Condo & HOA Lien Foreclosure Attorneys

Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA · September 23, 2026 · Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026

Florida Community Association Lien Foreclosure Attorneys

The assessment lien is what separates a community association from an ordinary creditor. A Florida condominium or homeowners association does not need a mortgage, a judgment, or the owner's cooperation to secure its debt: the lien arises from the recorded declaration, attaches to every unit or parcel, and may be foreclosed in the same manner as a mortgage. Hamilton Mikes prosecutes assessment lien foreclosures for condominiums, homeowners associations, and cooperatives throughout Southwest Florida and advises boards on when foreclosure is the right tool, when it is not, and how to protect the lien while a lender forecloses the same property.

The Association's Lien

Chapter 718 and Chapter 720 give the association a lien on each unit or parcel for unpaid assessments, together with interest, late fees, reasonable attorney's fees, and the costs of collection. For a condominium the lien relates back to the recording of the original declaration, which makes it senior to every interest recorded afterward except two: a first mortgage recorded before the claim of lien and before the delinquency, and property tax liens. For a homeowners association the priority rules follow the declaration and Chapter 720 and are generally similar. Condominium fines never become liens; a homeowners association fine of $1,000 or more may.

To be enforced, the lien must be perfected by recording a claim of lien in the county's official records after the 45-day statutory notice. The claim of lien must describe the unit or parcel, name the record owner, state the amounts due and their due dates, and be signed by an officer or authorized agent. A condominium claim of lien secures the assessments that come due after it is recorded as well as the delinquency it describes, and it expires one year after recording unless the association files a foreclosure action within that year. Recording a lien and then letting it lapse is a common and avoidable error.

Before the Lawsuit

The statutes require two separate 45-day notices, delivered by both certified and first-class mail to the owner's address of record and to the property: a notice of intent to record a claim of lien, and, after recording, a notice of intent to foreclose. For a homeowners association the foreclosure action may not be filed until 45 days after the notice of intent to foreclose; for a condominium the statute provides that no foreclosure judgment may be entered until 45 days after that notice, and in practice the notice is given before filing. The 30-day notice of late assessment must precede the association's recovery of attorney's fees. The sequence is described on our Assessment Collection page and in our collection notices guide. The notices are not formalities: a foreclosure filed on a defective notice can be dismissed, with the association paying the owner's fees.

The Foreclosure Action

An assessment lien foreclosure is a civil action in the circuit court of the county where the property is located, prosecuted like a mortgage foreclosure. The complaint names the owner, junior lienholders, tenants, and unknown parties in possession, attaches the declaration and the claim of lien, and is accompanied by a notice of lis pendens recorded against the property. Defendants have 20 days after service to respond. Owners who answer typically raise defenses aimed at the association's procedure, the amounts claimed, or the ledger, which is why the account history, the notices, and the affidavits of mailing are assembled before the complaint is filed rather than after the defense demands them.

In a homeowners association foreclosure, the parcel owner may respond with a qualifying offer under section 720.3085(6): a written, notarized offer, signed by all owners of the parcel, to pay the full amount due by a date no more than 60 days after service of the offer, which stays the foreclosure until that date. An offer that is not honored lifts the stay, and the association proceeds to judgment for the amount stated in the offer plus its additional fees. Chapter 718 has no equivalent for condominiums, though settlements on similar terms are common.

Uncontested cases proceed to summary judgment on affidavits. The final judgment fixes the amounts due, sets a sale date between 20 and 35 days later, and directs the clerk to sell the property at public auction; sale practice varies by county in Southwest Florida, so the board should confirm the venue with the clerk of court before the sale date. The owner may redeem the property by paying the judgment at any time before the clerk files the certificate of sale. After the sale, objections may be filed within ten days; the clerk then issues a certificate of title, and any surplus above the judgment is distributed to junior lienholders and the former owner. An uncontested foreclosure typically takes six to nine months from the first statutory notice to the certificate of title; a contested one takes longer.

After the Sale

The association may bid at its own sale up to the amount of its judgment without paying cash. If a third party outbids it, the association is paid from the proceeds. If the association takes title, it owns the unit subject to any first mortgage, may rent it and apply the rent to the debt, and may sell it, all while the lender's foreclosure, if one is pending, runs its course. The economics depend on the mortgage balance, the unit's rental value, and how long the lender is likely to take; a lender that is diligently prosecuting its case may leave too little time to recover the cost of the association's foreclosure through rent. We model those numbers before recommending that an association bid.

Taking title also means taking responsibility: the association becomes the owner for purposes of taxes, insurance, utilities, and the unit's own assessments, and it must comply with the landlord-tenant act if it rents. A board that intends to hold units should adopt a written policy for doing so.

When the Lender Forecloses First

A first mortgagee that takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu owes the association only the lesser of 12 months of assessments or one percent of the original mortgage debt for the period before it took title, and it owes full assessments from that date forward. Section 718.116(1)(b) sets that safe harbor for condominiums and section 720.3085(2)(c) for homeowners associations. The two are not identical, and the differences matter. The condominium provision measures the 12-month figure by the unit's unpaid common expenses and regular periodic assessments; the homeowners association provision measures it by the parcel's unpaid common expenses and regular periodic or special assessments, so on the face of the statutes a parcel's special assessments count toward the cap and a unit's do not. The conditions differ too. The condominium safe harbor applies only if the first mortgagee joined the association as a defendant in the foreclosure action. The homeowners association safe harbor applies only if the first mortgagee filed suit against the parcel owner and initially joined the association as a defendant. Under both statutes the limitation is lost if, on the date the complaint was filed, the association was dissolved or did not maintain an office or agent for service of process at a location known to or reasonably discoverable by the mortgagee, which is one practical reason to keep the registered agent current.

The association is a defendant in the lender's case and should appear, monitor the sale, and claim any surplus. It may also foreclose its own lien in parallel, which puts the association in control of the unit and its rental income while the lender's case proceeds. The two strategies are not exclusive, and the right one depends on the unit. If a lender diligently proceeds with its mortgage foreclosure case, an association may not have sufficient time to lease a unit and collect rent in order to recover the cost of a lien foreclosure action.

Cooperatives and Timeshares

A cooperative association's lien attaches to the share and the proprietary lease rather than to real property, and Chapter 719 provides for its foreclosure in the same manner as a mortgage with the additional step of terminating the occupancy right. Timeshare associations may use the trustee foreclosure procedure in Chapter 721, a nonjudicial process that resolves high volumes of small delinquencies without a lawsuit for each. We handle both.

Bankruptcy and Tenants

A bankruptcy petition stays the foreclosure immediately, and the association must obtain relief from the stay or wait for the case to conclude before proceeding. Post-petition assessments remain the owner's obligation while the owner holds title, and the lien survives the discharge unless the court avoids it. A tenant in a unit under foreclosure may be served with the association's demand for rent, and the rent collected is credited to the debt; a tenant who refuses may be evicted by the association.

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We prepare statutory notices, record claims of lien, and prosecute lien foreclosures for Condominium Associations under Chapter 718, including qualifying-offer proceedings, credit bids, post-sale title and rental, and coordination with lender foreclosures.

Homeowner Associations

We help Homeowner Associations (HOAs) perfect and foreclose liens under Chapter 720, including liens that secure qualifying fines, and we coordinate with Master Associations and Sub-Associations that hold liens on the same parcel.

Cooperative Associations

We enforce Cooperative Associations' liens on shares and proprietary leases under Chapter 719, including the termination of occupancy rights.

Frequently Asked Questions About Lien Foreclosure

Must every delinquent account be foreclosed?

No. Foreclosure is the last step in a collection policy, not the first, and the board decides case by case whether the unit's equity, the mortgage balance, the owner's circumstances, and the association's cost justify it. Recording the claim of lien, however, should be routine once the 45-day notice period has run, because the lien protects the association whether or not it forecloses.

Can the owner pay after foreclosure begins?

Yes. The owner may pay the full amount due, including interest, late fees, costs, and attorney's fees, at any time before the clerk files the certificate of sale, and the case is then dismissed. A homeowners association parcel owner may also serve a statutory qualifying offer that stays the case for up to 60 days while payment is arranged.

Is foreclosure always the most effective collection tool?

No. When a unit has little equity and a large first mortgage, a money judgment, a rent demand to the tenant, or a payment plan may recover more than a foreclosure that leaves the association holding a unit subject to a mortgage. When the unit has equity or is rented, foreclosure is often the fastest path to payment. We evaluate each account before recommending a remedy.

How long does an association foreclosure take?

From the first statutory notice to the certificate of title, an uncontested foreclosure typically takes six to nine months: 30 days for the late-assessment notice, 45 days before recording the lien, 45 days before filing, and three to five months in court. Contested cases, bankruptcies, and lender foreclosures on the same unit extend the timeline.

What does the association get if it takes title?

Ownership of the unit, subject to any first mortgage and to taxes. The association may rent the unit and apply the rent to the delinquency and its costs, or sell the unit, and the former owner remains personally liable for any unpaid balance. Whether taking title makes financial sense depends on the mortgage balance and rental market, which we analyze before the sale.

Does the lien survive a tax deed sale?

Generally not. A tax deed sale extinguishes the association's lien for assessments that accrued before the sale, so associations should watch for tax certificate sales on delinquent units and consider paying the taxes, which can be added to the lien, when the unit is worth protecting.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 to evaluate a delinquent account for foreclosure or to respond to a lender's foreclosure of a unit. Related services: Assessment Collection, Budgeting and Financial Reporting, and Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

About this page. This page is published by Hamilton Mikes, P.A. for general educational purposes. It is not legal advice, it is not a legal opinion, and it is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer who has reviewed your association's governing documents and the facts of your situation. Reading it, downloading it, or corresponding with the firm about it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship arises until the firm and the client have signed a written engagement agreement. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information to the firm until a conflicts check has been completed and an engagement is confirmed in writing; information sent before that point may not be treated as privileged.

Scope and currency. This article addresses Florida law as applied to Florida community associations, and the firm is licensed to practice in Florida only. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the law of any other jurisdiction. Florida's community association statutes have been amended in every regular session since 2021, and subsection numbering has moved more than once in that period. Each page states the edition of the Florida Statutes it was written against. The law may have changed after that date, an appellate court may have construed a provision differently, and an administrative rule or a local ordinance may impose requirements this page does not address.

Your governing documents control. Much of what governs a Florida association is not in the statutes at all. Declarations, articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules, plats and recorded amendments differ from community to community, and on many questions they set the rule while the statute sets only a floor or a default. A procedure that is correct in one association may be a breach of the documents in the association next door. No general page can tell you which is which for your community.

Why general information is not advice. Legal questions are resolved by applying the law to particular facts as a judge, jury, arbitrator or hearing officer finds them. An outcome that appears clear in the abstract frequently turns on the documents, the chronology, the board's own prior conduct, and the procedural posture, none of which a general page can anticipate. A lawyer supplies what information cannot: the judgment to identify which facts matter, the experience to know how a court or the Division is likely to treat them, the ability to choose among the courses of action actually available, and the advocacy to carry the association's position through negotiation, hearing or trial.

The standard of care, and the protection the statute attaches to counsel. A director of a Florida community association is held to the standard in section 617.0830, Florida Statutes: to act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and to discharge the duties of the office with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances. That standard is measured against the decision the board actually faced, on the record actually before it. The same statute supplies the protection that goes with the duty. Under section 617.0830(4) and (5)(b), a director who has no knowledge making reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports and statements prepared or presented by legal counsel retained by the association as to matters the director reasonably believes are within counsel's professional competence. The Legislature has written the prudent course into the statute. A board that obtains advice on its own documents and its own facts, and acts on that advice, is standing on ground the statute expressly protects. Nothing on this website confers that protection. General information, however carefully prepared, is not advice on your declaration, your amendments, your board's history or your dispute, and a director who relies on it in place of counsel forgoes a statutory protection that was available for the asking.

Personal exposure is real. Service on an association board is usually uncompensated, but volunteer status is not itself immunity. Under section 617.0834, Florida Statutes, a director or an officer is not personally liable in monetary damages for a statement, vote, decision, or failure to act in that role unless two things are both true: the director or officer breached or failed to perform the duties of the office, and that breach was a violation of the criminal law, a transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct in a proceeding brought by or in the right of the corporation, or recklessness or bad faith in a proceeding brought by anyone else. That protection turns on how the director acted, not on whether the director was paid. Chapters 718, 719 and 720 add consequences of their own, including removal from office, civil penalties assessed against the individual for certain willful and knowing violations, and in defined circumstances criminal liability. Whether any of that reaches a particular director depends entirely on the facts and on the director's conduct. The practical point is narrower and more useful: the decisions that generate this exposure — levying an assessment, enforcing a covenant, denying a transfer, withholding a record, entering a unit, terminating a contract, signing for construction work — are precisely the decisions on which general information is least adequate, and on which counsel costs least relative to what is at stake.

No guarantee; prior results. The firm makes no representation or warranty that the information on this page is complete, current or applicable to any particular matter, and disclaims liability to any person for any action taken or not taken in reliance on it. Any description of prior results does not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter; every case turns on its own facts, documents and record.

Do not act on this page alone. If your association faces a decision of consequence, obtain advice from a Florida-licensed attorney who has read your governing documents and the relevant record before the board votes, signs, sends or forecloses. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. represents community associations throughout Southwest Florida and can be reached at 239-594-7227.

Lien Foreclosure