HOA Covenants and Assessment Liens

The recorded restrictions that bind every owner in a planned community or condominium, the association that enforces them, and the assessment lien that lets it foreclose on a home for unpaid dues - what the documents control, how they are amended and enforced, and the limits the states have placed on association power.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of law firms for this.

What it means

A homeowners' association or condominium association is created by a declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions recorded against every lot or unit in the development before the first sale. Because the CC&Rs are in the chain of title, each buyer takes subject to them whether or not they read them, and they bind successors indefinitely. The declaration typically establishes the association, obliges every owner to pay assessments for common expenses, restricts use of the property - architectural changes, paint colors, fences, parking, pets, rentals, home businesses - and gives the association's board the power to adopt rules, levy fines and enforce the restrictions in court. Bylaws govern the association's internal workings and rules fill in the detail; where the three conflict, the declaration controls.

The assessment lien is the association's enforcement tool and the one that most often reaches a lawyer. The declaration and, in most states, a statute give the association a lien on each lot for unpaid assessments, late charges, fines in some states, and the costs and attorney's fees of collection. The lien may be foreclosed, judicially or in some states by a non-judicial sale, and in a number of states a portion of it has priority over even a first mortgage recorded earlier. Because the amounts are often small relative to the home's value, most states have added protections: a minimum delinquency before foreclosure may begin, mandatory notices and payment plans, limits on fees, and a right of redemption after sale.

Covenants are enforced by the association and, in most states, by any owner against another; they are interpreted by their language, and courts generally uphold an association's decision if it followed its own procedures and acted reasonably and in good faith. Some restrictions are unenforceable by law: covenants excluding owners by race or other protected class are void under the Fair Housing Act; federal law overrides restrictions on satellite dishes and, for many communities, on flying the United States flag and installing solar panels; and a growing number of states limit restrictions on rentals, accessory dwellings, drought-tolerant landscaping and electric-vehicle charging. Amending the declaration requires the supermajority of owners it specifies, and a change adopted without it is void.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

An owner facing an assessment lien should treat it as a foreclosure notice, because that is what it becomes, and should get advice before the association's attorney's fees exceed the original debt - the fees are usually recoverable and grow with every letter. An owner in a dispute with the board over an architectural refusal, a fine or a rental restriction should read the declaration and the state statute before the first hearing, since the association's power comes only from those two sources and a restriction that is not in the declaration, or that the state has overridden, cannot be enforced however long it has been on the books.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

Choose your state to see Homeowners Association law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z.

• Alabama (Birmingham)
  +1 other city

  • Montgomery
• Alaska (Anchorage)
• Arizona (Chandler)
  +6 other cities

  • Gilbert
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• California (Anaheim)
  +19 other cities

  • Fontana
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  • Oakland
  • Oxnard
  • Riverside
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  • San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • Santa Ana
  • and 7 more with fewer listed firms
• Colorado (Aurora)
  +2 other cities

  • Colorado Springs
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• Florida (Hialeah)
  +5 other cities

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• Indiana (Indianapolis)
  +1 other city

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• Kansas (Kansas City)
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  +1 other city

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  +2 other cities

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• Maryland (Baltimore)
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  +1 other city

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  +1 other city

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  +1 other city

  • Omaha
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  +3 other cities

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• New Jersey (Jersey City)
  +1 other city

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  +2 other cities

  • Buffalo
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• North Carolina (Charlotte)
  +5 other cities

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  • Winston-Salem
• North Dakota (Fargo)
• Ohio (Columbus)
  +3 other cities

  • Cincinnati
  • Cleveland
  • Toledo
• Oklahoma (Tulsa)
  +1 other city

  • Oklahoma City
• Oregon (Portland)
• Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
  +1 other city

  • Philadelphia
• Rhode Island (Providence)
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• Tennessee (Memphis)
  +1 other city

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• Texas (Austin)
  +12 other cities

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  • Irving
  • Laredo
  • Lubbock
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  • San Antonio
• Utah (Salt Lake City)
• Vermont (Burlington)
• Virginia (Richmond)
  +3 other cities

  • Chesapeake
  • Norfolk
  • Virginia Beach
• Washington (Seattle)
  +2 other cities

  • Spokane
  • Tacoma
• West Virginia (Charleston)
• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne)

Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Adverse PossessionThe doctrine by which a person who occupies land they do not own, openly and continuously for the period the state sets, becomes its owner - the elements, the "color of title" and tax-payment variations, and why it decides fence and driveway disputes far more often than it transfers whole parcels.
• Deed Types: Warranty, Special Warranty and QuitclaimWhat the different forms of deed promise about the title they convey - the general warranty deed's guarantee against every defect, the special warranty deed's narrower one, and the quitclaim deed's none - and what each is used for.
• EasementA legal right to use someone else's land for a defined purpose, without owning it.
• Eviction (Unlawful Detainer)The court process a landlord must use to make a tenant leave - and in most states, the only lawful way to do it.
• Foreclosure (Judicial and Non-Judicial)The process by which a mortgage lender takes and sells a home after default - the court-supervised route some states require and the trustee's sale others permit, the federal servicing rules that must be followed first, the loss-mitigation alternatives, and what the borrower can still owe or reclaim after the sale.
• Homeowners Insurance ClaimHow a property loss claim actually works - what the policy covers, the duties it imposes on you, and where claims most often fail.
• Implied Warranty of HabitabilityA landlord's obligation to keep a rented home fit to live in - one the lease usually cannot sign away.
• Mechanic's Lien (Construction Lien)The statutory lien a contractor, subcontractor, supplier or laborer may record against a property for unpaid work or materials - the preliminary notices and filing deadlines that make or break it, why an owner who paid the general contractor can still face a subcontractor's lien, and how the lien is enforced or released.
• Purchase Contract ContingenciesThe conditions in a home-purchase agreement that let a buyer walk away with the deposit - inspection, financing, appraisal, sale of the buyer's current home, title - how each is exercised and waived, and what happens to the earnest money when the deal fails.
• Quiet Title ActionThe lawsuit that asks a court to declare who owns a property and to remove a competing claim from the record - used to clear an old mortgage never released, a break in the chain of title, a tax-sale or adverse-possession claim, or a deed that should never have been recorded.
• Security DepositMoney a tenant leaves with a landlord against damage or unpaid rent - held under state rules that usually require an itemized accounting within a fixed period after move-out.
• Seller Disclosure DutiesWhat a seller of a home must tell a buyer about the property - known material defects, water intrusion, structural and system problems, and under federal law lead-based paint - the state disclosure forms, the "as is" sale, and what a buyer can do when a problem was concealed.
• Title Search and Title InsuranceThe examination of public records that establishes who owns a property and what claims stand against it, and the insurance policy that pays if that examination missed something - who is protected by the lender's policy, who by the owner's, and what neither covers.
• Transfer-on-Death DeedA recorded deed that leaves a house to someone at death while changing nothing during life - available in many states, and not all.

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