Wyoming HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

Wyoming sets no percentage cap on assessment increases. It provides no budget-ratification or owner-veto mechanism, and it grants no statutory super-priority lien. Assessment authority—and any limits on it—come from the recorded declaration in a condominium or the recorded covenants in a homeowners' association.¹ Condominiums operate under the Wyoming Condominium Ownership Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 34-20-101 through 34-20-104, a four-section statute that recognizes condominium ownership and addresses recording and taxation but stops short of a detailed assessment, budget, or lien framework.² Boards set regular assessments through the budget as the declaration provides, with no statutory ceiling and no requirement that owners ratify the budget.³ Special assessments and the association's lien are likewise creatures of the recorded documents. Because Wyoming has not adopted a super-lien statute, a first-mortgage foreclosure takes priority over the association's lien.⁴ On the national spectrum, Wyoming sits at the lightest-touch end: it is not a statutory-cap state like California, nor a ratification-mechanism state under the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. It is a declaration-driven state where the recorded instrument controls.⁵ The sections that follow set out the framework, the practice points, and the limited recent activity.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

The Wyoming Condominium Ownership Act recognizes condominium ownership as a fee simple estate in an air-space unit, together with an undivided interest in the common elements. The Act directs that the general and limited common elements be assessed proportionately upon the individual air-space unit "in the manner provided in the declaration."⁶ The Act expressly contemplates that a declaration may "provide for the payment of charges assessed by the association upon condominium units" and establishes that those requirements are "considered as covenants running with the land binding upon all condominium owners and their successors in interest."⁷ The Act does not fix an assessment formula, a budget process, or a collection remedy; the authority to assess and the allocation method come from the declaration.⁸

Non-condominium homeowners' associations operate without a Wyoming HOA statute. Assessment authority comes from the recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions, supplemented by the corporate powers an association holds when it incorporates under the Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 17-19-101 through 17-19-1807.⁹ The Wyoming Supreme Court has confirmed that an association's power to levy assessments and fees is measured by the consent owners gave in the governing documents, read together with the Nonprofit Corporation Act.¹⁰ In both settings, the board sets the assessment through the budget as the declaration or covenants provide, and the allocation formula—equal shares, percentage interest, or another method—is whatever the recorded instrument specifies.¹¹

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

Wyoming imposes no percentage cap on regular assessment increases and provides no mechanism by which owners can veto a board-adopted budget.¹² The only limit on a regular increase is what the declaration or covenants themselves impose. A recorded instrument may cap annual increases at a stated percentage, tie increases to a cost index, require a member vote above a threshold, or leave the matter to board discretion; the controlling figure is the one in the document, not a number the statute supplies.¹³

Because the authority is contractual, the consequence of a defective increase is contractual as well. Wyoming courts interpret covenants and association governing documents using contract-law principles, enforcing clear and unambiguous provisions according to their plain meaning and construing ambiguities in favor of the free use of property.¹⁴ A board that raises assessments beyond what the declaration authorizes, or that skips a procedural step the document requires, acts outside its granted authority, and an owner may challenge the increase as unauthorized.¹⁵ The Wyoming Supreme Court has emphasized that association powers "are not open-ended and must be exercised within the framework established by these foundational documents."¹⁶

2C. Special assessments and the lien

Special assessments are authorized and limited the same way as regular assessments: by the declaration in a condominium or the covenants in a homeowners' association.¹⁷ A recorded instrument commonly distinguishes ordinary annual assessments from special assessments for capital improvements and may set a separate member-approval threshold for the latter; the Wyoming Supreme Court has parsed exactly that "annual assessments or charges" and "special assessments for capital improvements" language in a recorded declaration.¹⁸ Emergency assessments, if any, are handled as the declaration provides.

The association's lien for unpaid assessments is declaration-based. The Condominium Ownership Act does not create a detailed statutory assessment lien, and Wyoming has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so there is no statutory super-priority lien.¹⁹ Because Wyoming is not a super-lien state, a bank's first-mortgage foreclosure takes priority over a community association's lien and does not require the lender to compensate the association for unpaid assessments.²⁰ In practice, the recorded documents set both the limit and the lien rights, and the association collects behind a first mortgage.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

The board adopts the budget and sets the regular assessment as the declaration (condominiums) or covenants (HOAs) provide. No statutory budget-adoption procedure, notice period, or effective-date rule applies to either condominiums or HOAs; the recorded documents and, for incorporated associations, the bylaws under the Nonprofit Corporation Act control.²¹ (Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS; declaration-defined.)

B. Special assessment procedure

Authority to levy a special assessment, any member-approval threshold, and any notice requirement are defined by the declaration or covenants—not by statute—for both condominiums and HOAs.²² (Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS; declaration-defined.)

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Wyoming supplies no percentage cap on regular or special assessments and no ratification or owner-veto mechanism; any cap or override is whatever the declaration or covenants establish.²³ (Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS; declaration-defined.)

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure

Assessment notice is governed by the recorded documents and the bylaws rather than a statutory rule. That said, an incorporated association must keep financial records and meeting minutes and must make them reasonably available for inspection and copying by members under the Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 17-19-1601 through 17-19-1603.²⁴ (Records access applies to incorporated CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS; assessment notice and resale disclosure are declaration-defined or practice-defined.) The Condominium Ownership Act adds that a written notice describing the units must be delivered to the county assessor so that taxes and assessments are carried against each unit separately.²⁵ (Applies to CONDOMINIUMS; statutory.)

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted or introduced in the 2025 General Session or the 2026 Budget Session amended the Wyoming Condominium Ownership Act or the Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act as they bear on assessments or liens. The only homeowners'-association bill in that window took aim at political-sign display, not assessments—and it did not pass.

B. Recent appellate rulings

The controlling Wyoming authority on the source of assessment power remains Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072, which holds that an association's authority to levy assessments and fees is measured by the consent owners gave in the governing documents, read with the Nonprofit Corporation Act. No 2024–2026 Wyoming Supreme Court decision displaces that holding.²⁹

C. Active legislative debates

No active Wyoming legislative debate addresses assessment caps, budget ratification, or an association super-lien. The recurring HOA-related proposal in recent sessions has concerned political-sign display, not assessments.³⁰

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Wyoming sits at the lightest-touch end of the assessment-limit spectrum. Statutory-cap states, led by California, bar a board from raising regular assessments above a set percentage and from imposing special assessments above a set share of budgeted expenses without member approval; in California those figures are 20 percent for regular assessments and 5 percent (in the aggregate) of budgeted gross expenses for special assessments, per Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b).³¹ Ratification-mechanism states that have adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act—Alaska, Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, and West Virginia under the 1982 version, and Connecticut, Delaware, Vermont, and Washington under the 2008 version, per the Community Associations Institute—control increases through an owner veto on the adopted budget, many paired with a super-priority assessment lien.³² Declaration-driven states such as Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia set assessment limits almost entirely through the recorded declaration, with the statute supplying no cap; Wyoming is among the lightest-touch and is not a super-lien state. For a multi-state operator entering Wyoming, the practical implication is clear: the recorded declaration and covenants—not a state statute—define both the assessment ceiling and the collection remedy, so document review replaces statutory checklists. Wyoming has only a minimal four-section condominium statute and no comprehensive homeowners'-association framework. Federal frameworks also bear on Wyoming assessment practice regardless of the state framework, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy treatment of assessments.

1. Wyo. Stat. §§ 34-20-101 through 34-20-104 (Condominium Ownership Act), Title 34 ↩
2. Wyo. Stat. §§ 34-20-101 through 34-20-104 ↩
3. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104 (apportionment in the manner provided in the declaration) ↩
4. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104; Title 34, Chapter 20 (no statutory association lien) ↩
5. Wyo. Stat. Title 34, Chapter 20 ↩
6. Wyo. Stat. §§ 34-20-102, 34-20-104 ↩
7. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-103(c) (covenants running with the land) ↩
8. Wyo. Stat. §§ 34-20-101 through 34-20-104 ↩
9. Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wyo. Stat. §§ 17-19-101 through 17-19-1807 ↩
10. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
11. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104; Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act §§ 17-19-101 et seq. ↩
12. Wyo. Stat. Title 34, Chapter 20 (no percentage cap or ratification) ↩
13. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104 ↩
14. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
15. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
16. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
17. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104 ↩
18. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
19. Wyo. Stat. Title 34, Chapter 20 (no statutory super-priority lien) ↩
20. Wyo. Stat. Title 34, Chapter 20 ↩
21. Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act §§ 17-19-101 et seq. ↩
22. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104 ↩
23. Wyo. Stat. Title 34, Chapter 20 ↩
24. Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation Act §§ 17-19-1601 through 17-19-1603 ↩
25. Wyo. Stat. § 34-20-104(a) ↩
26. Wyoming Legislature, HB0339 (2025 General Session) ↩
27. Conger v. AVR Homeowner's Ass'n, Inc., 2025 WY 91, 574 P.3d 623, docket S-24-0174 ↩
28. Conger v. AVR Homeowner's Ass'n, Inc., 2025 WY 91, 574 P.3d 623 ↩
29. Goglio v. Star Valley Ranch Ass'n, 2002 WY 94, 48 P.3d 1072 ↩
30. Wyoming Legislature, HB0339 (2025 General Session) ↩
31. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) ↩
32. Community Associations Institute, UCIOA adoption (UCIOA states list) ↩