Who this reaches, and how

The Act governs receiverships over real property, so the direct target is an owner's or a developer's interest, not the association as such. It matters to associations through three routes.

A developer or declarant in trouble. Where a partially built or partially sold project goes into distress, a receiver appointed over the developer's remaining units and unsold interests becomes the association's counterpart on the board, on assessments and on the completion of common elements. That is a very different negotiation from dealing with a developer.

A bulk owner. An investor holding a large block of units in a five-plus-unit building is squarely within the carve-out's exceptions in any event — subparagraph (d) captures anyone “collecting or has the right to collect rents” from a non-affiliate. A receiver over that block becomes the association's largest assessment payer.

Association-owned property. Where an association has taken title to units through lien enforcement and is renting them, the same rent-collection exception applies regardless of unit count.

The interaction that should worry a board most

Since September 30, 2025 a condominium project has been ineligible for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing if it is the subject of “a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, or receivership proceeding, or any substantially similar action under state or federal law” — and the ineligibility extends to a project that “has voted or is in the process of voting on any of the actions or proceedings described above.”

Put the two together. A receivership over a developer's interest in a North Dakota condominium project under chapter 32-10.1 is a state-law receivership proceeding involving the project. Whether it renders the whole project ineligible is a question for the lender's project review, not for the association — but it is a question that will be asked, and while it is open, no unit in the building is financeable. Owners who have nothing to do with the receivership discover their units will not sell.

What a board can do

Count your units and know which side of four you are on. A five-unit building is a commercial receivership property in North Dakota. A four-unit one is not, unless one of the exceptions applies — and the rent-collection exception applies very easily.

Watch the developer's balance sheet while there is still a declarant. Unpaid declarant assessments, unfinished common elements and unsold inventory are the early signs. Our North Dakota collections and liens page covers the association's own remedy.

Do not let a distressed owner's arrears drift. Under the 2026 secondary-market standards, no more than 15 percent of units may be sixty days or more past due on assessments, and the same limit applies separately to each special assessment. A single large bulk owner in trouble can carry a whole project past that line.

Get counsel involved at appointment, not at the first missed payment. A receiver appointed under chapter 32-10.1 operates under court supervision with defined powers. The association's claim for assessments is one of many, and the time to assert it is at the front.

The smaller companion provision

The same Act added § 32-19.2-05 to the chapter on actions on debts secured by mortgages. Together with chapter 32-10.1 it gives North Dakota lenders a modern, uniform toolkit for distressed commercial real estate — which is good for the credit market and neutral for associations until the day it is not.

Our North Dakota foreclosure page covers the association's position when an owner's lender moves first.

What to watch next

Watch for the first North Dakota condominium project placed in receivership under the new chapter, and for how lenders treat the project's eligibility while it is pending. Watch, too, for declarations to start carrying receiver-notice provisions, so an association learns of an appointment from the court file rather than from a buyer's lender.