Rhode Island HOA Collections & Liens

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

Rhode Island takes a firm position in the super-priority camp for condominium associations — and that position carries consequences for mortgage lenders. The Rhode Island Condominium Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.01 et seq. — modeled on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act¹ — gives a unit owners' association a lien on each unit for unpaid assessments and fines. That lien carries a six-month priority position ahead of a previously recorded first mortgage.²

No separate filing creates the lien. It attaches automatically from the moment an assessment or fine becomes due, and the recorded declaration itself constitutes both record notice and perfection — no additional claim of lien needs to be filed.³ The super-priority amount covers the common-expense assessments that would have come due in the six months immediately before foreclosure, plus capped attorney's fees and costs.² The foreclosure proceeds without court involvement — by power of sale under § 34-36.1-3.21.⁴ No statute sets a minimum dollar amount or minimum number of months delinquent before an association may foreclose, though a 60-day delinquency triggers a mandatory notice that protects the priority position.²

That puts Rhode Island alongside super-priority states such as Connecticut — also six months — and Nevada, whose NRS 116.3116(2) reaches nine months and, as the Nevada Supreme Court confirmed in SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A., 334 P.3d 408, 410 (Nev. 2014), can extinguish a first deed of trust. Rhode Island's six-month slice is materially shorter. The state stands apart from threshold-restricted states: California Civil Code § 5720(b) bars assessment-lien foreclosure unless delinquent assessments reach $1,800 or more, or exceed 12 months delinquent, and Arizona's A.R.S. § 33-1807(A), as amended by SB 1494 (effective September 26, 2025), requires either 18 months of delinquency or $10,000 in arrears before foreclosure may proceed. Rhode Island imposes no such floor — and its framework is condominium-specific, with planned communities left to contract and corporate law.

The sections below detail the lien, its priority, the foreclosure mechanics, and recent activity. Note that Rhode Island has no intermediate appellate court — trial decisions from the Superior and District Courts go directly to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.⁵

Rhode Island HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Section 2 — The lien and its priority

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

The association's lien is a creature of statute. Under § 34-36.1-3.16(a), "[t]he association has a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner from the time the assessment or fine becomes due."⁹ That lien attaches by operation of law on the due date — the association need not record a separate claim of lien to create or perfect it. Section 34-36.1-3.16(d) is explicit: "Recording of the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection of the lien. No further recordation of any claim of lien for assessment under this section is required but is permitted."³ An association may record a claim of lien for clarity, but it remains optional. When an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount becomes a lien from the time the first installment comes due.⁹

What the lien secures is broad. Unless the declaration provides otherwise, "attorney's fees, charges, late charges, fines, and interest charged pursuant to § 34-36.1-3.02(a)(10)–(12) are enforceable as assessments under this section."⁹ Section 34-36.1-3.16(i) adds that a delinquent owner must pay all of the executive board's collection expenses — including reasonable attorney's fees — plus any amounts the board advances for taxes or to protect its lien against superior liens, together with accrued interest. All of it "shall be deemed to constitute part of the delinquent assessment and shall be collectible as such."⁸ Past-due common-expense assessments carry interest at a rate the association sets, capped at 21% per year.¹⁰ The lien attaches to the unit, not to other property of the owner; to collect beyond the unit, the association must sue on the debt and reduce it to a personal judgment.

This statutory lien applies to condominiums created on or after July 1, 1982, under the Rhode Island Condominium Act. By cross-reference, § 34-36.1-3.16 also applies to condominiums created before July 1, 1982, but only for events occurring after that date.⁶ For planned communities that are not condominiums, there is no statutory assessment lien; any lien right is contractual, arising only from the recorded declaration or CC&Rs, and is enforced under those documents, the Nonprofit Corporation Act, and common law.⁶

2B. Lien priority and the super-priority component

The general priority rule is in § 34-36.1-3.16(b)(1): the association's lien takes priority over all other liens and encumbrances on a unit except (i) liens and encumbrances recorded before the declaration and not subordinated to it, (ii) a first mortgage or deed of trust recorded before the date the enforced assessment became delinquent, and (iii) liens for real-estate taxes and other governmental assessments.²

The super-priority carve-out is what makes Rhode Island consequential for lenders. Under § 34-36.1-3.16(b)(2), the association's lien "is also prior to" an otherwise-senior first mortgage "to the extent of the common expense assessments based on the periodic budget … which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six (6) months immediately preceding the foreclosure" — plus reasonable attorney's fees not to exceed $2,500 and foreclosure costs not to exceed $5,000, for a combined cap of $7,500.² That priority amount excludes special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties, and interest.² The super-priority is a one-time measure, computed at the moment of foreclosure — the statute does not authorize a rolling or successively reasserted super-lien.²

Rhode Island's super-priority carries real bite. The Rhode Island Supreme Court held in Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Botelho, 127 A.3d 897 (R.I. 2015), that a condominium-lien foreclosure conducted under the Act extinguishes a prior-recorded first mortgage when the mortgagee fails to either pay the assessments or exercise its 30-day post-sale right of redemption under § 34-36.1-3.21(c).¹¹ The court read § 34-36.1-3.16(b) as creating a "split lien" — a junior lien for older assessments and a super-priority lien for the last six months that extinguishes subsequent interests, including a prior recorded mortgage. Acknowledging the outcome as "draconian in nature," the court nevertheless invoked "the ancient maxim 'dura lex sed lex,' meaning [though] the law may be harsh, it is still the law."¹¹ Section 34-36.1-3.16(b)(6) preserves the priority of mechanics' and materialmen's liens, and § 34-36.1-3.16(c) gives competing association liens equal priority unless the declaration says otherwise.²

One wrinkle: under § 34-36.1-3.16(b)(4)–(5), once a unit falls at least 60 days delinquent, the association must mail a delinquency notice to both the owner and the first mortgagee. Failure to send the first-mortgagee notice does not destroy the six-month assessment priority, but it does strip the costs and attorney's fees from the priority amount.²

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

Recorded CC&Rs supplement the statutory lien but cannot override it where the Act is mandatory. The Act provides that "[e]xcept as expressly provided in this chapter, provisions of this chapter may not be varied by agreement, and rights conferred by this chapter may not be waived."¹² A declaration may, for example, change whether attorney's fees are enforceable as assessments — the statute says "unless the declaration otherwise provides" — but it cannot extend the super-priority period beyond six months or waive the mortgagee's redemption right. A 2024 enactment (discussed in Section 4) now requires associations to record their bylaws and rules in the municipal land evidence records, sharpening the line between enforceable recorded terms and unrecorded internal policies.

The underlying assessment debt runs on two separate clocks. Section 34-36.1-3.16(e) extinguishes the lien unless enforcement proceedings begin within six years after the full assessment amount becomes due.¹³ The personal debt action on a written instrument falls under the ten-year general limitations period of R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13(a).¹⁴

The federal overlay applies on top of the Rhode Island framework. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act governs third-party collectors — and, after Obduskey, nonjudicial foreclosure activity in limited respects. The bankruptcy automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 freezes collection and foreclosure the moment a unit owner files. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act constrains enforcement against active-duty servicemembers. These federal frameworks operate regardless of Rhode Island's super-priority and can pause or constrain enforcement.

Section 3 — The collection and foreclosure process

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Because the lien is automatic and perfected by the recorded declaration, no pre-lien recording step or notice is required to create or perfect it.³ The one mandatory early notice is the 60-day delinquency notice under § 34-36.1-3.16(b)(4): "When any portion of the unit owner's share of the common expenses has been delinquent for at least sixty (60) days the association shall first send a notice stating the amount of the delinquency to the unit owner by certified mail, return receipt requested, and first class mail," and it must send the same notice to the first mortgagee of record.² This is a condominium-specific statutory requirement — a priority-protection step, not a precondition to the lien itself. Skipping it does not void the six-month assessment priority, but it forfeits the fees-and-costs portion of the priority amount.²

On request, the association must furnish a recordable statement of unpaid assessments to a unit owner or first mortgagee within 10 business days, and that statement is binding.¹⁵ Once the association commences foreclosure, § 34-36.1-3.21(d) requires it, on request, to give any record-interest holder an itemized statement separating the six-month priority common-expense assessments from interest, attorney's fees, fines, and other charges, plus a copy of the most recent budget.¹⁶ The Act imposes no statutory mandatory payment plan, no mandatory dispute or mediation process, and no minimum-balance threshold before the lien attaches. For non-condominium planned communities, every step in this sequence is contractual — governed by the recorded covenants, not the Condominium Act.⁶

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

Recording a claim of lien is permitted but not required — the declaration already perfects the lien.³ The pre-foreclosure notice sequence in § 34-36.1-3.21(a)(2)–(3) is mandatory and exact for condominiums:

• First, the association must mail written notice of the time and place of sale to the defaulting owner at the last known address and to the first mortgagee of record, both by certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 20 days before publishing the sale notice.⁴
• Second, the association must publish the notice at least once each week for two successive weeks in a qualifying newspaper, with the sale scheduled at least 15 days after the first publication.⁴ The statute specifies which newspaper by municipality and county.⁴
• Third, the association must mail notice to any person or entity with a recorded interest in the unit (recorded not later than 30 days before the scheduled sale), including any mortgagee, by regular or certified mail, return receipt requested, at least 10 days before the originally scheduled sale.⁴

The statute authorizes the sale by the association "through its executive board." It does not prescribe a recorded board vote, and it allows hearings on fines to be conducted by "a person designated by the executive board" — so the decision and process may be delegated to management or counsel within the board's authority.⁴ There is no statutory mandatory mediation or ADR prerequisite for a condominium-lien foreclosure — the § 34-27-9 mortgage-foreclosure mediation regime applies to first-lien mortgage foreclosures of owner-occupied one-to-four-unit residences, not association-lien foreclosures.¹⁷ For planned communities, any notice sequence is whatever the recorded covenants require — contractual, not statutory.⁶

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Rhode Island condominium-lien foreclosure is nonjudicial — a power-of-sale process. Section 34-36.1-3.21(a)(1) makes it "lawful for the association or its assigns, through its executive board, to sell the unit of any defaulting unit owner … at public auction."⁴ No court order is required; the association works through the statutory notice-and-publication sequence, conducts a public auction, and delivers a deed in fee simple to the purchaser.⁴ Rhode Island is generally a nonjudicial-foreclosure state for first-lien mortgages as well, though judicial foreclosure remains available; condominium-association liens proceed under the dedicated § 34-36.1-3.21 power-of-sale procedure.¹⁸

There is no statutory minimum dollar threshold and no minimum delinquency duration before an association may foreclose under § 34-36.1-3.21 — the trigger is simply a default "in the payment of any assessment, fine, or any other charge which is a lien on the unit."⁴ Because the statute lists "fine[s]" and "any other charge" alongside assessments as defaults that authorize sale, fines and fees can support a foreclosure, not just unpaid assessments.⁴ Note, however, that fines, penalties, late charges, special assessments, and interest are excluded from the six-month super-priority amount — they remain collectible but sit junior to the first mortgage.² The practical timeline from first published notice to sale is compact: at least 20 days' pre-publication mailed notice, two successive weekly publications, and a sale at least 15 days after first publication — meaning a properly noticed sale can occur roughly five to six weeks after the notice cycle begins, subject to title work and adjournments.⁴

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

Redemption. Rhode Island provides no general post-sale right of redemption for the former unit owner. The only statutory redemption right runs to the first mortgagee: § 34-36.1-3.21(c) makes every association foreclosure sale "subject to a thirty (30) day right of redemption running in favor of the holder of the first mortgage or deed of trust of record," exercised by tendering to the association the full assessments due plus all attorney's fees and costs of collection and foreclosure within 30 days of the post-foreclosure-sale notice the association must send within 7 days of the sale.⁷ If the mortgagee does not redeem, the right terminates and — per Twenty Eleven — the mortgage is extinguished.¹¹

Surplus. Section 34-36.1-3.21(a)(3) directs that from sale proceeds the association retains all sums secured by its lien plus sale expenses, fees, taxes, and insurance advances, then pays the surplus to other encumbrances of record, and any remaining surplus to the defaulting owner or their successors, with an accounting.¹⁹

Deficiency. The Condominium Act's foreclosure section does not itself create a deficiency remedy, but the lien provisions preserve the association's right to pursue the personal debt: § 34-36.1-3.16(f) preserves the right to sue to recover the sums for which subsection (a) creates a lien, and § 34-36.1-3.16(g) requires any judgment to include costs and reasonable attorney's fees for the prevailing party.⁸ A money judgment on the underlying debt is thus available against the former owner.

Reinstatement. The statute contains no separate reinstatement right beyond the mortgagee's 30-day redemption. In practice, an owner can stop the sale by paying the arrears, fees, and costs before the auction, since the default that authorizes sale is the unpaid lien amount.⁴ For planned communities, redemption, surplus, deficiency, and reinstatement are governed by the recorded covenants and general law, not § 34-36.1-3.21.⁶

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

Rhode Island sees low-to-moderate legislative and judicial activity in this area. The state has no dedicated HOA regulator, and the General Assembly touches the Condominium Act intermittently. The most significant recent enactment with collections-adjacent implications is the 2024 bylaws-recording law.

Recent Legislation

In 2024, Rhode Island made a targeted change to how condominium associations must maintain their governing documents — not a collections statute on its face, but one with direct consequences for whether fine schedules and fee rules will hold up in a collection action.

No 2024–2026 Rhode Island bill amended the super-priority figure in § 34-36.1-3.16 or the foreclosure procedure in § 34-36.1-3.21.

Recent Court Rulings

Rhode Island has no intermediate appellate court — appeals go directly to the Rhode Island Supreme Court.⁵ The controlling decision on association-lien priority dates to 2015 and has not been disturbed.

No Rhode Island Supreme Court decision issued between 2023 and 2026 has interpreted the assessment-lien priority or condominium-lien-foreclosure provisions; the Twenty Eleven holding remains the leading and most recent authority directly on point.²²

Section 5 — National positioning + related coverage

Rhode Island sits firmly in the super-priority camp alongside Connecticut and Nevada — its six-month assessment priority can extinguish a first mortgage — and well apart from threshold-restricted states such as California (no foreclosure below $1,800 or 12 months delinquent, Cal. Civ. Code § 5720) and Arizona (no foreclosure below $10,000 or 18 months delinquent as of September 26, 2025, A.R.S. § 33-1807), and from states where associations rely entirely on recorded covenants. For multi-state operators, the practical takeaway is that Rhode Island condominium collections are unusually powerful and fast: a nonjudicial power-of-sale lien with no minimum threshold, a compact notice cycle, and a court-confirmed ability to extinguish first mortgages. That combination makes meticulous notice compliance and accurate six-month-priority accounting essential.

Rhode Island's direction of travel on the collections core is largely static. The six-month super-priority, the $7,500 fee and cost cap, and the 30-day mortgagee redemption have been stable for years. Recent legislative attention has focused on transparency — specifically, recording bylaws and rules — rather than on expanding or contracting collection power.

Recommendations

1. Treat the 60-day notice as non-negotiable. Send the § 34-36.1-3.16(b)(4) delinquency notice to both the owner and the first mortgagee by certified and first-class mail at the 60-day mark, even with no immediate intention to foreclose. Skipping it does not destroy the six-month assessment priority, but it strips the $2,500 attorney's fee and $5,000 cost components from the priority amount — a $7,500 swing. If the unit is owner-occupied with a current mortgage, prioritize the mortgagee notice, because the lender is the party most likely to pay to protect its position.
2. Calendar the foreclosure notice cycle exactly. Build notice-generator cure dates against the statutory minimums: 20 days' mailed pre-publication notice, two successive weekly publications, sale at least 15 days after first publication, and 10-day mailed notice to other record-interest holders. Because Twenty Eleven rewards strict compliance with mortgage extinguishment, a defective notice is the most likely point of attack — date-stamp and retain proof of every mailing and publication.
3. Account for the super-priority slice separately. When calculating the lien, segregate (a) the six-month common-expense priority amount, (b) capped fees and costs ($2,500 + $5,000), and (c) everything else — special assessments, fines, late charges, interest — that is collectible but junior. The § 34-36.1-3.21(d) itemized statement must make this split, so track it from day one.
4. For non-condominium HOAs, label every step contractual. There is no statutory lien or power of sale for planned communities. Before asserting a lien or foreclosing, confirm the recorded declaration grants those rights and follow its terms; do not borrow the § 34-36.1 timeline by analogy.
5. Verify recording of bylaws and rules before relying on a fine or fee. Post-P.L. 2024 ch. 154/156, an unrecorded rule is vulnerable when the lien amount is challenged. Make recording status a checklist item in pre-foreclosure due diligence.
6. Screen for federal stays first. Run a bankruptcy and SCRA check before every sale; an automatic stay or active-duty status can void a sale conducted in violation, regardless of the state super-priority.

Caveats

• Statutory text is current as of the official rilegislature.gov version verified June 10, 2026. Statutory numbers — the six-month priority, $2,500/$5,000/$7,500 caps, 20/15/10-day notice periods, 30-day redemption, 60-day delinquency trigger, 21% interest cap, and six-year lien limitations period — are read directly from § 34-36.1-3.16, § 34-36.1-3.21, and § 34-36.1-3.15. Confirm against the current statute before relying on them for a live matter.
• The ten-year debt limitations period (§ 9-1-13) is the general civil limitations statute, not a condominium-specific provision; the lien itself is separately extinguished after six years under § 34-36.1-3.16(e). Treat the two clocks independently.
• The practical "five-to-six-week" foreclosure estimate is an inference from the statutory minimums, not a statutory figure; actual timelines vary with title work, newspaper schedules, and adjournments.
• Comparative figures for other states — Nevada nine months; California $1,800/12 months; Arizona $10,000/18 months — are provided for positioning and are subject to their own state-law changes. The Arizona threshold was raised effective September 26, 2025; other states may amend.
• This page addresses condominiums governed by the post-1982 Rhode Island Condominium Act and, by cross-reference, the lien and foreclosure provisions as applied to older condominiums. Pre-1982 condominiums that have not adopted the Act may be governed in part by the Condominium Ownership Act (§ 34-36-1 et seq.), which should be checked by creation date. This is regulatory intelligence, not legal advice.

1. Community Associations Institute, Amicus Brief citing Bowen Court Condominium Ass'n (R.I. 2012), noting that Rhode Island's Condominium Act is modeled on the 1980 Uniform Condominium Act ↩
2. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(b) (lien for assessments — priority and super-priority) ↩
3. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(a), (d) (lien arises on due date; declaration recording perfects) ↩
4. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.21(a) (foreclosure of condominium lien — power of sale, notice, publication) ↩
5. Rhode Island Judiciary — Supreme Court (sole appellate court; no intermediate appellate court) ↩
6. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.02 (applicability — post/pre-1982 condos; § 34-36.1-3.21 applies after June 18, 1991) ↩
7. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.21(c) (30-day right of redemption for first mortgagee) ↩
8. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(f)–(i) (collection costs, advances, and judgment fees) ↩
9. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(a) (lien for assessments and fines; attorney's fees enforceable as assessments) ↩
10. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.15(b) (past-due assessments bear interest at a rate set by the association not exceeding 21% per year) ↩
11. Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Botelho, 127 A.3d 897 (R.I. 2015) ↩
12. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-1.04 (provisions may not be varied by agreement; rights may not be waived) ↩
13. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(e) (lien extinguished unless enforced within six years) ↩
14. R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13(a) (general ten-year limitations period for civil actions on written instruments) ↩
15. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.16(h) (recordable statement of unpaid assessments furnished within 10 business days) ↩
16. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.21(d) (itemized statement separating priority assessments from other charges) ↩
17. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-9 mortgage-foreclosure mediation (applies to first-lien mortgage foreclosures of owner-occupied 1–4 unit residences) ↩
18. Rhode Island foreclosure overview — nonjudicial power of sale predominant; judicial foreclosure available ↩
19. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.21(a)(3) (distribution of sale proceeds and surplus) ↩
20. Rhode Island Association of Realtors, "New Law Requires Certificate and Recording of Condo Bylaws and Rules" (S2647, eff. June 17, 2024) ↩
21. R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.06, History of Section (P.L. 2024, ch. 154, § 1 and ch. 156, § 1, both effective June 17, 2024) ↩
22. Rhode Island Supreme Court decisions 2023–2025 (no assessment-lien priority or foreclosure decision on point) ↩