Washington HOA Collections & Liens

Section 1: How assessment collection and liens work in Washington

Washington runs its association-lien framework on a single organizing principle: the statute that governs your community depends entirely on when it was created. The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA), RCW 64.90, covers common interest communities created on or after July 1, 2018. It grants a statutory assessment lien and a six-month super-priority component that leaps ahead of a first mortgage.¹ Condominiums created between July 1, 1990 and June 30, 2018 fall under the Condominium Act, RCW 64.34, which also carries a six-month super-priority.² Condominiums created before July 1, 1990 land under the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, RCW 64.32—a lien that is subordinate to all mortgages of record.³ And planned communities created before July 1, 2018 fall under the Homeowners' Associations Act, RCW 64.38, where any lien exists only if the governing documents create one.⁴

Under WUCIOA and the Condominium Act, the lien arises automatically when an assessment becomes due. Recording the declaration perfects it; no separate claim of lien is required.^{1, 2} The super-priority—available only under WUCIOA and the Condominium Act—equals six months of common-expense assessments preceding the start of foreclosure proceedings.^{1, 2} Foreclosure may be judicial or, if the declaration grants a deed of trust with a power of sale, nonjudicial.¹ No association may foreclose unless the owner owes the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000—excluding fines and fees—with at least 90 days elapsed from accrual.¹ Nationally, Washington sits among the super-priority states alongside Nevada and Connecticut, while also imposing the threshold limits seen in states such as California and Arizona. The sections below lay out the lien, its priority, and the full collection and foreclosure sequence.

Washington HOA Collections & Liens at a glance

Source: RCW 64.90.485, RCW 64.34.364, RCW 64.32.200, RCW 64.38.100, RCW 6.23.020, RCW 61.24.163 (app.leg.wa.gov). Last verified: June 10, 2026.

Section 2: The lien and its priority

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

The source of the assessment lien differs by act. Under WUCIOA, the association holds a statutory lien on each unit for any unpaid assessment from the time the assessment is due. Recording the declaration constitutes record notice and perfection—no separate claim of lien must be recorded, though one is permitted.¹ The Condominium Act is materially identical: the lien exists from the time the assessment is due, and recording the declaration perfects it.² The Horizontal Property Regimes Act likewise makes unpaid common-expense assessments a lien on the apartment.³ Planned communities under RCW 64.38 are different: no statutory assessment lien exists there. RCW 64.38.100 operates only "if the governing documents of an association provide for a lien," which means the lien is contractual and depends on the recorded CC&Rs.⁴

The lien secures unpaid assessments. Late charges, interest, fines, collection costs, and attorneys' fees may be recoverable where the governing documents and budget provide for them, but WUCIOA expressly excludes those items from the priority amount, and they do not count toward the minimum needed to foreclose.¹ The lien attaches to the individual unit or lot. A judgment against the association itself is not a lien on the common elements but reaches the units, and individual owners' other property is not exposed to association creditors.⁸

2B. Lien priority and any super-priority component

This is the highest-volume question, and the rule must be stated precisely. Under WUCIOA, the association lien is prior to all other liens except: (a) liens recorded before the declaration, (b) a security interest (mortgage) recorded before the assessment became due, and (c) real-estate-tax and governmental liens.¹ WUCIOA then carves out a super-priority: the lien leaps ahead of an otherwise-senior first mortgage to the extent of the common-expense assessments—excluding capital-improvement amounts—that would have become due during the six months immediately preceding institution of foreclosure proceedings, plus the association's actual foreclosure costs and reasonable attorneys' fees capped at the lesser of $2,000 or the six-month assessment amount.¹

That cost-and-fee allowance is the WUCIOA expansion over the older Condominium Act. The Condominium Act's six-month super-priority does not include a fee add-on, and it can be reduced by up to three months if the association fails to honor an eligible mortgagee's written request for notice of delinquency.² Pre-1990 condominiums under the Horizontal Property Regimes Act carry no super-priority at all: their lien is prior to other liens except tax liens and all sums unpaid on mortgages of record, so a first mortgage is always paid ahead of the association.³ Planned communities under RCW 64.38 have no statutory super-priority.

Washington statutes do not authorize serial reassertion of successive six-month periods—there is no rolling-lien mechanism. The super-priority amount is measured once, from the six months preceding institution of proceedings. An association that forecloses nonjudicially forfeits the super-priority entirely.¹ The super-priority does not displace mechanics' or material suppliers' liens to the extent other Washington law gives them priority.¹

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

Recorded CC&Rs supplement the statutory framework and, for RCW 64.38 communities, are the source of the lien itself. CC&Rs cannot override the mandatory owner protections in the statutes—the threshold, notice, and board-vote requirements—or expand the super-priority beyond what the statute allows.

The statute of limitations on the underlying assessment debt is six years. WUCIOA codifies this directly: the lien and the personal obligation are extinguished unless enforcement proceedings begin within six years after the full amount becomes due.¹ For communities without a comparable statutory clock, Washington courts apply the six-year written-contract limitations period of RCW 4.16.040, treating the recorded declaration as a written contract and each assessment as a discrete claim.⁹

Three federal frameworks operate on top of the Washington rules and can override them in specific cases: the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act reaches associations and especially their attorneys and outside collection agents; the automatic stay in bankruptcy halts collection and foreclosure on filing; and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act limits enforcement against active-duty servicemembers.

Section 3: The collection and foreclosure process

This is the operational core, and the data source for cure-date calculation. Day-counts below come from current statutory text. Where a step binds only certain eras, that is flagged; where a step depends on the CC&Rs rather than statute, it is labeled contractual.

3A. Pre-lien collection sequence

Under the Condominium Act and the Homeowners' Associations Act, the association must mail a notice of delinquency by first-class mail no later than 30 days after an assessment becomes past due, to the unit or lot address and any other address the owner has provided, and by email if known.^{2, 4} That first notice must include the statutory first preforeclosure notice—the "THIS IS A NOTICE OF DELINQUENCY" warning directing the owner to a housing counselor or attorney.⁴ WUCIOA contains a parallel preforeclosure-notice sequence within RCW 64.90.485, including a requirement that the association or its attorney mail the first notice if it has not yet gone out when the account is referred to counsel.¹

For all four acts, the notice must point the owner to the statewide foreclosure hotline, HUD, and the civil legal aid hotline, with toll-free numbers obtained from the Department of Commerce.¹ Effective January 1, 2026, owners gained the right to request housing counseling and a meet-and-confer process before referral to mediation.⁶ No statute mandates that the association offer a formal payment plan, though the new mediation track functions as a structured negotiation forum.

3B. Recording and the pre-foreclosure sequence

Recording a separate claim of lien is unnecessary under WUCIOA, the Condominium Act, and the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, because recording the declaration already perfects the lien—though the association may file a claim of lien if it chooses.^{1, 2} For an RCW 64.38 planned community, perfection and recording follow the CC&Rs, because the lien is contractual.⁴

Before foreclosing, the association must mail a second preforeclosure notice. It may send that notice only at or after the date assessments have been past due for at least 90 days, and no sooner than 60 days after the first notice.^{1, 4} At least 90 days must have elapsed from the date the minimum delinquency amount accrued.¹ If the owner has been referred to mediation under RCW 61.24.163, the association must wait until mediation is completed and the certification issues, or until 10 days after the mediator's certification was due.¹ Finally, the board must approve commencement of a foreclosure action specifically against that unit or lot. This is a required board act under all four collection statutes.^{1, 4}

3C. Foreclosure mechanics and thresholds

Foreclosure may be judicial or nonjudicial. Judicial foreclosure proceeds in superior court in the manner of a mortgage foreclosure under RCW 61.12, subject to the redemption rights in RCW 6.23.¹ Nonjudicial foreclosure under the Deeds of Trust Act, RCW 61.24, is available only if the declaration grants the community in trust to a qualified trustee, contains a power of sale, states that the units are not used principally for agricultural purposes, and makes the power of sale operative on a default in paying assessments.¹ A nonjudicial trustee's sale requires at least 120 days' notice of sale under RCW 61.24. An association that proceeds nonjudicially forfeits the six-month super-priority and becomes subject to the deficiency limits of the Deeds of Trust Act.¹

No association may commence a foreclosure unless the owner owes at least the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000, in each case excluding fines, late charges, interest, attorneys' fees, and collection costs.¹ Because those add-ons are excluded, a lien composed only of fines and fees cannot support a foreclosure in Washington.¹ Every aspect of the sale must be commercially reasonable.¹

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

After a judicial foreclosure, the former owner—and certain junior lienholders as redemptioners—may redeem within one year of the sheriff's sale. That window shrinks to eight months if the association expressly waives any right to a deficiency judgment in its complaint.^{7, 1} There is no post-sale redemption after a nonjudicial trustee's sale under RCW 61.24.¹

A deficiency judgment against the former owner is available in a judicial foreclosure unless waived, but a nonjudicial association foreclosure is subject to the Deeds of Trust Act's deficiency limits.¹ Surplus proceeds from a sale go first to the costs of sale, then to the obligations secured, with any remainder to the owner or junior claimants. On reinstatement: RCW 61.24.090 lets a borrower in a nonjudicial deed-of-trust proceeding cure the default by paying the arrears and costs before the sale. An owner in a judicial association foreclosure may pay the full delinquency to halt the action and, after sale, may redeem within the applicable period.⁷

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent Legislation

Two significant bills moved through the 2025 Washington legislature. One extends the Foreclosure Mediation Program to association-lien foreclosures; the other tightens WUCIOA's small-community exemptions and imposes a new conflict restriction on who may bid at a foreclosure sale.

Recent Court Rulings

No published Washington appellate decision squarely deciding assessment-lien priority, super-priority, or assessment-lien foreclosure issued in the June 2023 through June 2026 window can be confirmed against the official courts.wa.gov reporter. The controlling authority on the limitations question remains a 2021 ruling by the Court of Appeals, Division II.

Active Legislative Debates

The defining forward change is already law. Chapter 321, Laws of 2024 (ESSB 5796, "WUCIOA for All") repeals RCW 64.32, RCW 64.34, RCW 64.38, and the Land Development Act, effective January 1, 2028, and brings every Washington common interest community under WUCIOA.¹² That repeal ends the era-based split for collections and liens described throughout this page. When it takes effect, the governing-act analysis becomes straightforward: all communities—regardless of creation date—operate under a single statutory lien framework with the same super-priority rules, the same foreclosure thresholds, and the same procedural requirements.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Washington sits in the super-priority camp of collection regimes, but with guardrails. Like Nevada, whose nine-month super-priority lien under NRS 116.3116 is the national reference point and can extinguish a first deed of trust on foreclosure, and like Connecticut, whose Common Interest Ownership Act under CGS § 47-258 grants a six-month priority portion plus enforcement costs, Washington lets a WUCIOA or Condominium Act association leap a senior mortgage to the extent of six months of assessments.

At the same time, Washington layers on the threshold limits associated with states such as California, Arizona, and Colorado—barring foreclosure below the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000, and before a 90-day clock runs. Its pre-1990 condominiums and planned communities, by contrast, look more like CC&R-primary jurisdictions, where the lien depends on the declaration and never outranks a first mortgage.

For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is direct: a notice sequence or foreclosure path that is valid in one state can be defective or outright barred in another, so cure dates and priority calculations must run against the specific governing act. Washington's current direction is toward tighter owner protections—mediation, meet-and-confer, and the bidding restriction—and toward unification under WUCIOA by 2028.

1. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.485, Liens—Enforcement—Notice of delinquency—Second notice (WUCIOA) ↩
2. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.34.364, Lien for assessments—Notice of delinquency—Second notice (Condominium Act) ↩
3. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.32.200, Assessments for common expenses—Liens and foreclosures (Horizontal Property Regimes Act) ↩
4. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.100, Liens for unpaid assessments—Notice of delinquency—Second notice (Homeowners' Associations Act) ↩
5. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.365, Common interest communities—preexisting applicability and exceptions ↩
6. Wash. Rev. Code § 61.24.163, Foreclosure mediation program (effective January 1, 2026; expanded to association liens by Chapter 393, Laws of 2025) ↩
7. Wash. Rev. Code § 6.23.020, Time for redemption from purchaser—Amount to be paid ↩
8. Wash. Rev. Code § 64.90.490, Other liens (judgments against the association) ↩
9. Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.040, Actions limited to six years (written contracts); applied to HOA assessment liens in Kiona Park Estates v. Dehls, 18 Wn. App. 2d 328, 491 P.3d 247 (Wash. Ct. App. Div. II 2021) ↩
10. E2SSB 5686 (2025), Chapter 393, Laws of 2025, official bill page ↩
11. ESSB 5129 (2025), Chapter 119, Laws of 2025, official bill page ↩
12. ESSB 5796 (2024), Chapter 321, Laws of 2024, official bill page ↩