Pennsylvania HOA Foreclosure

Section 1: Overview — How HOA foreclosure works in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania settles HOA foreclosures in court, and it does so under two separate statutes rather than one unified code. Condominium and planned-community associations enforce their assessment liens through a civil action, and the governing law lives in two uniform acts.¹ Condominiums answer to the Uniform Condominium Act (UCA), 68 Pa.C.S. § 3101 et seq., which Pennsylvania built on the 1980 model act; planned communities answer to a separately enacted Uniform Planned Community Act (UPCA), 68 Pa.C.S. § 5101 et seq., drawn from the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.² Each statute hands the association a lien for unpaid assessments, and each gives that lien a six-month limited priority: the common-expense assessments that come due in the six months right before a judicial sale are protected from being wiped out, but only to the extent the sale proceeds actually pay them.³ Enforcement runs as a civil action in mortgage foreclosure under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1141 and the rules that follow it — complaint in the Court of Common Pleas, then service, judgment, writ of execution, sheriff's sale, and sheriff's deed. No non-judicial power of sale is available for residential real property.⁴ Federal law applies at the edges — the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy automatic stay — and the pre-foreclosure notice regime that Act 6 and Act 91 built for residential mortgages does not clearly reach statutory assessment-lien foreclosures.⁵ The sections that follow lay out the statutory framework, walk through the procedure step by step, cover the recent legislative and judicial activity, and place Pennsylvania among the other uniform-act states.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. The Uniform Condominium Act and Uniform Planned Community Act

Pennsylvania did not adopt a single Common Interest Ownership Act. It passed two separate statutes, each with its own chapter and section numbering. The UCA, 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 3101 through 3414, governs condominiums and tracks the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act.⁶ The UPCA, 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 5101 through 5414, governs planned communities — the generic category that covers most homeowners associations — and derives from the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act.⁷ A third statute, the Real Estate Cooperative Act, 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 4101 et seq., governs cooperatives.⁸ Some older condominiums created between 1963 and the UCA's effective date may still fall partly under the Unit Property Act of 1963, 68 P.S. § 700.101 et seq., though designated UCA provisions reach pre-1980 condominiums for events that occur after the UCA took effect.⁹ The UPCA generally applies to planned communities of more than 12 units created after it took effect in early 1997, and § 5102 applies specified provisions retroactively.¹⁰

The lien provisions sit at 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315 for condominiums and § 5315 for planned communities. The two sections read almost identically; the main difference is § 5315(c), which gives equal priority to liens that multiple associations hold on the same real estate.¹¹ Under each, the association holds a lien on a unit for any assessment or fine from the moment it comes due, the lien "may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate," and recording the declaration serves as record notice and perfects the lien — so the association files no separate claim of lien.¹² Each lien secures unpaid assessments and, unless the declaration says otherwise, late charges, fines, interest, and reasonable collection costs, including legal fees.¹³ The lien dies if the association does not start enforcement within four years after the assessments become payable.¹⁴

The six-month limited priority works through the "limited nondivestiture" provisions at § 3315(b)(2) and § 5315(b)(2). A judicial sale wipes out the association's lien except for the common-expense assessments levied under § 3314(b) or § 5314(b) that come due in the six months right before the sale — and then only to the extent the sale proceeds pay them.¹⁵ That six-month amount gets paid ahead of other claimants, including the prior owner, which gives the association a partial priority even against a first mortgage that is otherwise senior.¹⁶ The priority covers regular common-expense assessments, not fines, late fees, or attorney fees. Outside that window, the general rule subordinates the association lien to liens recorded before the declaration, to first mortgages and deeds of trust recorded before the assessment came due, to the judgments securing those mortgages, and to real estate tax and other governmental liens.¹⁷

2B. Judicial foreclosure procedure and residential notices

An association enforces its lien through an action of mortgage foreclosure under Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure 1141 through 1150. It starts the action by filing a complaint with the prothonotary in the county where the land sits, and it may not combine that action with any other claim.¹⁸ The complaint must name the parties, describe the property, aver the default, itemize the amount due, and demand judgment; the association serves defendants under the civil rules that govern actions involving real property.¹⁹ Once it has judgment — by default or on the merits — the association proceeds by writ of execution to a sheriff's sale, followed by a sheriff's deed and acknowledgment. It must serve notice of the sheriff's sale on the owner, post it at the property, and advertise the sale by publication.²⁰

Two residential-mortgage notice regimes sit alongside this procedure. The Act 6 notice of intention to foreclose, required by 41 P.S. § 403 of the Loan Interest and Protection Law (Act of January 30, 1974, P.L. 13, No. 6), must go out at least 30 days before a residential mortgage foreclosure and gives the borrower a right to cure; Act 6 applies to a "residential mortgage obligation," which the statute defines by reference to a base figure that adjusts each year for inflation.²¹ The Act 91 notice under the Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (35 P.S. § 1680.401c et seq.) must come before foreclosure of a residential mortgage on an owner-occupied primary residence; it opens a window to apply to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for assistance and stays the foreclosure while the application is pending.²²

Whether Act 6 and Act 91 reach an association's assessment-lien foreclosure is not settled. Both acts are written for obligations backed by a security document — a mortgage loan — while the association lien is a creature of statute under § 3315 or § 5315.²³ No Pennsylvania appellate decision found in this research holds that the Act 6 or Act 91 notice is a prerequisite to an association's lien foreclosure, so associations should treat the question as open and get counsel rather than assume the notices do or do not apply.

2C. Redemption, court structure, and federal overlays

Pennsylvania gives no post-sale statutory right of redemption after a mortgage-foreclosure sheriff's sale; that right exists only for properties sold at certain tax sales, not at mortgage or lien foreclosures.²⁴ The owner may cure or pay the full amount due right up to the sheriff's sale, with reinstatement available late in the process.²⁵ Trial-level disputes run in the Courts of Common Pleas; most civil appeals, including association-lien and foreclosure appeals, go to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, while the Commonwealth Court hears matters involving the Commonwealth and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania takes discretionary review.²⁶ Federal law overlays the state framework. Under the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., third-party collectors who run pre-foreclosure dunning are engaged in debt-collection conduct; Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019), narrowed the FDCPA's reach over non-judicial foreclosure but expressly left open its reach over judicial foreclosure, which is how Pennsylvania does it.²⁷ The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq., supplies stays and protections for active-duty servicemembers, and the bankruptcy automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 halts foreclosure the moment the debtor files.²⁸

Section 3: The Pennsylvania HOA foreclosure procedural sequence

A. Lien establishment and recording

The lien arises on its own. For condominiums, § 3315(a) gives the association a lien on a unit from the time any assessment or fine comes due; for planned communities, § 5315(a) does the same. The duty applies to both UCA and UPCA associations.²⁹ Recording the declaration serves as record notice and perfects the lien, so the association files no separate claim of lien in the county records — a point the case law below confirms.³⁰ The lien secures unpaid assessments and, unless the declaration says otherwise, late charges, fines, interest capped at 15% per year under § 3314(b) and § 5314(b), and reasonable collection costs, including legal fees.³¹ The six-month limited priority under § 3315(b)(2) and § 5315(b)(2) protects the common-expense assessments that come due in the six months before a judicial sale, to the extent the proceeds pay them, ahead of other claimants.³² Both statutes set a four-year clock: the lien dies unless the association starts enforcement within four years after the assessments become payable.³³

B. Pre-foreclosure notice and demand

Before it forecloses, an association usually issues a demand that tracks its declaration and collection policy. This step applies to both UCA and UPCA associations, and the governing documents control it — neither § 3315 nor § 5315 imposes a specific statutory pre-foreclosure notice.³⁴ The Act 6 and Act 91 residential-mortgage notices, covered in Section 2B, are not clearly required for a statutory assessment-lien foreclosure, and an association should confirm whether they apply with counsel rather than assume.³⁵ Third-party collectors working for the association must follow the FDCPA in their pre-foreclosure communications.³⁶ Two threshold checks apply to both condominium and planned-community foreclosures before any filing: whether the owner is in bankruptcy, which triggers the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362, and whether the owner is an active-duty servicemember entitled to protections and stays under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.³⁷ Neither § 3315 nor § 5315 sets a minimum dollar amount before an association may foreclose its lien.³⁸

C. Civil action in mortgage foreclosure and sheriff's sale

Enforcement for both UCA and UPCA associations runs as an action of mortgage foreclosure under Pa.R.C.P. 1141 et seq. The association files a complaint in mortgage foreclosure in the Court of Common Pleas for the county where the unit sits, points to the recorded declaration as the source of the lien, avers the default, itemizes the amount due, and demands judgment.³⁹ Pennsylvania case law makes clear that filing that complaint — not recording a second lien or filing a bare writ of execution — is the first step to enforcing the lien.⁴⁰ The association serves the defendant under the civil rules, obtains judgment by default or on the merits, then files a writ of execution that directs the sheriff to sell the unit.⁴¹ The sheriff's sale requires notice to the owner and other parties of record, posting at the property, and publication; the purchaser — often a senior mortgagee or a third party — takes title by sheriff's deed.⁴²

D. Post-sale rights and remedies

After the sale, the sheriff executes and acknowledges a deed to the purchaser, and the court confirms the sale through the schedule of distribution. There is no post-sale statutory right of redemption after a mortgage-foreclosure sheriff's sale; the owner's chance to cure ends at the sale, and that rule holds whether a condominium association forecloses under the UCA or a planned-community association forecloses under the UPCA.⁴³ The proceeds get distributed by priority: costs and taxes first, then senior liens, then the association's protected six-month amount ahead of junior claimants, with any surplus going to the former owner.⁴⁴ A senior first mortgage recorded before the assessment came due survives the association's foreclosure and stays on the property, which sharply affects what a buyer actually gets at the sale.⁴⁵ If someone still occupies the property after the deed issues, the purchaser must bring a separate ejectment action to get possession.⁴⁶ Deficiency questions rarely arise in association practice, because the lien foreclosure runs in rem against the unit.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Pennsylvania's recent sessions have left the lien and the six-month priority alone and trained their attention on governance and on discrete use restrictions. Three bills frame the current picture.

B. Recent appellate rulings

On-point appellate authority is thin, but one recent precedential decision matters a great deal to any association weighing a foreclosure.

On-point recent appellate authority stays limited. The foundational procedural rule — that an association must enforce its lien by filing a foreclosure complaint, not by recording a second lien or filing a bare writ of execution — comes from the Superior Court's decision in Forest Highlands Community Association v. Hammer, 903 A.2d 1236 (Pa. Super. 2006), which remains the leading authority and lines up with the Commonwealth Court's earlier analysis in London Towne Homeowners Association v. Karr, 866 A.2d 447 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004).⁵¹

C. Active legislative debates

Recent Title 68 activity has centered on governance modernization and on discrete use restrictions such as solar access — not on the lien or the six-month priority, which have not been amended since 2016. No active bill found in this research would change the association lien or its six-month limited priority.⁵²

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Pennsylvania sits among the uniform-act states that comprehensively regulate both condominiums and planned communities, but it gets there through two separate statutes rather than a single Common Interest Ownership Act, and it pairs that coverage with a six-month limited priority for the association lien. That six-month window runs shorter than Nevada's nine-month super-priority under NRS 116.3116(2), which protects the assessments that would have come due, absent acceleration, in the nine months right before the recorded notice of default. It puts Pennsylvania in line with the six-month model that full-UCIOA states such as Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia use, while its judicial-only enforcement sets it apart from states that allow non-judicial association foreclosure.⁵³ For a multi-state operator, the practical point is this: Pennsylvania collections move through the courts, run slower, and rest on a partial rather than a full super-lien, so an association's recovery often depends on the unit's equity and the protected six-month amount rather than on priming a senior mortgage.

For boards and managers, the working takeaways are clear: Pennsylvania enforcement runs through the Court of Common Pleas as a mortgage-foreclosure action; the six-month limited priority protects only common-expense assessments, and only to the extent the proceeds pay them; and a senior first mortgage will generally survive an association's foreclosure.

1. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a) ("The association's lien may be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate.") ↩
2. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3101 et seq. (Uniform Condominium Act); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5101 (Uniform Planned Community Act) ↩
3. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2)(i); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(b)(2)(i) ↩
4. 231 Pa. Code §§ 1141–1150 (Action of Mortgage Foreclosure) ↩
5. Friedman Schuman, Pennsylvania Residential Foreclosure and Eviction Stay ↩
6. 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 3101 et seq., Uniform Condominium Act (Chapters 31–34) ↩
7. Saxton & Stump, The Planned Community Act and How It Differs from the Condominium Act ↩
8. 68 Pa.C.S. §§ 4101 et seq. (Real Estate Cooperative Act), Dornish Law ↩
9. Unit Property Act of 1963, 68 P.S. § 700.101 et seq., Dornish Law ↩
10. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5102 (UPCA applicability and exceptions; effective February 1997) ↩
11. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(c) (equal priority among association liens); Bernstein-Burkley, Recording vs. Filing Condominium Liens in Pennsylvania ↩
12. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a), (c); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a), (d) (recording as record notice and perfection) ↩
13. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a) (fees, late charges, fines, interest, and reasonable collection costs including legal fees) ↩
14. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(d); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(e) (four-year limitations) ↩
15. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(b)(2) (limited nondivestiture; six-month window) ↩
16. Burns White, What Happens to a Homeowners Association's Unpaid Assessments When the Mortgage Company Forecloses Against the Unit? ↩
17. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(1); § 5315(b)(1) (general priority and exceptions), via Nolo ↩
18. 231 Pa. Code §§ 1142–1146 (venue, commencement by complaint, no joinder of other causes) ↩
19. 231 Pa. Code § 1147 (contents of complaint); Rule 1144/410 (service); Grim Law, Foreclosure Process in Pennsylvania ↩
20. 231 Pa. Code § 1149 (judgment, execution); Pa.R.C.P. 3129.1–3129.2 (sheriff's sale notice, posting, publication); Nolo, Pennsylvania Foreclosure Laws and Procedures ↩
21. 41 P.S. § 403 (Act 6 notice of intention to foreclose; 30-day cure; base figure in 41 P.S. § 101); 10 Pa. Code § 7.4 (model notice) ↩
22. Act 91 / HEMAP, 35 P.S. § 1680.401c et seq., Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (program description; stay during application) ↩
23. Friedman Schuman, Pennsylvania Residential Foreclosure and Eviction Stay (Act 6 "residential mortgage obligation") ↩
24. Nolo, Pennsylvania Foreclosure Laws and Procedures (no post-sale redemption period); Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates, Right of Redemption at a Sheriff's Sale in Pennsylvania ↩
25. PropertyShark, Foreclosure Process in Pennsylvania (cure up to one hour before the sale; reinstatement) ↩
26. Foxfield at Naaman's Creek Homeowner's Ass'n v. Eventoff, 2024 PA Super 316 (HOA civil appeals route through the Superior Court of Pennsylvania) ↩
27. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019) (holding limited to nonjudicial foreclosure; judicial foreclosure left open) ↩
28. 11 U.S.C. § 362 (automatic stay), illustrated in Pennsylvania practice; 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq. (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) ↩
29. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(a) (condominiums); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a) (planned communities) (lien from time assessment becomes due) ↩
30. Nolo, Pennsylvania HOA/COA Foreclosures (recording of declaration constitutes notice/perfection; no separate claim of lien required); London Towne Homeowners Ass'n v. Karr, 866 A.2d 447 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004) ↩
31. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3314(b); § 5314(b) (interest "not more than 15% per year"); § 3315(a); § 5315(a) (collection costs and legal fees) ↩
32. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2); 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(b)(2) ↩
33. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(d); § 5315(e) (four-year limitations), via Nolo ↩
34. Mays Law Firm, Dealing with HOA and Condominium Assessments (collection process governed by governing documents) ↩
35. Friedman Schuman, Pennsylvania Residential Foreclosure and Eviction Stay (Act 6/Act 91 notices required only for residential mortgage obligations) ↩
36. 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq. (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act), as discussed in Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP ↩
37. 11 U.S.C. § 362 (automatic stay); 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq. (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act) ↩
38. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315; 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315 (no minimum-debt threshold for lien foreclosure) ↩
39. 231 Pa. Code §§ 1141–1147 (action of mortgage foreclosure; complaint contents) ↩
40. Forest Highlands Cmty. Ass'n v. Hammer, 903 A.2d 1236 (Pa. Super. 2006) (filing of a foreclosure complaint is the first step to enforcing an assessment lien) ↩
41. 231 Pa. Code § 1149 (judgment, execution) ↩
42. Pa.R.C.P. 3129.1–3129.2 (notice and publication of sheriff's sale); Foxfield at Naaman's Creek v. Eventoff (notice to lienholders) ↩
43. Nolo, Pennsylvania Foreclosure Laws and Procedures (no post-sale redemption after mortgage-foreclosure sheriff's sale); Sadek Law Offices, Sheriff's Sale Foreclosure in Pennsylvania ↩
44. 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2); § 5315(b)(2) (order of distribution; six-month amount ahead of other claimants including prior owner); Pa.R.C.P. 3136 (schedule of distribution), applied in Foxfield at Naaman's Creek v. Eventoff ↩
45. Foxfield at Naaman's Creek v. Eventoff, 2024 PA Super 316 (senior first mortgage not divested by association foreclosure) ↩
46. Grim Law, Foreclosure Process in Pennsylvania (ejectment required for possession after sheriff's deed; Pa.R.C.P. 1051 et seq.) ↩
47. Saxton & Stump, Pennsylvania Enacts Significant Changes to Condominium, Cooperative, and Planned Community HOA Laws (Act 115 of 2022, HB 1795; effective May 3, 2023); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3306 (2022 amendment by Act 115) ↩
48. S.B. 618, 2025–2026 Reg. Sess. (Pa. 2025) (condominium solar definitions and powers; referred to Senate Urban Affairs and Housing, April 11, 2025) ↩
49. H.B. 858, 2025–2026 Reg. Sess. (Pa. 2025) (amending Title 68; county property contact information list; passed House June 3, 2025; re-referred to Senate Appropriations December 8, 2025) ↩
50. Foxfield at Naaman's Creek Homeowner's Ass'n v. Eventoff, 2024 PA Super 316, No. 1017 EDA 2024 (Pa. Super. Dec. 31, 2024) ↩
51. Forest Highlands Cmty. Ass'n v. Hammer, 903 A.2d 1236 (Pa. Super. 2006); London Towne Homeowners Ass'n v. Karr, 866 A.2d 447 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004) ↩
52. 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315 (last amended by Act 21 of 2016; statute text and amendment history) ↩
53. Nev. Rev. Stat. § 116.3116(2) (nine-month super-priority); 68 Pa.C.S. § 3315(b)(2); § 5315(b)(2) (six-month limited priority, for comparison) ↩