Can a Massachusetts HOA or Condo Foreclose Over Dues?

Whether — and how — a Massachusetts community association can foreclose for unpaid dues depends almost entirely on whether you live in a condominium or a non-condo HOA. The two frameworks are not parallel. For your specific situation, a licensed Massachusetts attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

Condominiums: the six-month super-priority lien (M.G.L. ch. 183A, § 6)

The Massachusetts Condominium Act gives condo associations one of the most powerful assessment liens in the country. Under § 6, the unit owners' organization has a lien on a unit for unpaid common-expense assessments. The lien has super-priority over a first mortgage on the unit for up to six months of common expenses, and Massachusetts caselaw extends that priority to the costs and attorney's fees incurred to collect the priority amount.

Where the lien sits in line:

• The lien is prior to all other liens and encumbrances on the unit except liens recorded before the master deed, a first mortgage recorded before the assessment became delinquent (subject to the six-month priority), and liens for real estate taxes and municipal assessments
• In Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016), the Supreme Judicial Court held that an association may bring successive actions under § 6 to establish multiple contemporaneous six-month priority liens — each with priority over the first mortgage — so the priority portion is not limited to a single six-month period

The mechanics of perfection and enforcement involve a written notice and a recorded statement, and the association generally proceeds through the courts to enforce the lien.

Non-condo HOAs: no statute, just the CC&Rs

For non-condo HOAs in Massachusetts, there is no Chapter 183A equivalent. Whether and how the association can record a lien and foreclose on it depends almost entirely on the recorded CC&Rs:

• The CC&Rs must expressly authorize the association to lien the home for unpaid assessments
• The CC&Rs must specify (or at least be consistent with) the procedure for recording and enforcing the lien
• Massachusetts courts will scrutinize whether the documents in fact grant the lien claim the association is asserting

The Nonprofit Corporation Law (M.G.L. ch. 180) governs the entity but does not itself create a statutory lien. So for non-condo HOAs, the recorded declaration is the entire game.

How this usually plays out

A few things shape an assessment-debt situation in Massachusetts:

• Whether the community is a condominium or a non-condo HOA determines which framework applies — the two are fundamentally different.
• For condominiums, the association's records and a written payoff statement show the priority amount and the basis for any costs and fees added to it.
• For non-condo HOAs, the recorded CC&Rs are where the association's authority to lien and foreclose is defined.
• Disputed fines and undisputed assessments are treated differently, so they are often looked at separately.
• Because Drummer Boy permits successive six-month priority liens, the priority portion of a condo claim can cover more than one six-month period — affecting how much sits ahead of the mortgage.
• For how these rules apply before options narrow, a licensed Massachusetts attorney is the appropriate resource.

Sources

• M.G.L. ch. 183A, § 6 — Common profits and expenses; lien (condo super-priority)
• M.G.L. ch. 183A — Condominiums (full chapter)
• M.G.L. ch. 180 — Nonprofit corporation law
• Drummer Boy Homes Ass'n, Inc. v. Britton, 474 Mass. 17 (2016)