HOA & Condo Foreclosure

Reflects Florida law as of August 2026. If you have been served with a foreclosure complaint, you have 20 days from service to respond in court. Get advice now; read the rest of this page afterward.

Can an association really foreclose on my home?

A condominium fine cannot become a lien against a unit and cannot support a foreclosure. In an HOA, a fine cannot become a lien unless it is at least $1,000 and was imposed through the required notice, hearing, committee-approval, and lien procedures.

Florida's homestead protection generally does not prevent enforcement of a valid association assessment lien that arises from a declaration or covenants recorded before the owner acquired title. Bessemer v. Gersten, 381 So. 2d 1344 (Fla. 1980). The declaration's recording history, lien priority, ownership history, and type of charge can matter, so homestead issues should be reviewed carefully.

The sequence, from missed payment to sale

1. Delinquency, interest, and late fees

Unpaid assessments and installments generally accrue interest from the due date at the rate stated in the governing documents. If the documents do not state an interest rate, Florida law permits 18 percent per year; in an HOA, interest must be simple interest, not compounded.

If authorized by the governing documents, the association may also charge an administrative late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each delinquent installment. Payments received by the association are generally applied first to accrued interest, then to the late fee, then to collection costs and reasonable attorney fees, and finally to the assessment itself. See Assessments & Special Assessments.

2. Notice of late assessment (30 days)

Before an association may require payment of attorney fees relating to a delinquent assessment, it generally must send a written notice of late assessment in the statutory form. The notice must identify the amounts due and give the owner 30 days to pay the required amount before attorney fees may be imposed.

The condominium and HOA statutes have similar but not identical delivery, address, form, and itemization requirements. If you receive a collection letter from a law firm that already includes attorney fees, ask for a copy of the earlier notice of late assessment. If the required notice was not sent, the attorney fees may be subject to challenge.

3. Notice of intent to record a claim of lien (45 days)

Before recording a claim of lien, an association generally must provide a written notice of its intent to record the lien and wait 45 days. The notice must use the delivery methods, addresses, and form required by the statute governing the community.

For a condominium, the statute requires delivery by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and by first-class mail to the owner's address in the association's records and, if different, the unit address. The HOA statute requires the same registered or certified mail plus first-class mail delivery; only the statutory form of the notice differs. Section 720.3085(4). The notice should identify the charges the association claims are due, but not every charge claimed under the governing documents is necessarily lienable or collectible through foreclosure.

4. The claim of lien

After the required waiting period expires, the association may record a claim of lien in the county's official records. The lien must contain the information required by the applicable statute, including the property description, the owner's name, the association's identity, the amounts claimed, and the relevant due dates. A condominium claim of lien must also be executed and acknowledged by an authorized association representative.

A valid assessment lien may secure unpaid assessments, later-accruing assessments as permitted by statute, authorized interest, authorized late fees, collection costs, and reasonable attorney fees. It does not automatically secure every amount the association says is owed.

A condominium claim of lien generally expires one year after recording unless the association files an action to enforce the lien within that period. An HOA owner may record a notice of contest of lien. Once properly recorded, the notice generally requires the HOA to file an action to enforce its lien within 90 days or the lien becomes void. Section 720.3085(1)(b).

5. Notice of intent to foreclose (45 days)

Before foreclosure, the association must comply with the applicable statutory pre-foreclosure notice requirement.

For a condominium, no foreclosure judgment may be entered until at least 45 days after the association gives the owner written notice of its intention to foreclose the assessment lien. For an HOA, the association generally may not file a foreclosure action until 45 days after the owner receives the statutory notice of the association's intent to foreclose and collect the unpaid amount.

Certain HOA collection rules contain exceptions or special provisions when the parcel is already involved in a mortgage foreclosure, a tax-certificate-sale proceeding, or bankruptcy. If one of those circumstances applies, obtain advice promptly because the notice and collection process may differ.

6. The lawsuit

The association generally files an assessment-lien foreclosure complaint in circuit court and serves the owner and other people or entities whose recorded interests may be affected. Under Florida's Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant ordinarily has 20 days after service to file a written response.

If you do not respond on time, the association may seek a default and eventually obtain a judgment without your participation. A timely response allows you to raise defenses, challenge the amount claimed, assert counterclaims where appropriate, conduct discovery, negotiate a settlement, or seek other relief.

An association may seek foreclosure, a personal money judgment, or both, but it cannot obtain a double recovery.

7. Judgment and sale

If the association obtains a final foreclosure judgment, the court will set a judicial sale under Chapter 45. The sale date is set by the judgment and court procedure. It may be changed by a court order, a bankruptcy filing, a settlement, a redemption, or a motion to postpone the sale.

You may have a statutory right to redeem the property by paying the amount required by section 45.0315 before the later of the clerk's filing of the certificate of sale or the redemption deadline stated in the final judgment. Redemption is time-sensitive. Once the statutory deadline passes, the right to redeem ends.

An association assessment lien is generally subordinate to a first mortgage with superior priority. A purchaser at the association's foreclosure sale usually takes title subject to that superior mortgage. This means that the first-mortgage lender may later foreclose its mortgage even after the association has foreclosed its lien.

After a foreclosure judgment, the court may address possession of the property and may order payments for use and occupancy in appropriate circumstances. The result depends on the final judgment, the pleadings, who remains in possession, and the relief requested.

What the lien can and cannot include

An assessment lien may secure unpaid assessments, authorized interest, authorized late fees, and reasonable collection costs and attorney fees. It does not properly secure a condominium fine, an HOA fine below the statutory lien threshold, or charges that lack authority under the governing documents or Florida law.

Charges that may be disputed include attorney fees imposed before the required notice of late assessment, interest charged above the authorized rate, late fees not authorized by the governing documents, management-company charges with no contractual or statutory basis, and fines that cannot lawfully become liens.

Because payments are generally applied first to interest, late fees, collection costs, and attorney fees, a relatively small unpaid assessment can grow quickly. Request the owner ledger and supporting invoices, then compare every charge with the declaration, statutory notice requirements, payment history, and collection correspondence. See Official Records Requests.

Defenses to an association foreclosure

Association foreclosures are defended most often on one or more of these grounds:

• A required notice was skipped or defective. The association must comply with statutory pre-lien and pre-foreclosure notice requirements. A notice that was never sent, used the wrong form, omitted required information, was sent to the wrong address, used the wrong delivery method, or failed to provide the full waiting period may be a defense to foreclosure. In Rajabi v. Villas at Lakeside Condominium Ass'n, 306 So. 3d 400 (Fla. 5th DCA 2020), the Fifth District reversed a condominium foreclosure judgment because, among other things, the association failed to comply with the statutory pre-lien notice requirement (then in section 718.121(4), now section 718.121(6)) and mishandled the owner's payments. The case shows why notice dates, mailing proof, and account ledgers matter.
• Payments were misapplied or improperly refused. An association must apply accepted payments according to the statutory payment order. In Rajabi, the association did not properly credit the owner's payments. In Ocean Two Condominium Ass'n v. Kliger, 983 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008), the court upheld the denial of foreclosure after the association refused payments tendered by the owners. The effect of a partial or conditional payment depends on the amount offered, the conditions attached to it, the governing documents, and the facts of the dispute. Keep proof of every payment, attempted payment, returned check, online confirmation, and written communication.
• The balance includes nonlienable or unauthorized charges. A lien may be overstated if it includes fines that cannot become liens, unauthorized interest, unauthorized late fees, fees imposed before statutory notice requirements were met, or management charges without a legal basis. An overstated balance may reduce the amount recoverable and may affect attorney-fee entitlement, even if some valid assessment balance remains due.
• The assessment was not validly adopted. A special assessment may be challenged if the association did not provide required notice, failed to obtain an owner vote required by the declaration, used an allocation method that conflicts with the declaration, or otherwise acted outside its assessment authority.
• The lien is defective or expired. A lien may be challenged if it was not timely enforced, omits required statutory information, contains material inaccuracies, was not properly executed or recorded, or includes charges that cannot be secured by the lien. A condominium lien generally expires one year after recording unless the association timely files an enforcement action.
• The plaintiff lacks authority to enforce the lien. A foreclosure defendant may challenge whether the entity filing suit is the association that owns the lien, whether it can prove its authority under the declaration, or whether it has standing to collect the claimed debt.
• Consumer-protection violations. Collection communications that materially misstate the balance, demand unauthorized charges, seek attorney fees before required notices were sent, or threaten action that cannot lawfully be taken may support claims under consumer-protection law. Florida's Consumer Collection Practices Act may apply to unlawful association-collection practices. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act may apply when a law firm or other third-party debt collector is collecting a past-due consumer debt. Whether either law applies depends on the collector, the debt, and the communication involved. A homeowner may be able to raise these issues as defenses, counterclaims, or separate claims.

Attorney fees can run both ways. An association that prevails may recover reasonable attorney fees and costs when authorized by the governing documents or applicable statute. An owner who prevails in a covered owner-versus-association action may also be entitled to attorney fees.

When an association voluntarily dismisses a foreclosure or collection action, the owner is often treated as the prevailing party for fee purposes. Alhambra Homeowners Ass'n v. Asad, 943 So. 2d 316 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). The fee result depends on the claims asserted, the governing documents, the applicable statute, and the circumstances of the dismissal. An association that has skipped a statutory notice is therefore exposed, not just delayed.

Options for a homeowner facing foreclosure

Pay or settle. Paying or settling the full lawful payoff before the judicial sale may resolve the foreclosure. Before paying, request a written payoff that identifies assessments, interest, late fees, costs, attorney fees, and any future assessments that will become due before closing or dismissal.

If you dispute part of the balance, paying or tendering undisputed amounts may reduce continuing charges, but it may not stop foreclosure. Because payments are generally applied first to interest, late fees, costs, and attorney fees, get advice before making a partial payment in a pending foreclosure.

An association may agree to a payment plan or settlement, but it is not ordinarily required to accept one.

The HOA qualifying offer. Chapter 720 gives eligible HOA owners a procedure that condominium owners do not have. After service of a foreclosure summons and before entry of a foreclosure judgment, an eligible parcel owner may make a written, notarized qualifying offer to pay all amounts secured by the HOA's lien, plus amounts that accrue during the offer period.

The procedure is unavailable if the owner is in bankruptcy, the property is already the subject of a mortgage foreclosure or tax-certificate-sale proceeding, or the offer cannot run its course at least 30 days before trial.

The owner must serve the qualifying offer on the association's attorney and file it with the court. A proper qualifying offer stays the parts of the action that seek to collect unpaid assessments during the offer period.

The offer period may not exceed 60 days after service of the offer and must end at least 30 days before the scheduled trial or trial docket. During the stay, the association generally may not add attorney fees or costs for the stayed collection portion of the case.

If the owner pays as promised, the assessment claim is satisfied and the foreclosure of it cannot proceed. If the owner does not perform, the stay ends and the association may proceed with the case. A qualifying offer may be used only once in a foreclosure action. Section 720.3085(6) and (7).

Defend. If a notice was skipped, payments were misapplied, or the balance is inflated, respond to the complaint and raise those defenses. Many association foreclosures are dismissed or settled for far less once the association is required to prove that it followed the statute.

Sell or refinance. A sale or refinance can resolve an association lien from closing proceeds. Request an estoppel certificate early. A condominium or HOA association generally must issue an estoppel certificate within 10 business days after receiving a qualifying request.

The estoppel identifies the amounts the association claims are due and is binding for the time and to the extent provided by sections 718.116(8) and 720.30851.

Bankruptcy. A bankruptcy filing ordinarily triggers an automatic stay that stops or limits foreclosure and collection activity unless the bankruptcy court grants relief from the stay.

Bankruptcy may allow some pre-filing assessment debt to be addressed through a repayment plan, but treatment of assessment liens, post-filing assessments, dischargeability, and the ability to keep the property depends on the bankruptcy chapter and the homeowner's circumstances. Speak with a bankruptcy attorney immediately if a foreclosure sale is pending.

If the association takes title

If the association acquires the property at its own foreclosure sale, it becomes the owner and is generally responsible for assessments and other ownership obligations that come due while it holds title.

If a first-mortgage lender later forecloses, the liability of a later purchaser for prior association assessments depends on the community type, lien priority, ownership sequence, and the applicable statutory safe-harbor rule. In a condominium, the purchaser is generally liable for unpaid assessments owed by the immediately preceding owner rather than every earlier owner in the chain of title. Aventura Management, LLC v. Spiaggia Ocean Condominium Ass'n, 105 So. 3d 637 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). Different rules may apply when a first mortgage lender acquires title.

For a condominium, a qualifying first-mortgage lender that acquires title through foreclosure or deed in lieu generally owes the association the lesser of:

• 12 months of unpaid regular assessments and common expenses that came due immediately before the lender acquired title; or
• 1 percent of the original mortgage debt.

This condominium safe-harbor rule applies only when the statutory conditions are met, including that the association was joined in the lender's foreclosure action. The HOA statute contains the same lesser-of rule, with the same joinder condition, in section 720.3085(2)(c).

What to preserve

• Every notice you received, with the envelope: the notice of late assessment, notice of intent to lien, claim of lien, notice of intent to foreclose, and every collection letter.
• Your payment records for at least the last several years, including any payments the association returned or refused.
• Every account statement, especially the ones showing where fines, fees, and interest were added.
• The declaration and bylaws provisions on assessments, interest, late fees, liens, and collection.
• Any correspondence in which you disputed the balance or offered payment, with proof of delivery.
• Meeting notices and minutes for any special assessment that makes up part of the balance.

When to get a lawyer

Any time a notice of intent to lien or intent to foreclose arrives, and certainly when a complaint is served. The 45-day windows are when a defense, a payment, or a qualifying offer costs the least. The 20-day deadline after service is unforgiving. An attorney can determine quickly whether the association followed the statute, whether the balance includes amounts the lien cannot secure, and whether the collection conduct gives you claims of your own.