HOA and condo association foreclosure in Kansas

HOA and condo collection rules in Kansas, step by step

• Which law covers your community

  Check your recorded declaration

  Condominiums created under the Apartment Ownership Act, K.S.A. 58-3101 and following, have a lien rule in that act. The Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act, K.S.A. 58-4601 and following, applies to any common interest community, condo or HOA, with 12 or more residential units, whenever it was created. Smaller HOAs and HOAs outside the condo act rely mostly on their declaration and bylaws.

  K.S.A. 58-4602, 58-4605, 58-4606

• Condo lien for unpaid assessments

  As soon as an assessment goes unpaid

  Unpaid condo assessments are a lien on your unit. It comes ahead of all other liens except tax and special district liens and the amount unpaid on a first mortgage of record. The association can also sue you for a money judgment without foreclosing.

  K.S.A. 58-3123(a)

• Condo foreclosure goes through court

  Only after a lawsuit

  The board or manager forecloses by a lawsuit, in the same manner as a mortgage foreclosure. If your bylaws say so, you may have to pay reasonable rent during the case, and the court can appoint a receiver to collect it. Unless the declaration forbids it, the association can bid on your unit at the sale.

  K.S.A. 58-3123(a)

• What a larger association cannot do when you are behind

  Any time you owe assessments

  In communities covered by the bill of rights act, the association may suspend privileges of an owner who has not paid, but it may not block you or anyone living there from your unit, take away your vote except on assessments and fees, or withhold services if that would endanger health, safety or property. The board may also decide to compromise a claim for unpaid assessments.

  K.S.A. 58-4608(a)(6), (b)

• No state payment plan, fee cap or fine rule found

  Before you agree to anything

  We did not find a Kansas statute that requires a payment plan, caps late fees or collection costs, or says whether fines alone can lead to foreclosure. Your declaration and bylaws control. Ask in writing for an itemized ledger that separates dues from fines and fees, and for a payment plan.

• If the first mortgage forecloses first

  After a first mortgage foreclosure

  A lender or buyer who takes a condo unit through a first mortgage foreclosure does not owe the assessments that came due before it took title. Those amounts become a common expense shared by all owners. Keep paying your mortgage, because it is a separate debt.

  K.S.A. 58-3123(b)

Common questions in Kansas