Academy/Collections & Delinquencies
Liens
The association's claim on a unit for unpaid money, and when it actually exists.
An association's lien for unpaid assessments is not something the board creates. In states built on common statutory models, it attaches automatically the moment an assessment becomes due, and can reach unpaid fines too. Recording a notice of the lien protects that claim against a buyer who purchases before the recording happens.
How the lien attaches
The board does not vote the lien into existence, and it does not need a lawsuit or a judge's order to get one. In states that follow the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act model, the lien exists by operation of statute, the instant the debt becomes due.
"the association has a lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner from the time the assessment or fine becomes due"
Source: Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 3-116, as enacted at W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116, Uniform Law Commission / West Virginia Legislature
A board that is slow to send a demand letter, or slow to start the collection process, has not lost the lien. It already attached the day the assessment came due. What the board's timing affects is whether the association can enforce the lien effectively, not whether the lien exists.
What the lien covers
Under statutes built on the UCIOA model, the same automatic lien can reach unpaid assessments and unpaid fines imposed on the owner. An owner with a covenant-violation fine and an owner with unpaid dues can end up under the same lien mechanism, not two separate processes.
Whether your state's statute pulls fines into the lien, or treats a fine as a purely separate debt with no lien rights, is set by your own state's condominium or HOA act. Check your state statute and your declaration before assuming a fine carries lien rights the way an assessment does.
Recording the lien and protecting it
The lien exists the moment the debt is due, but that does not mean a buyer looking at the property can see it. A person who purchases the unit before the association records a notice of the lien can take the property free of that old debt.
"shall be discharged as to subsequent purchasers for value without notice unless the association shall cause to be recorded a notice of the lien"
Source: Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 3-116, as enacted at W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116, Uniform Law Commission / West Virginia Legislature
Recording a notice of lien with the county does not create the lien; it is already there. Recording protects the association's claim against a buyer who shows up later without notice of it. How much of that lien outranks a first mortgage, commonly a capped number of months of assessments in UCIOA-model states, is a separate question covered in Lien priority. Check your own state's statute for the actual figure.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A board has not yet sent a demand letter and has not recorded anything. An assessment came due last month and remains unpaid. Has a lien attached?
An owner owes both unpaid assessments and a fine for a covenant violation. Under a UCIOA-style statute, what does the association's lien secure?
A unit sells to a new owner. The prior owner had unpaid assessments, but the association never recorded a notice of lien. What happens to that lien as to the new owner, under a UCIOA-style statute?
Sources
- Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act § 3-116, as enacted at W. Va. Code § 36B-3-116, Uniform Law Commission / West Virginia Legislature
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Collections & Delinquencies
Next, see how much of this lien actually beats the bank if the unit gets foreclosed.
Whether your lien includes fines, how it must be recorded, and how much of it outranks a first mortgage vary by state statute and by your declaration.