 S.B. 2229, N.D. 69th Leg. Assemb., enrolled text (no emergency clause; effective Aug. 1, 2025) ↩
  63. Industrial Comm'n of N.D. v. Gould, 2024 ND 32, No. 20230188 (N.D. Feb. 22, 2024) ↩
  64. N.D. 69th Leg. Assemb., Bills & Resolutions Index (2025) ↩
  65. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 32-19; ch. 47-04.1 ↩
  66. N.D. Cent. Code ch. 32-19 ↩
  67. N.D. 69th Leg. Assemb., Bills & Resolutions Index (2025) ↩

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