Oregon HOA Collections & Liens

Key Findings

Oregon takes a comprehensive-statute approach to HOA collections — and it sits outside the national super-priority movement. The Oregon Condominium Act (ORS Chapter 100) and the Oregon Planned Community Act (ORS Chapter 94) each give associations a statutory assessment lien, and both make that lien automatic: it attaches when the declaration records, not when the association files a separate notice of claim.^1,2 The lien covers a wide range of amounts — assessments, interest, late charges, attorney fees, costs, and fines treated as assessments — but it ranks behind tax liens and a recorded first mortgage.^1,2

Oregon grants no UCIOA-style super-priority lien ahead of the first mortgage, and planned communities get no exception at all. Condominiums have one narrow tool: under ORS 100.450(7), an association's lien can move ahead of a first mortgage if the association serves the lender a proper 90-day default notice and the lender fails to initiate foreclosure within that window.³

For professionals working a live delinquency, here is the operational reality: the lien statutes impose no pre-lien notice, no waiting period, and no mandatory payment plan. Those early steps come from the declaration and bylaws, not the ORS.^1,2 The one hard statutory prerequisite to foreclosure is recording a verified notice of claim of lien in the county deed records.^1,2 Foreclosure then runs through circuit court, conforms to mortgage-foreclosure procedure, and ends in a sheriff's sale subject to a 180-day owner redemption period.^5,6,4

One persistent myth deserves correction: Oregon does not cap HOA late charges at 6 percent. That ceiling comes from the residential landlord-tenant statute, ORS 90.260, and it does not govern community-association assessments. Oregon requires only that late charges appear in advance in a schedule or delivered board resolution — there is no statutory percentage limit.^7,8

Details

Section 1: Overview — how assessment collection and liens work in Oregon

Oregon governs condominiums under the Oregon Condominium Act (ORS Chapter 100) and planned communities under the Oregon Planned Community Act (ORS Chapter 94). The association's assessment lien is generally subordinate to a prior-recorded first mortgage or trust deed, and Oregon allows associations to foreclose that lien through a judicial process conducted in the manner of a mortgage or construction-lien foreclosure.^1,2,5 The lien arises automatically: recording the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection of the lien for all assessments levied, so the association needs no separate claim of lien to perfect it. That said, the association must record a notice of claim of lien before it can file any suit to foreclose.^1,2

Oregon grants no UCIOA-style super-priority lien ahead of the first mortgage. The one qualified exception is a condominium-only mechanism under ORS 100.450(7): an association's lien can gain priority over a first mortgage if the association gives the lender 90 days' prior written notice of the owner's default and the lender fails to begin foreclosure within that period.³ Foreclosure of the assessment lien is judicial, not non-judicial, because the lien is statutory rather than a trust deed carrying a power of sale.^5,9

Oregon sets no minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency duration before foreclosure is permitted.^1,2 That places Oregon between super-priority states such as Nevada — whose lien primes the first deed of trust to the extent of nine months of assessments — and threshold-restricted states such as California, which bars foreclosure until the debt reaches $1,800 or is more than 12 months delinquent. Oregon protects the first mortgage holder but imposes no floor on when an association may foreclose.^10,11 The sections that follow detail the lien, its priority, the collection and foreclosure sequence, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Oregon HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: ORS 100.450; ORS 94.709; ORS 18.964; ORS 12.080. Last verified: June 9, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

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

The assessment lien is statutory. Under ORS 100.450(1), whenever a condominium association levies an assessment, it holds a lien on the unit and its undivided interest in the common elements for the unpaid amount; ORS 94.709(1) grants the parallel lien on a lot in a planned community. (Applies to: condominiums and planned communities; statutory.)^1,2 Both statutes provide that recording of the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection of the lien, and that the association needs no further recording to perfect it. The lien therefore arises automatically as assessments come due, without a separate recording.^1,2

Before the association files any suit to foreclose, it must record a notice of claim of lien for assessments in the deed records of the county where the unit or lot sits. That recorded notice must state the amount due after credits and offsets, name the owner, identify the condominium or association and the unit or lot, and confirm that subsequent unpaid assessments continue to accumulate with interest without further recording. The association must verify the notice by oath, and the county recording officer must record it.^1,2

What the lien secures is broad. ORS 100.450(1) and ORS 94.709(1) provide that the lien includes interest, late charges, attorney fees, costs, and other amounts levied under the declaration or bylaws. In addition, ORS 100.450(5) and ORS 94.709(5) provide that, unless the declaration or bylaws say otherwise, fees, late charges, fines, and interest are enforceable as assessments under the lien statute.^1,2 The lien attaches to the individual unit or lot — and, for condominiums, the appurtenant common-element interest — not to other property the owner holds.^1,2

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

ORS 100.450(1) and ORS 94.709(1) state the priority rule plainly: the association lien is prior to a homestead exemption and all other liens or encumbrances on the unit or lot except (a) tax and assessment liens, and (b) a first mortgage or trust deed of record. The association lien therefore ranks junior to a properly recorded first mortgage and to government tax liens, and senior to most other interests recorded after the declaration.^1,2

Oregon grants no general super-priority portion ahead of the first mortgage, and planned communities get none at all under ORS 94.709.² The single qualification is a condominium-only mechanism in ORS 100.450(7): the association's lien can become prior to a first mortgage or trust deed if the association gives the lender 90 days' prior written notice that the owner is in default on an assessment, the notice carries the required statutory contents and the 10-point-type warning, the lender has not initiated judicial foreclosure or requested a trustee's notice of sale within those 90 days, the borrower is in default on principal and interest, and the association records a copy of the notice with an affidavit.³

This is a notice-triggered priority shift, not a fixed month-count super-priority. The Oregon Supreme Court confirmed the mechanism is real and enforceable: in Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. v. Sulejmanagic, the court held that a lender that fails to initiate foreclosure within the 90-day window loses priority to the condominium association's assessment lien, and that a foreclosure action filed and then dismissed is treated as if it had never been filed.¹² Because the association can reassert the priority shift whenever a new default and new 90-day notice occur, it does not function as a one-time ceiling — though no Oregon statute caps it at a set number of months the way UCIOA super-priority statutes do.³

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

Recorded CC&Rs supplement the statutory lien by setting the assessment schedule, late charges, interest rate, and fines. ORS 94.630(1)(n) (planned communities) and ORS 100.405(4)(k) (condominiums) authorize an association to impose late-payment charges and collection attorney fees and, after written notice and an opportunity to be heard, to levy reasonable fines, provided the charge or fine is based on a schedule in the declaration or bylaws or on a delivered or mailed board resolution.^7,13 Oregon's statutes set no numerical percentage cap on assessment late charges; the constraint is procedural — advance disclosure through a schedule or resolution — and, for fines, a reasonableness standard. The 6 percent cap that some commercial collection guides attribute to Oregon HOAs is the residential landlord-tenant late-rent rule in ORS 90.260, which does not apply to community-association assessments.^7,8 The CC&Rs cannot override the statutory priority rule or the requirement to foreclose judicially.

The statute of limitations governs how long collection remains available. ORS 100.450(4)(a) and ORS 94.709(4)(a) provide that the lien may be continued in force for up to six years from the date each assessment is due, with each accumulated assessment treated as levied when it became due.^1,2 That six-year period aligns with the general contract limitation in ORS 12.080(1), which requires actions on a contract or liability to begin within six years.¹⁴

Three federal frameworks apply on top of the Oregon framework regardless of state law. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act can reach associations and, in particular, their attorneys and third-party collection agents when they collect assessment debt. The automatic stay in bankruptcy halts collection and foreclosure on the filing of a petition. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act limits foreclosure and related enforcement against active-duty servicemembers. These frameworks apply alongside ORS Chapters 94 and 100.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Oregon's lien statutes impose no statutory pre-lien notice, no statutory waiting period, and no mandatory payment-plan offer before the association's lien attaches, because the lien is already perfected by the recorded declaration. (Applies to: both; statutory.)^1,2 In practice, the pre-lien sequence — a delinquency notice, an opportunity to cure, an itemized statement, or an offer of a payment plan — comes from the declaration or bylaws rather than the statute, so each step at this stage is contractual unless the governing documents incorporate it. Oregon's dispute-resolution requirement adds no collection hurdle: the statutory obligation to offer alternative dispute resolution before litigation expressly does not apply to litigation to collect assessments, other than assessments attributable to fines.¹⁵ An owner may request an itemized statement of the amount due, including late charges and the interest rate, and the association must provide it unless litigation against the owner is already pending.¹⁶

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

The statutory prerequisite to foreclosure is recording a notice of claim of lien in the deed records of the county where the unit or lot sits. (Applies to: both; statutory, under ORS 100.450(2) and ORS 94.709(2).)^1,2 The notice must contain the verified amount due, the owner's name, the identification of the condominium or association and the unit or lot, and the accumulation statement. For condominiums, ORS 100.450(4)(d) adds that no action to foreclose or to recover a money judgment may proceed unless the Condominium Information Report and Annual Report required under ORS 100.250 are current as provided in ORS 100.255.¹

No separate statutory pre-foreclosure waiting period or advance notice-of-intent-to-foreclose applies to the assessment lien itself. The condominium 90-day notice to the lender under ORS 100.450(7) is optional — it serves only to elevate priority, not as a precondition to foreclosing against the owner.³ The lien may be enforced by the board of directors acting on behalf of the association under ORS 100.450(4)(b) and ORS 94.709(4)(b); the statutes require no formal recorded board vote and do not bar the board from delegating the mechanics to management or counsel.^1,2 No mandatory mediation applies to assessment collection.¹⁵

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Foreclosure is judicial. ORS 100.450(4)(a) and ORS 94.709(4)(a) direct that proceedings to foreclose the assessment lien conform as nearly as possible to the proceedings to foreclose a construction lien under ORS 87.010, and ORS 87.060 in turn provides that construction-lien foreclosure conforms as nearly as possible to foreclosure of a mortgage on real property. The path is a circuit-court action ending in a judgment of foreclosure and a sheriff's execution sale.^1,2,5,6 Because the assessment lien is a statutory lien rather than a trust deed carrying a power of sale, the association must foreclose judicially — it cannot use the non-judicial advertisement-and-sale process available to trust deeds under the Oregon Trust Deed Act. (Applies to: both; statutory.)⁹

Oregon sets no minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency duration the debt must reach before the association may foreclose; neither ORS 100.450 nor ORS 94.709 contains a floor of the kind several other states impose.^1,2 Fines, fees, late charges, and interest are enforceable as assessments under ORS 100.450(5) and ORS 94.709(5) unless the declaration or bylaws provide otherwise, so they can support the lien and a foreclosure — unlike in states that bar foreclosure on fines alone.^1,2 The sale process tracks the mortgage-foreclosure and execution statutes: judgment, writ of execution, notice and publication, and a sheriff's sale to the highest bidder, with timing driven by court scheduling and the statutory notice periods rather than any fixed deadline in Chapter 94 or 100.⁶

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

Because the lien is foreclosed in the manner of a mortgage through an execution sale, the redemption framework in ORS Chapter 18 applies. Under ORS 18.964, the judgment debtor — the former owner — may redeem the property within 180 days after the execution sale, and a lien claimant may redeem within 60 days. (Applies to: both; statutory.)⁴ This is a material difference from a non-judicial trust-deed sale, which carries no right of redemption.⁹

A deficiency or personal money judgment is available. ORS 100.450(4)(c) and ORS 94.709(7) allow an association to recover a money judgment for unpaid assessments without foreclosing or waiving the lien, and provide that a personal judgment does not extinguish the lien.^1,2 The Oregon Court of Appeals confirmed in Unit Owners of Cornell Meadows Condominium v. Jensen that the lien statute creates an exception to the election-of-remedies doctrine, so an association that has already obtained a personal judgment may still foreclose the lien.¹⁷ Owners are also personally liable for assessments under ORS 100.475 and ORS 94.712.¹⁸ Surplus proceeds from the sheriff's sale are distributed under the execution statutes after satisfying the foreclosing lien and senior interests, with any excess payable to junior interests and the former owner.⁴ Payment of the arrears satisfies the lien or the portion paid at any time, which allows an owner to reinstate by curing the delinquency before the sale concludes.^1,2

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

The principal active proposal touching these mechanics is HB 4064 in the 2026 session, which addresses assessment accrual and lien treatment on tax-foreclosed properties. No broader bill to create a super-priority lien or to add a foreclosure dollar threshold or time threshold is pending.¹⁹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Oregon sits in the middle of the national collections spectrum. It is not a super-priority-lien state: Nevada's lien primes the first deed of trust to the extent of nine months of common-expense assessments preceding enforcement under NRS 116.3116(2), and Connecticut grants a six-month priority portion under its UCIOA-modeled Common Interest Ownership Act, while Oregon grants none for planned communities and only a conditional, notice-triggered priority for condominiums.^10,20,3 At the same time, Oregon is not a threshold-restricted state like California, which bars foreclosure until the debt reaches $1,800 or is more than 12 months delinquent, Arizona, which (for planned communities after 2025) requires delinquency of 18 months or $10,000, or Colorado, which requires at least six months of unpaid assessments and a board vote. Oregon sets no such floor.^11,21,22

Oregon is a judicial-foreclosure state for association liens, with a 180-day owner redemption right after the sale — a timeline that runs longer than non-judicial states.^5,4 For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is that the collection sequence and foreclosure economics differ enough between states that a notice or process valid in one can be defective or barred in another. Oregon's current direction of travel is largely static on the core mechanics, with the only pending change — HB 4064 — a narrow clarification tied to tax foreclosures rather than a shift in priority or thresholds.¹⁹

Recommendations

1. Start every Oregon collection file by reading the declaration and bylaws, not the ORS. Because Oregon's lien statutes impose no pre-lien notice, no waiting period, and no mandatory payment plan, the early defensible steps — delinquency notice, cure period, late-charge and interest schedule, fine procedure — come from the governing documents. Confirm those documents set the late charge and fine schedule in advance, as ORS 94.630(1)(n) and ORS 100.405(4)(k) require, before charging anything.
2. Do not rely on a "6 percent" late-fee cap. It is not in the HOA or condominium statutes. Set late charges by a properly delivered schedule or board resolution and keep fines reasonable; that is the actual statutory standard.
3. Record the notice of claim of lien before filing suit, every time. It is the one hard statutory prerequisite to foreclosure under ORS 100.450(2) and ORS 94.709(2). For condominiums, also confirm the Condominium Information Report and Annual Report are current under ORS 100.250 and 100.255, because a stale filing bars both foreclosure and a money judgment.
4. For condominiums only, use the ORS 100.450(7) 90-day lender notice as leverage when a first mortgage is stalled. Serving the statutory notice (with the 10-point warning) and recording it with an affidavit can flip priority if the lender does not foreclose within 90 days; Sulejmanagic makes that enforceable and treats a dismissed lender foreclosure as never filed. There is no equivalent tool for planned communities.
5. Plan for the 180-day redemption tail. Oregon's judicial foreclosure ends in a sheriff's sale subject to a 180-day owner redemption period, so treat the sale date as the start of a waiting period, not final clearance of title. Pursue a parallel personal money judgment where the owner has other assets; Cornell Meadows confirms a money judgment does not waive the lien.
6. Benchmarks that would change this guidance: enactment of HB 4064 (which would alter assessment accrual and lien treatment on tax-foreclosed property); any new Oregon bill creating a super-priority portion or a foreclosure dollar/time threshold; or an Oregon appellate decision narrowing the ORS 100.450(7) priority mechanism. Re-verify before relying on any number if the Legislature has convened since the last-verified date.

Caveats

• All statutory numbers were read from the current ORS text published through early 2026 (2023 edition plus 2024 regular-session changes). Check the 2025 edition reflecting any 2025-session amendments before relying on a specific subsection.
• HB 4064 was introduced in the 2026 session and had not been enacted as of the last-verified date; re-confirm its bill text, status, and effective date on the Oregon Legislature site before citing it as law.
• The "6 percent late-fee cap" reported by several commercial collection guides is not supported by the HOA or condominium statutes and should not be repeated; it derives from the residential landlord-tenant rule in ORS 90.260.
• The lien-priority rule and the judicial-foreclosure path are stated by statute, but specific procedural timelines — writ, publication, sale scheduling — come from the mortgage-foreclosure and execution statutes and county practice, so exact day-counts in any given case depend on the court and county rather than on Chapter 94 or 100.
• This page describes Oregon law and the overlay of three federal frameworks at a general level; it is not legal advice for a specific delinquency.

1. ORS 100.450 — Association lien against individual unit; recording notice of claim; foreclosure; effect of judgment and payment; priority of lien (Oregon Revised Statutes, official text via oregonlegislature.gov) ↩
2. ORS 94.709 — Liens against lots; priority; duration; record notice of claim of unpaid assessment; foreclosure procedure (Oregon Revised Statutes, official text via oregonlegislature.gov) ↩
3. ORS 100.450(7) — Conditional priority over first mortgage or trust deed on 90-day lender notice (condominiums only) ↩
4. ORS 18.964 — Time for redemption (judgment debtor: 180 days; lien claimant: 60 days after execution sale) ↩
5. ORS 87.010 — Construction liens (foreclosure of association lien conformed to construction-lien proceedings under ORS 100.450(4)(a) and 94.709(4)(a)) ↩
6. ORS 87.060 — Foreclosure; construction-lien foreclosure conforms as nearly as possible to foreclosure of a mortgage on real property ↩
7. ORS 94.630(1)(n) — Powers of association; authority to impose late-payment charges and reasonable fines based on a schedule or resolution (no percentage cap) ↩
8. ORS 90.260 — Late rent payment charge or fee (residential landlord-tenant; source of the "6 percent" figure, inapplicable to HOA/condo assessments) ↩
9. ORS 86.710 — Trust deeds authorized; methods of foreclosure after breach (non-judicial advertisement-and-sale available to trust deeds, not statutory assessment liens) ↩
10. NRS 116.3116(2) — Nevada HOA lien prior to first security interest to the extent of nine months of common-expense assessments; see SFR Investments Pool 1 v. U.S. Bank, 334 P.3d 408 (Nev. 2014) (en banc) ↩
11. Cal. Civ. Code § 5720(b) — California HOA may not foreclose unless delinquent assessments equal or exceed $1,800 or are more than 12 months delinquent ↩
12. Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. v. Sulejmanagic, 367 Or 537, 481 P3d 293 (2021) (Oregon Supreme Court) ↩
13. ORS 100.405(4)(k) — Association of unit owners; authority to impose late-payment charges and reasonable fines based on a schedule or resolution (no percentage cap) ↩
14. ORS 12.080(1) — Action on certain contracts or liabilities must be commenced within six years ↩
15. ORS 94.630 — Powers of association; ADR requirement does not apply to litigation to collect assessments other than fines ↩
16. ORS 94.670 — Association duty to keep records; statement of amounts due, late charges and interest rate to requesting owner or mortgagee ↩
17. Association of Unit Owners of Cornell Meadows Condominium v. Jensen, 321 Or App 623, 518 P3d 609 (2022), review denied (Oregon Court of Appeals) ↩
18. ORS 94.712 — Lot owner personally liable for assessment (parallel condominium provision at ORS 100.475) ↩
19. House Bill 4064, 2026 Regular Session, Oregon Legislative Information System (amends ORS 94.709 and 100.450; adds section to ORS chapter 312) ↩
20. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-258(b) — Connecticut Common Interest Ownership Act; six-month priority portion ahead of first security interest ↩
21. A.R.S. § 33-1807(A), as amended by SB 1494 (2025) — Arizona planned-community foreclosure permitted only on 18 months' delinquency or $10,000; condominiums remain at one year/$1,200 under A.R.S. § 33-1256(A) ↩
22. C.R.S. § 38-33.3-316, as amended by HB 22-1137 (2022) — Colorado foreclosure requires at least six months of unpaid assessments, a majority board vote, and bars foreclosure solely on fines ↩