HOA and condo association foreclosure in Missouri

HOA and condo collection rules in Missouri, step by step

• Which law covers your community

  Check your deed and declaration

  The Uniform Condominium Act, RSMo 448.1-101 and following, covers condos created after September 28, 1983, and its lien section also applies to older condos for events after that date. For a subdivision or planned community that is not a condo, we did not find a Missouri statute on HOA liens or foreclosure; the declaration and bylaws decide. State law does limit HOA rules on political signs, sale signs, rooftop solar and backyard chickens.

  RSMo 448.1-102; RSMo 442.404

• The lien starts automatically

  From the day each assessment or fine is due

  The condo association has a lien for assessments and for fines from the day they are due. Unless the declaration says otherwise, fees, late charges and interest are enforced the same way. Recording the declaration perfects the lien, so no separate lien filing is needed.

  RSMo 448.3-116(1), (4)

• Foreclosure in court or by power of sale

  Within 3 years after the assessments come due

  The association can foreclose like a mortgage, either through a court case or by a power of sale under chapter 443, the same process a trustee uses. The lien is extinguished unless the association starts enforcing it within three years after the full amount came due.

  RSMo 448.3-116(1), (5)

• Six months ahead of your mortgage, only in court

  The 6 months before the court case or the lender's sale

  The lien comes ahead of a mortgage or deed of trust recorded before the dues came due only for up to six months of regular budget assessments. That priority is lost if the association forecloses without a court. Lawyer fees and costs are not part of the priority amount, and purchase money loans recorded before August 28, 2014 are not subject to it.

  RSMo 448.3-116(2), (7)

• Lawyer fees can be added

  When the account goes to collection

  The association can recover its costs and reasonable lawyer fees for collecting late assessments, and a court judgment must include them for the side that wins. Ask for an itemized ledger that separates dues, fines, late charges and legal fees.

  RSMo 448.3-116(7)

• Ask for a written payoff statement

  Answer due within 10 business days

  On written request, the association must give you or your lender a recordable statement of unpaid assessments within ten business days. The statement binds the association unless the person who got it knows it is false.

  RSMo 448.3-116(8)

• If you rent out your condo

  After you are more than 60 days behind

  The association can demand in writing that your tenant pay the rent to it instead, with a copy to you, until you are caught up. Your tenant is protected from claims by you for rent paid to the association after that demand.

  RSMo 448.3-116(9)

Common questions in Missouri