Washington HOA Compliance
3. Compliance topics grid
1. Introduction
Washington layers its rules for common-interest communities rather than gathering them under a single HOA code. The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, RCW ch. 64.90, governs communities that came into existence on or after July 1, 2018, and it also reaches older communities that vote to opt in.1,2
For condominiums, the creation date still decides everything. RCW ch. 64.34 applies to condominiums created after July 1, 1990, while RCW ch. 64.32 continues to govern the older projects that came before.3,4
Noncondominium homeowners' associations formed before the WUCIOA transition still answer to RCW ch. 64.38, though certain WUCIOA provisions now reach those pre-2018 communities as well.5 Chapter 64.90 sweeps in common-interest communities, condominiums included, and chapter 64.38 defines a homeowners' association through member ownership and the costs neighbors share for common property.6,7
HOA disputes typically start in superior court. From there, parties may appeal to the Washington Court of Appeals, and the Washington Supreme Court may take a further look.8 Washington's statutes do not name a dedicated HOA regulator. The Department of Licensing handles real estate brokerage licensing, and the Attorney General's Consumer Resource Center receives consumer complaints.9,10
Recent signed bills covering resale certificates, owner inquiries, foreclosure mediation, wildfire hardening, and WUCIOA itself put Washington firmly on the list of active HOA legislative states.11,12,13,14
2. Primary statute and key resources
- Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, RCW ch. 64.90. This chapter pulls common-interest communities into a single framework for any community formed after July 1, 2018, and for older communities that choose to opt in.15
- Washington Condominium Act, RCW ch. 64.34, and Horizontal Property Regimes Act, RCW ch. 64.32. The condominium's creation date decides which chapter governs the project.16
- Washington Courts, appellate and trial courts. HOA appeals climb from superior court to the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court can step in for further review.17
- Washington Department of Licensing, real estate brokers and managing brokers. DOL licensing matters whenever association management crosses into licensed brokerage work.18
- Washington Attorney General, consumer complaint portal. The office runs an informal resolution process for Washington consumers and businesses.19
4. Washington's recent regulatory landscape
Recent Legislation
Washington's 2025–26 sessions delivered a packed slate of HOA bills, touching foreclosure mediation, resale certificates, owner inquiries, and wildfire hardening.
E2SSB 5686 · Chapter 393, Laws of 2025 · 2025 Regular Session
The governor signed E2SSB 5686 on May 20, 2025. It rewrites deed-of-trust, condominium, HOA, and WUCIOA lien provisions across RCW 64.32.200, 64.34.364, 64.38.100, and 64.90.485, and it ties new association foreclosure steps to delinquency notices, counseling referrals, mediation, and board approval before a sale moves forward.[20][21][22][23]
| Property managers | Collection calendars must build in delinquency notices, language-preference checks, referrals, and mediation steps before any foreclosure proceeds. |
| HOA board members | Boards should green-light foreclosure only after the statute's thresholds and process steps clear. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should rewrite lien-foreclosure forms to match the amended RCW 64.32, 64.34, 64.38, and 64.90 procedures. |
| Homeowners | Owners gain earlier notice, housing-counselor information, and a path to foreclosure mediation before an association forecloses. |
ESHB 1500 · Chapter 194, Laws of 2026 · 2026 Regular Session
The governor signed ESHB 1500 on March 24, 2026. The act amends RCW 64.90.640 and RCW 64.06.020, reshapes the contents of resale certificates, holds the 10-day association response window, caps preparation charges at $275 and update charges at $100, and lays out cancellation and closing-extension rules for purchasers.[24][25][26][27]
| Property managers | Resale workflows should reflect the new certificate content, the 10-day response rule, and the statutory fee caps. |
| HOA board members | Boards should confirm that financial, insurance, reserve, and litigation information stays current so resale requests do not catch the association flat-footed. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should revisit resale-certificate forms, seller disclosures, and any third-party delivery arrangements. |
| Homeowners | Sellers and purchasers get sharper resale information and clearer cancellation rights. |
EHB 1501 · Chapter 128, Laws of 2026 · 2026 Regular Session
The governor signed EHB 1501 on March 23, 2026. The act adds temporary inquiry sections to RCW chs. 64.90, 64.32, 64.34, and 64.38, and it directs an association to respond in a record within 30 days after it receives a certified-mail inquiry on governance or operations. It defines a substantive response, allows reasonable response rules, and shifts fees to the prevailing party in any resulting proceeding.[28][29][30][31]
| Property managers | Associations need a certified-mail intake log, a response calendar, and an escalation path for inquiries about governance and operations. |
| HOA board members | Boards should adopt response rules that track the statute and treat the cost of discretionary opinions as a common expense. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should define what counts as a substantive response and when an opinion qualifies as reasonably necessary. |
| Homeowners | Owners gain a formal written-inquiry channel with firm deadlines and fee-shifting exposure for later disputes. |
SSB 6054 · Chapter 180, Laws of 2026 · 2026 Regular Session
The governor signed SSB 6054 on March 24, 2026. The act bars governing documents from blocking fire-hardened building materials when applicable health, safety, and permitting requirements line up, while it still allows reasonable rules on design, dimension, placement, and exterior appearance. It applies retroactively and renders inconsistent provisions void and unenforceable.[32][33][34][35]
| Property managers | Architectural-review standards should make room for qualifying fire-hardened materials. |
| HOA board members | Boards may still regulate appearance and placement, but they should steer clear of rules that function as an outright ban. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should audit governing documents and architectural guidelines for provisions the new law has rendered void. |
| Homeowners | Owners now have statutory backing to use qualifying wildfire-hardening materials, subject to permits and reasonable rules. |
Recent Court Rulings
Washington's appellate courts have sharpened two daily HOA questions: how political-sign rules square with statute, and how lien strategy holds up after bankruptcy.
Landesberg v. Fairway Village Homeowners Association
Division II weighed a homeowners association rule that limited political signs to 60 days before an election against RCW 64.38.034(1), which curbs HOA prohibitions on outdoor political yard signs ahead of a primary or general election. The court reversed summary judgment for the HOA and held that the statute, on its face, does not allow an HOA to prohibit a political sign display before an election. The practical takeaway: Washington HOA rules on political signs may govern placement and manner, but they should not impose a pre-election cutoff that functions as a ban.[36][37][38]
| Property managers | Enforcement calendars for political signs should square with RCW 64.38.034 before any violation notice goes out. |
| HOA board members | Boards should avoid campaign-sign windows that close before an election even arrives. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should comb sign provisions for statutory conflict and possible breach-of-governing-documents exposure. |
| Homeowners | Owners have firmer ground to display political yard signs before elections, subject to lawful manner rules. |
Copper Creek (Marysville) Homeowners Ass'n v. Kurtz
The Supreme Court ruled that, after a bankruptcy discharge, a deed-of-trust foreclosure action accrues with each missed installment payment, and the six-year statute of limitations runs separately for unpaid installments inside the previous six years. The opinion also notes that the property carried Copper Creek HOA assessments, that those assessments formed a continuing lien, and that the HOA lien stood behind the first deed of trust. The takeaway: HOA lien strategy must reckon with senior secured interests and bankruptcy-discharge timing when multiple liens fasten onto the same lot.[39][40][41]
| Property managers | Delinquency files should flag senior deeds of trust and bankruptcy events before anyone sets a collection strategy. |
| HOA board members | Boards should grasp that an association lien may sit in a junior position even while the assessments remain collectable. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should size up lien priority, limitations periods, and bankruptcy-discharge effects before foreclosing. |
| Homeowners | Owners may face overlapping lien claims, but priority and limitations rules can reshape enforcement timing. |
Regulatory Developments
The Department of Commerce has stepped into association foreclosure, posting templates and referral resources tied directly to the amended lien statutes.
Washington Department of Commerce
Commerce reports that the Foreclosure Fairness Program delivers free housing counseling, civil legal aid, and foreclosure mediation. The same page lists association-foreclosure resources, including a Foreclosure Mediation Program item, a meet-and-confer session item, a Housing Counseling Program item, and notice-of-delinquency templates tied to RCW 64.34.364, RCW 64.32.200, RCW 64.38.100, and RCW 64.90.485.[42][43]
| Property managers | Association foreclosure files should pull from current Commerce-linked templates and referral information. |
| HOA board members | Boards should expect foreclosure decisions to involve counseling and mediation materials, not just internal collection records. |
| Community association attorneys | Counsel should line up notices and mediation referrals with Commerce resources and the amended lien statutes. |
| Homeowners | Owners can turn to the resources Commerce lists for counseling, mediation, and notice information whenever assessment foreclosure looms. |
Active Policy Debates
The near-term issue worth watching: a set of temporary common-interest-community provisions, including the owner-inquiry and foreclosure-mediation sections, will expire on January 1, 2028.44,45 The 2026 WUCIOA amendments, the resale-certificate amendments, the owner-inquiry law, and the wildfire-hardening law together show that lawmakers continue to push the older HOA and condominium regimes into alignment with chapter 64.90.46,47,48,49
5. Closing note
Our look at Washington is ongoing. We'll be here as new bills move through Olympia and as the courts weigh in on new disputes. Federal frameworks reach Washington associations too — the Fair Housing Act, the ADA, the FDCPA, the SCRA, and the FCC's OTARD rule — and we'll cover those federal frameworks in more detail as we build out the upcoming /federal/ section.50,51,52,53,54
Footnotes
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.90.360, Applicability to common interest communities ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.90.370, Preexisting common interest communities ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.34.010, Application of chapter 64.34 RCW ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.32.020, Application of Horizontal Property Regimes Act ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.38.095, Application to common interest communities ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.90.010, Definitions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.38.010, Homeowners' association definition ↩
- Washington Courts, Appellate and Trial Courts ↩
- Washington Department of Licensing, Real Estate Brokers ↩
- Washington Attorney General, File a Consumer Complaint ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1500 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1501 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 5686 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 6054 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, Chapter 64.90 RCW, Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.34.010, Condominium Act application ↩
- Washington Courts, Appellate and Trial Courts ↩
- Washington Department of Licensing, Managing Brokers ↩
- Washington Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 5686 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- E2SSB 5686 Session Law, Chapter 393, Laws of 2025 ↩
- E2SSB 5686 Session Law, association foreclosure notice and mediation provisions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 5686 Bill Summary, official bill page ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1500 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- ESHB 1500 Session Law, Chapter 194, Laws of 2026 ↩
- ESHB 1500 Session Law, resale certificate timing, fee, and purchaser provisions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1500 Bill Summary, official bill page ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1501 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- EHB 1501 Session Law, Chapter 128, Laws of 2026 ↩
- EHB 1501 Session Law, substantive response, rules, fees, and expiration provisions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1501 Bill Summary, official bill page ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 6054 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- SSB 6054 Session Law, Chapter 180, Laws of 2026 ↩
- SSB 6054 Session Law, retroactivity and unenforceability provisions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 6054 Bill Summary, official bill page ↩
- Washington Court of Appeals, Division II, Landesberg v. Fairway Village Homeowners Association, No. 57740-2-II ↩
- Landesberg v. Fairway Village Homeowners Association, published opinion holding ↩
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 64.38.034, Political yard signs ↩
- Washington Supreme Court, Copper Creek (Marysville) Homeowners Ass'n v. Kurtz, No. 100918-6 ↩
- Copper Creek opinion, HOA assessment lien and lien priority discussion ↩
- Copper Creek opinion, secured-interest and limitations analysis ↩
- Washington Department of Commerce, Foreclosure Fairness Program ↩
- Washington Department of Commerce, association foreclosure resources and notice templates ↩
- EHB 1501 Session Law, January 1, 2028 expiration provisions ↩
- E2SSB 5686 Session Law, January 1, 2028 expiration provisions ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 2354 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1500 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, HB 1501 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- Washington State Legislature, SB 6054 Bill Summary, 2025-26 ↩
- U.S. Department of Justice, The Fair Housing Act ↩
- ADA.gov, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, As Amended ↩
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation F, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act ↩
- U.S. Department of Justice, Servicemembers Civil Relief Act resources ↩
- Federal Communications Commission, Over-the-Air Reception Devices Rule ↩