Section 1: Overview

Vermont enforces HOA assessment liens through the courts. When a unit carries little or no equity above senior debt, the court can vest title directly in the association — no public auction required. That remedy, called strict foreclosure, is a distinctly New England approach.

Vermont also channels civil appeals straight to the state Supreme Court, bypassing any intermediate appellate court, placing it among only eight states set up that way.¹ The Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act (VCIOA), codified at 27A V.S.A. § 1-101 et seq. and effective January 1, 1999, governs condominiums and planned communities created on or after that date; the older Condominium Ownership Act at 27 V.S.A. § 1301 et seq. governs many condominiums formed before 1999, subject to selected VCIOA provisions that apply retroactively.²

Under 27A V.S.A. § 3-116, the association's lien takes priority over a first mortgage to the extent of common-expense assessments that would have come due during the six months immediately preceding the enforcement action.³ Foreclosure runs judicially under 12 V.S.A. Chapter 172 — through strict foreclosure where the unit has little or no equity above senior debt, or by judicial sale where equity exists.⁴

Three federal regimes layer on top: the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy automatic stay.⁵ The sections below cover the statutory structure, the procedural sequence, recent legislative and judicial activity, and Vermont's place among comparable states.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. The Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act and the super-priority

The VCIOA — 27A V.S.A. § 1-101 et seq. — is Vermont's adoption of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, a comprehensive statute governing the creation, management, and termination of common interest communities. The state legislature passed it in 1997 and it took effect January 1, 1999.⁶ The Act defines a common interest community to include condominiums and planned communities; cooperatives, organized under 11 V.S.A. Chapter 14, fall outside the statutory definition.⁶

Under 27A V.S.A. § 1-201, the Act applies to all condominiums available for residential use created after the effective date, and to other common interest communities of 12 or more residential units created after that date.⁷ Selected provisions reach back retroactively to pre-existing communities under 27A V.S.A. § 1-204 — some from 1999, others only for events and circumstances occurring after December 31, 2011.⁸

Condominiums created before January 1, 1999, may continue operating under the Condominium Ownership Act, 27 V.S.A. § 1301 et seq., added in 1967 and effective January 23, 1968.⁹ The Title 27 versus Title 27A distinction matters. The older Act applies only to property whose owners elected coverage by recording a declaration, and it carries its own lien provisions. Under 27 V.S.A. § 1323, unpaid common-expense assessments constitute a lien prior to all other liens except tax liens, sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record, and mechanic's liens; the lien forecloses in the same manner as a mortgage on real property.¹⁰ The older Act carries no six-month super-priority.

The defining feature of the modern framework is the statutory lien under 27A V.S.A. § 3-116. The lien secures any assessment attributable to a unit and, unless the declaration provides otherwise, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, late charges, fines, interest, and other sums due to the association.¹¹

Recording the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection — no separate lien filing is required. The lien ranks ahead of most other encumbrances, except liens recorded before the declaration, a first mortgage or deed of trust recorded before the assessment became delinquent, and real estate tax liens.

The super-priority appears in § 3-116(c): the association's lien also takes priority over a first security interest to the extent of the common-expense assessments, based on the periodic budget adopted under § 3-115(a), that would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six months immediately preceding institution of an action to enforce the lien.¹¹

The super-priority covers budgeted common-expense assessments only — not fines, late fees, attorney's fees, or interest, which remain enforceable as part of the general lien but outside the six-month priority over the first mortgage. A lien extinguishes unless enforcement proceedings begin within three years after the full assessment amount becomes due.¹¹

Sources

1. Vermont Judiciary, Supreme Court (appellate jurisdiction; no intermediate court); Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 3-116, Lien for sums due association; enforcement ↩
2. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 1-201, New common interest communities (applicability); Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27, § 1301, Condominium Ownership Act, short title ↩
3. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 3-116(c), six-month super-priority ↩
4. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, ch. 172, Foreclosure of Mortgages (subch. 2 strict foreclosure; subch. 3 judicial sale) ↩
5. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 79 (2019) ↩
6. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, §§ 1-101 et seq., Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act (effective Jan. 1, 1999; cooperatives excluded) ↩
7. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 1-201, applicability to condominiums and communities of 12 or more units ↩
8. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 1-204, retroactivity (some provisions from 1999, others after Dec. 31, 2011), as recited in Vermont Supreme Court opinion record ↩
9. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27, § 1301, Condominium Ownership Act (added 1967, eff. Jan. 23, 1968) ↩
10. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27, § 1323, Priority of lien (Condominium Ownership Act; foreclosed as a mortgage) ↩
11. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 3-116, Lien for sums due association; enforcement (subsections (a)–(c) priority and super-priority; (e) perfection; (f) three-year limit; (i) statement; (j) foreclosure under ch. 172; (m) three-month precondition and board vote; (o) judgment-lien requirement; (p) commercial reasonableness; amendment history through 2013, No. 102) ↩
12. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 4941, Decree foreclosing equity of redemption; writ of possession (no-substantial-value finding; six-month redemption; writ of possession; certificate of non-redemption) ↩
13. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, ch. 172, subch. 3, Foreclosure by Judicial Sale (§§ 4945–4954) ↩
14. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 4961, Power of nonjudicial sale (excludes farmland and a dwelling house owned by a natural person) ↩
15. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 4946(b), redemption in foreclosure by judicial sale for owner-occupied principal residence (six months from decree unless shortened) ↩
16. Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 4631 et seq., foreclosure mediation (not applicable to commercial loans) ↩
17. Vermont Judiciary, Court Divisions (Superior Court Civil Division hears foreclosure; Supreme Court hears appeals) ↩
18. Vermont Bar Association, A Short Guide to Vermont Appellate Practice (Vermont is one of only eight states without a general intermediate appellate court) ↩
19. Woodbine Condo. Ass'n v. Lowe (Vt. S. Ct.) (condominium assessment-lien foreclosure subject to permission-to-appeal requirement) ↩
20. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 79 (2019) (nonjudicial-foreclosure holding; judicial foreclosure left open) ↩
21. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3901 et seq. ↩
22. Bankruptcy automatic stay, 11 U.S.C. § 362 ↩
23. S.109, 2025–2026 Vt. Reg. Sess., enacted as Act 64 (eff. June 12, 2025) (bill status) ↩
24. Will v. Mill Condo. Owners' Ass'n, 2004 VT 22, 176 Vt. 380, 848 A.2d 336 (full opinion) ↩
25. Woodbine Condo. Ass'n v. Lowe (Vt. S. Ct.) (full opinion) ↩
26. Lodge at Bolton Valley Condo. Ass'n v. Hamilton, 2006 VT 41 (three-year limitations period under Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 27A, § 3-116(e)) ↩
27. Community Associations Institute, Priority Lien — Vermont (state super-priority comparison) ↩
28. Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291 (1995) (attorneys engaged in litigation to collect a debt are "debt collectors" under the FDCPA) ↩
29. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3931 (military-status affidavit and appointment of counsel required before default judgment) ↩