Washington HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

Washington sets no numeric ceiling on assessment increases. The controls are procedural: a budget-ratification mechanism that lets owners reject a board's proposed budget before it takes effect, and a six-month super-priority lien that puts associations ahead of first mortgages when collecting unpaid assessments.¹ Four chapters govern depending on community type and creation date: the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA), RCW Chapter 64.90, covers common interest communities created on or after July 1, 2018; the Washington Condominium Act, RCW Chapter 64.34, covers condominiums created between July 1, 1990 and July 1, 2018; the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, RCW Chapter 64.32, governs condominiums created before July 1, 1990; and the Homeowners' Associations chapter, RCW Chapter 64.38, applies to planned-community HOAs formed before July 1, 2018.² Regular increases flow from the annual budget. That budget takes effect through ratification unless owners reject it — and there is no statutory cap on the dollar amount.³ Special assessments follow the same ratification process, and unpaid assessments support a lien whose six-month portion takes priority over a first mortgage.⁴ Washington sits in the ratification-mechanism category of states, distinct from statutory-cap states such as California, where Civil Code Section 5605(b) bars a board from imposing "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."⁵ The sections that follow lay out the framework, the procedures, recent legislative and judicial activity, and Washington's national positioning.

Section 2: The assessment framework

Authority to levy and allocate assessments

Under WUCIOA, the association levies assessments based on an annually adopted budget. RCW 64.90.480 provides that assessments for common expenses "must be made at least annually based on a budget adopted at least annually by the association in the manner provided in RCW 64.90.525," and allocates each unit's share according to its common expense liability as set in the declaration.⁶ The Condominium Act provides parallel authority: RCW 64.34.304 empowers the association to "[a]dopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and impose and collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners," with assessments made against all units based on the adopted budget.⁷ Condominiums created before July 1, 1990 fall under the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, RCW Chapter 64.32, though certain Condominium Act sections apply to them by statute.⁸ For planned-community HOAs formed before July 1, 2018, RCW 64.38.020 grants the association the power — unless the governing documents provide otherwise — to adopt budgets and impose and collect assessments for common expenses, with the assessment basis drawn primarily from the declaration.⁹ Which chapter applies turns on community type and creation date, but that layered structure is converging: ESSB 5796 (2024) repeals the three older chapters effective January 1, 2028 and applies WUCIOA to all communities, and ESSB 5129 (2025) accelerated selected WUCIOA provisions to all communities effective January 1, 2026.¹⁰

Limits on regular assessment increases, including budget ratification

No Washington chapter sets a percentage cap on regular assessment increases. The operative limit is the budget-ratification mechanism. Under RCW 64.90.525, within 30 days after the board adopts a proposed budget, the board must distribute a copy to all unit owners and set a ratification meeting "not less than fourteen nor more than fifty days after providing the budget."¹¹ The statute then provides: "Unless at that meeting the unit owners of units to which a majority of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage specified in the declaration reject the budget, the budget and the assessments against the units included in the budget are ratified, whether or not a quorum is present."¹² This is a ratification-by-default system: inaction ratifies, and rejection requires an affirmative majority of all allocated votes. The Condominium Act contains its own ratification provision at RCW 64.34.308, which on its face uses a 14-to-60-day window and a summary of the budget.¹³ Critically, that section opens "Except as provided in RCW 64.90.080 ... and 64.90.525," and RCW 64.90.080 makes RCW 64.90.525 apply to communities created before July 1, 2018, superseding inconsistent provisions — so the WUCIOA 14-to-50-day mechanism now governs budget ratification across condominium and pre-2018 HOA communities alike.¹⁴ A defective increase — one where the board skips distribution or the ratification meeting — is vulnerable: the last ratified budget continues until a valid budget is ratified.¹⁵

Special assessments, super-priority lien, and foreclosure

The board may propose a special assessment at any time. Under RCW 64.90.525(3), the special assessment "is effective only if the board follows the procedures for ratification of a budget described in subsection (1) of this section and the unit owners do not reject the proposed assessment."¹⁶ Unpaid assessments support a statutory lien. RCW 64.90.485 gives the association a lien on each unit, and grants it priority over a prior-recorded first mortgage to the extent of common expense assessments "which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six months immediately preceding the institution of proceedings to foreclose" — a six-month super-priority window.¹⁷ The Condominium Act provides the same six-month super-priority at RCW 64.34.364, measured from the date of a sheriff's or trustee's sale.¹⁸ Two limits matter operationally: the priority is reduced by up to three months if an eligible mortgagee requested notice and did not receive it, and an association that forecloses nonjudicially loses the super-priority entirely.¹⁹ The super-priority lien is not universally retroactive; RCW 64.90.080 extends only RCW 64.90.095, 64.90.405(1)(b) and (c), 64.90.525, and 64.90.545 to pre-2018 communities — not the WUCIOA lien.²⁰ For legacy RCW 64.38 planned communities, the lien is declaration-based: RCW 64.38.100 applies only "[i]f the governing documents of an association provide for a lien," and those documents commonly subordinate the HOA lien to a first mortgage.²¹

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

Regular assessment increase procedure

Under WUCIOA (RCW 64.90.525) and, by operation of RCW 64.90.080, all pre-2018 condominium and planned communities, the board adopts a proposed budget, delivers it to owners within 30 days, and sets a ratification meeting 14 to 50 days out. The budget and its assessments take effect unless a majority of all allocated votes rejects them.²² Washington places no statutory percentage limit on the size of the increase contained in that budget.²³

Special assessment procedure

Under WUCIOA (RCW 64.90.525(3)) and the Condominium Act (RCW 64.34.308), a special assessment proposed by the board takes effect only after the same ratification process — and only if owners do not reject it.²⁴ ESSB 5129 (2025) added emergency powers that allow boards to levy emergency special assessments by a two-thirds board vote during a declared emergency, with prompt owner notice required.²⁵

Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

No statutory percentage cap exists on regular or special assessments under any of the four chapters. The override is the owners' collective rejection right at the ratification meeting — set by a majority of all allocated votes, or a larger percentage stated in the declaration (RCW 64.90.525; RCW 64.34.308).²⁶ A declaration may impose its own stricter approval threshold, which controls if more demanding than the statute.²⁷

Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

WUCIOA budgets (RCW 64.90.525) must disclose projected income and expenses, the per-unit assessment and due date, reserve contributions, and any reserve study deficiency or surplus per unit.²⁸ Effective January 1, 2026, ESSB 5129 requires every association to offer at least one no-charge method for paying assessments (RCW 64.90.480), and E2SSB 5686 requires a notice of delinquency no later than 30 days after an assessment becomes past due, with a 15-day standstill before any further collection action (RCW 64.34.364; RCW 64.38.100; RCW 64.90.485).²⁹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Washington's 2024 and 2025 sessions produced two signed laws that reshape the assessment and collection landscape. ESSB 5796 sets a 2028 deadline for consolidating all communities under WUCIOA. E2SSB 5686 layers new consumer protections onto the foreclosure process starting in 2025. A companion measure, ESSB 5129, pushed selected WUCIOA provisions out to all communities two full years ahead of that deadline.

Recent appellate rulings

Washington's appellate courts have weighed in on two significant assessment-related questions: the validity of a $2.2 million special assessment for building repairs, and the deference standard courts apply to discretionary board decisions.

Active legislative debates

The 2026 regular session adjourned March 12, 2026 with the WUCIOA "for all" transition still on track for January 1, 2028. Stakeholders continue to press technical "fix" legislation refining WUCIOA assessment, reserve, and collection provisions, but no new percentage cap on assessments has been proposed.³⁶

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Washington sits in the middle of three national approaches to assessment limits. The first is the statutory-cap model led by California, where Civil Code Section 5605 bars a board from imposing a regular assessment more than 20 percent greater than the prior year, or special assessments aggregating more than 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses, without a member vote.³⁷ The second is the ratification-mechanism model of UCIOA-derived states, where the check is owner rejection of the budget rather than a numeric ceiling, paired with a six-month super-priority assessment lien. Washington falls in this group; Connecticut and Vermont, among others, share this lien-and-ratification structure.³⁸ The third is the declaration-driven model, where limits depend chiefly on each community's recorded documents. Washington's distinctive feature is its layered structure — WUCIOA modernizes assessment law while older communities remain partly under the Condominium Act, the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, or the Homeowners' Associations chapter until the 2028 consolidation. For multi-state operators, the practical implication is straightforward: identify the community type and creation date first, then read the applicable chapter, because the wrong chapter produces the wrong ratification window and the wrong lien analysis.

Recommendations

1. Confirm the governing chapter before any assessment action. Identify each community's type and creation date and match it to the correct chapter (WUCIOA for post-July 2018 communities; the Condominium Act, Horizontal Property Regimes Act, or Homeowners' Associations chapter for older ones). The threshold that changes this step is the January 1, 2028 repeal of the three older chapters, after which WUCIOA governs all communities. Until then, treat the budget-ratification mechanism of RCW 64.90.525 as already controlling for all communities because RCW 64.90.080 extends it retroactively.
2. Run the ratification process precisely. Deliver the proposed budget within 30 days of board adoption, schedule the ratification meeting in the 14-to-50-day window, and document delivery and the meeting. A procedural defect lets the prior budget continue and exposes the increase to challenge. There is no percentage cap to clear, so the procedure is the entire defense of an increase.
3. Preserve the six-month super-priority for collections. For condominiums and WUCIOA communities, foreclose judicially rather than nonjudicially when the super-priority over a first mortgage matters, because nonjudicial foreclosure forfeits that priority. Respond to eligible-mortgagee notice requests to avoid the up-to-three-month reduction.
4. Build the SB 5686 compliance file now. The expanded foreclosure-mediation regime phases in from July 27, 2025 through January 1, 2028. Associations need to produce a 12-month itemized owner ledger and current lien status on demand, send the 30-day delinquency notice, observe the 15-day standstill, and cap late fees at the lesser of $50 or 5 percent. Any delinquency approaching the three-month or $2,000 foreclosure threshold should trigger escalation to counsel.
5. Treat declaration restatement as a 2026–2027 project. Boards of pre-2018 communities need to audit and amend governing documents to conform to WUCIOA ahead of the 2028 deadline, since most amendments require a supermajority owner vote and cannot be assembled quickly. The signal to accelerate is any planned large special assessment or capital project — those run cleaner under conformed documents.

Caveats

• The premise that RCW 64.38 has no ratification requirement does not hold under current law. Primary sources confirm that RCW 64.90.080 makes the RCW 64.90.525 budget-ratification mechanism apply to communities created before July 1, 2018, expressly superseding inconsistent governing-document provisions for plat and miscellaneous communities previously under RCW 64.38. This page reports the law as it stands rather than the assumption that legacy HOAs are exempt from statutory ratification.
• The six-month super-priority lien is not uniformly retroactive. RCW 64.90.080 extends only four WUCIOA sections (64.90.095, 64.90.405(1)(b) and (c), 64.90.525, and 64.90.545) to pre-2018 communities. A pre-2018 condominium relies on RCW 64.34.364 for its super-priority, and a legacy RCW 64.38 planned community has only a declaration-based lien unless and until WUCIOA fully applies in 2028.
• The leading appellate authority predates the 36-month window. The only verified in-window Washington appellate decision squarely on these topics — 3710 Irongate v. Judson Plaza — is unpublished and non-precedential under GR 14.1. The controlling published authority, Surowiecki v. Hat Island, is from 2022 and arose under RCW 64.38, so its deference holding may apply differently to condominium or WUCIOA communities.
• Effective dates are in flux. Several cited sections (RCW 64.34.364, 64.38.100, 64.90.485) have multiple versions with staggered effective and expiration dates tied to the 2025 and 2026 legislation and the 2028 consolidation. Verify the operative version against the official Revised Code of Washington for the date of any specific action.
• Citations rely on official primary sources. Statutory text and effective dates were verified against the Revised Code of Washington at app.leg.wa.gov and bill records at the Washington Legislature; the Irongate opinion was retrieved from courts.wa.gov. Secondary characterizations of multi-state positioning (Connecticut, Vermont) reflect the shared UCIOA structure rather than a section-by-section comparison.

1. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.485, Liens—Enforcement ↩
2. Wash. Rev. Code ch. 64.90 (WUCIOA); Wash. Rev. Code chs. 64.34, 64.32, 64.38 ↩
3. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525, Budgets—Assessments—Special assessments (no cap on dollar amount) ↩
4. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.485(3) ↩
5. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) ↩
6. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.480, Assessments and capital contributions ↩
7. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.304, Unit owners' association—Powers ↩
8. Wash. Rev. Code ch. 64.32, Horizontal Property Regimes Act ↩
9. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.020, Association powers ↩
10. Engrossed Substitute S.B. 5129, ch. 119, 2025 Wash. Sess. Laws ↩
11. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(1), Budgets—Assessments—Special assessments (14-to-50-day ratification meeting notice) ↩
12. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(1) (ratification-by-default standard; majority-of-all-allocated-votes rejection required) ↩
13. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.308(3), Budgets ↩
14. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.080, Common interest communities, preexisting (retroactive application of RCW 64.90.525 to pre-2018 communities) ↩
15. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(1) (defective increase; prior ratified budget continues until valid budget adopted) ↩
16. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(3) (special assessment subject to same ratification process) ↩
17. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.485(3)(a), Liens—Enforcement (six-month super-priority window) ↩
18. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.364(3)–(5), Liens for unpaid assessments—Priority—Foreclosure (Condominium Act six-month super-priority) ↩
19. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.364(3)–(5) (mortgagee-notice reduction up to three months; nonjudicial foreclosure forfeits super-priority) ↩
20. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.080 (limited retroactive application; WUCIOA lien provisions not extended to pre-2018 communities) ↩
21. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.100, Liens for unpaid assessments (lien applies only if governing documents provide for one) ↩
22. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(1); Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.080 (retroactive application to all pre-2018 communities) ↩
23. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525 (no statutory percentage cap on the size of a budget increase) ↩
24. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525(3); Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.308 (special assessment takes effect only if owners do not reject it) ↩
25. Engrossed Substitute S.B. 5129, ch. 119, 2025 Wash. Sess. Laws (emergency special assessment authority; two-thirds board vote; prompt owner notice) ↩
26. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525; Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.308 (no statutory percentage cap; owner rejection right set by majority of all allocated votes or declaration threshold) ↩
27. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.308(3) (declaration may impose stricter approval threshold than statute) ↩
28. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.525 (WUCIOA budget disclosure requirements: projected income, expenses, per-unit assessment, reserve contributions, reserve study deficiency or surplus) ↩
29. Engrossed Second Substitute S.B. 5686, ch. 393, 2025 Wash. Sess. Laws; Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.480 (no-charge payment method; 30-day delinquency notice; 15-day standstill) ↩
30. Engrossed Substitute S.B. 5796, ch. 321, 2024 Wash. Sess. Laws ↩
31. Engrossed Second Substitute S.B. 5686, ch. 393, 2025 Wash. Sess. Laws ↩
32. Engrossed Substitute S.B. 5129, ch. 119, 2025 Wash. Sess. Laws ↩
33. 3710 Irongate, LLC v. Unit Owners Ass'n of Judson Plaza Condo., No. 86717-2-I (Wash. Ct. App. Div. I Nov. 10, 2025) (unpublished; non-precedential under GR 14.1) ↩
34. Surowiecki v. Hat Island Cmty. Ass'n, 199 Wn.2d 183, 504 P.3d 813 (2022) ↩
35. Surowiecki v. Hat Island Cmty. Ass'n, 199 Wn.2d 183, 504 P.3d 813 (2022) (deference holding arose under Wash. Rev. Code ch. 64.38; applicability to condominium or WUCIOA communities not resolved) ↩
36. Washington State Legislature, 2026 Regular Session ↩
37. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) (20% cap on regular assessments; 5% aggregate cap on special assessments absent member vote) ↩
38. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.485 (UCIOA-derived super-priority lien; ratification-mechanism model) ↩