Assessment notices

Two different jobs a notice can do

An assessment notice can do one of two things: announce that a regular assessment is going up, or announce that the board will discuss a special assessment at an upcoming meeting. Those are not the same notice, and they are not triggered by the same rule. Whether your association must send one, the other, or both, and how far in advance, depends on your state statute and your declaration. Check both before you draft the letter.

Same idea, different states, different deadlines

California requires the association to give every owner individual written notice of an increase in the regular or special assessment, delivered within a defined window before the higher amount becomes due.

"The association shall provide individual notice... to the members of any increase in the regular or special assessments of the association, not less than 30 nor more than 60 days prior to the increased assessment becoming due."

Source: California Civil Code §5615, California Legislative Information

Florida works differently. Instead of a fixed window before the increase takes effect, Florida requires notice of the meeting where a nonemergency special assessment will be considered, mailed, delivered, or posted at least 14 days ahead. Whether a vote actually happens at that meeting is generally a question for the declaration, not this rule.

"Written notice of a meeting at which a nonemergency special assessment... will be considered must be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to the unit owners and posted conspicuously on the condominium property at least 14 days before the meeting."

Source: Florida Statutes §718.112, The Florida Senate

Neither of these numbers is a national default. Read your own state's statute, not a neighboring state's, before a notice goes out.

Notice obligations don't stop once an assessment is levied

A separate notice applies once an assessment goes unpaid. In Florida, an owner who falls behind is entitled to a mailed notice and 45 days before the association may record a lien for the delinquent amount, a distinct requirement from the one that governs raising the assessment in the first place.

"Compound interest may not accrue on assessments."

Source: Florida Statutes §718.116 and §720.3085, The Florida Senate

Treat "notice" as several distinct obligations, not one. The notice that lets an increase take effect, the notice that lets a special assessment be discussed, and the notice that precedes collection action can each carry their own trigger, deadline, and required delivery method.