Pennsylvania HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

Pennsylvania sets no percentage cap on how much a community association can raise its assessments. The law's check is procedural: owners can reject the board-approved budget by majority vote within 30 days, a right supplemented by narrow applicability exemptions and a limited-priority assessment lien.¹

Two separate uniform acts govern. The Uniform Planned Community Act (UPCA), 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 5101 to 5414, covers planned communities and took effect February 2, 1997, with several sections reaching back to pre-1997 communities. The Uniform Condominium Act (UCA), 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 3101 to 3414, covers condominiums, and the predecessor Unit Property Act of 1963 (68 P.S. § 700.101 et seq.) still governs older condominiums except where the UCA reaches back.²

Regular assessment increases run through an annually adopted budget—§ 5314 for planned communities, § 3314 for condominiums—and owners can reject that budget within 30 days under § 5303 and § 3303. The statute sets no ceiling on the dollar amount.³ Special assessments draw on the same budget-and-rejection framework, and unpaid assessments become a lien under § 5315 and § 3315 that carries limited priority over a prior first mortgage.⁴ On the national spectrum, Pennsylvania stands with the uniform-act process-control states—distinct from statutory-cap states such as California and from purely declaration-driven states. The sections below set out the authority to levy, the limits on increases, and the lien.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

In a planned community, the unit owners' association levies assessments. Section 5314 provides that once the association makes its first common-expense assessment, it must assess at least annually, based on a budget adopted at least annually, and must allocate general common expenses to each unit according to the common-expense liability fixed in the declaration.⁵ The condominium parallel, § 3314, follows the same structure: assessments at least annually, based on an annually adopted budget, allocated by the common-expense liability set under § 3208.⁶ Condominiums created before the UCA took effect remain governed by the Unit Property Act of 1963 except for UCA sections that apply retroactively under § 3102.⁷

The executive board adopts the budget; the assessment follows from that budget rather than from a separate vote on a dollar figure. Both § 5314(b) and § 3314(b) cap delinquency interest at a rate the association sets, not exceeding 15 percent per year.⁸ That 15 percent is a ceiling on late-payment interest, not on assessment increases. The allocation formula lives in the recorded declaration, and under both acts the association cannot alter it without the consent the declaration and statute require.

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

Pennsylvania law contains no percentage cap on regular assessment increases. Neither the UPCA nor the UCA limits a board to a stated annual percentage; the constraint is procedural. Under § 5303 and § 3303, the executive board must deliver to all unit owners a copy of each approved budget and notice of any approved capital expenditure promptly after approval. Owners can then reject that budget or capital expenditure by majority vote—or any larger vote the declaration specifies—within 30 days of approval.⁹

This is a rejection right, not a ratification requirement. The budget takes effect unless owners affirmatively muster the votes to reject it—the reverse of the affirmative-ratification model some states use. The statutory text ends at the 30-day rejection right and does not spell out the consequence of a rejection or of owner inaction, leaving those mechanics to the declaration and bylaws.¹⁰

Applicability exemptions narrow who is bound. Under § 5102, a planned community of no more than 12 units with no development rights is subject to only a handful of sections unless its declaration opts into the full act, and a community whose common elements are limited to items such as storm-water facilities, signage, landscaping, or open space is partially exempt.¹¹ The UCA carries no parallel small-condominium exemption: § 3102 applies the act in full to every condominium created after its effective date regardless of unit count, with partial applicability turning only on the date of creation.¹²

Pennsylvania did not adopt a dollar-figure limited-expense threshold of the kind found in the model uniform act. Any hard ceiling on increases comes from the recorded declaration, not the statute. A board that skips the budget-delivery step risks an assessment that is procedurally defective and exposed to challenge.

2C. Special assessments, the assessment lien, and its priority

Special assessments and capital expenditures rest on the same budget framework and the powers the declaration grants the association. The owner rejection right under § 5303 and § 3303 reaches an approved capital expenditure as well as the annual budget.¹³

When an owner does not pay, the association holds a lien under § 5315 (planned communities) and § 3315 (condominiums) for the assessment from the time it comes due, foreclosable in the manner of a mortgage.¹⁴ That lien takes priority over most other liens but is subordinate to a first mortgage or deed of trust recorded before the assessment came due, to liens recorded before the declaration, and to real estate tax liens.¹⁵

The priority is limited in time: on a judicial sale, the association's lien is divested except for the unpaid common-expense assessments that came due during the six months immediately preceding the sale, which the court pays from the proceeds ahead of the first mortgage.¹⁶ Recording the declaration itself constitutes notice and perfects the lien, so no separate filing is required.¹⁷ Section 5315 applies retroactively to planned communities created before the UPCA took effect, so the lien mechanism reaches older communities for events occurring after the act's effective date.¹⁸ In practice, the six-month window gives associations a bounded but real claim ahead of a mortgage holder, while leaving the bulk of mortgage priority intact.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

The board adopts the annual budget under § 5314 (UPCA) or § 3314 (UCA), and the assessment is calculated from that budget by each unit's common-expense liability.¹⁹ The board then delivers the approved budget to all owners, who have 30 days to reject it by majority or larger declaration vote under § 5303 (UPCA) or § 3303 (UCA); absent a rejection, the budget and its assessment stand.²⁰

B. Special assessment procedure

A special assessment or capital expenditure rests on the act and the declaration, and the board must deliver notice of an approved capital expenditure to owners under § 5303 and § 3303.²¹ Owners hold the same 30-day rejection right over an approved capital expenditure that they hold over the annual budget.²²

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Pennsylvania supplies no percentage cap on either regular or special assessments; any ceiling is whatever the recorded declaration sets.²³ The 15 percent figure in § 5314(b) and § 3314(b) caps interest on past-due assessments, not increases. The applicability exemptions under § 5102 (12-unit and limited-common-element communities) are the closest the statutes come to relieving any community from the full regime, and the UCA provides no size-based exemption at all.²⁴

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

The board must deliver the approved budget and any capital-expenditure notice to all owners promptly after approval under § 5303 and § 3303.²⁵ Recording the declaration perfects the assessment lien under § 5315 and § 3315, and on resale the seller must provide a resale certificate disclosing unpaid assessments and capital-reserve information under § 5407 (UPCA) and § 3407 (UCA).²⁶

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

The live debate focuses on governance modernization through HB 1239, building on Act 115 of 2022 (House Bill 1795), which Governor Tom Wolf signed on November 3, 2022, effective May 1, 2023. That act authorized electronic voting, virtual meetings, and absentee ballots for condominiums, cooperatives, and planned communities. No pending Pennsylvania bill would impose a percentage ceiling on regular or special assessments.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

On the assessment-limit spectrum, three groups stand out. First are statutory-cap states led by California, where Civil Code § 5605(b) provides that "the board may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members."²⁹ Second are uniform-act process-control states such as Pennsylvania, which substitute an annual-budget-and-owner-rejection process plus a limited-priority lien for any numeric ceiling.³⁰ Third are declaration-driven states, where the recorded instruments do most of the work.

Pennsylvania's distinctive features are the 30-day owner rejection right—rather than an affirmative ratification meeting—and the split treatment of the two acts, including the UPCA's 12-unit exemption that has no condominium counterpart. For a multi-state operator entering from a capped state such as California or from a single-statute UCIOA jurisdiction, the practical implication is clear: budget discipline in Pennsylvania runs through notice and process, not a hard percentage limit. Counsel should map each community to the correct act before assuming any cap applies.

1. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b) (owner rejection of budget within 30 days) ↩
2. Pa. Office of Attorney General, Uniform Planned Community Act (effective February 2, 1997) ↩
3. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314 (assessments for common expenses) ↩
4. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315 (lien for assessments) ↩
5. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314(a)-(b) ↩
6. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3314 (Chapter 33, Management of the Condominium) ↩
7. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3102 (applicability; Unit Property Act of 1963) ↩
8. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314(b) (15% interest on past-due assessments); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3314(b) ↩
9. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3303(b) ↩
10. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b) (text ends at 30-day rejection right) ↩
11. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5102(a) (12-unit and limited-common-element exemptions) ↩
12. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3102(a) (applicability by date of creation) ↩
13. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b) (capital expenditure notice and rejection) ↩
14. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a) ↩
15. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(b)(1) (priority exceptions) ↩
16. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(b)(2) (six-month limited nondivestiture); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2) ↩
17. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(d); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(c) (recording as perfection) ↩
18. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5102(b) (retroactive application of § 5315) ↩
19. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314; 68 Pa.C.S. § 3314 ↩
20. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3303(b) ↩
21. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3303(b) (Chapter 33) ↩
22. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b) ↩
23. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314 (no statutory percentage cap) ↩
24. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5102(a); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5314(b) ↩
25. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3303(b) ↩
26. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315; § 5407 and § 3407 (resale certificates) ↩
27. Pa. General Assembly, House Bill 1239, 2025-2026 Regular Session ↩
28. Foxfield at Naaman's Creek Homeowner's Ass'n v. Eventoff, 2024 Pa. Super. 316 (Dec. 31, 2024) ↩
29. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) (20% regular / 5% special caps) ↩
30. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5303(b) (process-control model) ↩