Assessment liens and foreclosure in Washington, DC

Be clear-eyed about this one, because the District's assessment machinery is among the sharpest in the country. Under D.C. Code § 42-1903.13, once an assessment is due and unpaid it automatically constitutes a lien on your unit, with no recording required; the recorded condominium instruments are themselves record notice. The lien is prior to almost everything recorded after the declaration, and, the part that shocks people, it primes even a first deed of trust to the extent of six months of assessments (§ 42-1903.13(a)(2)). The association may enforce by non-judicial power of sale. In Chase Plaza Condominium Ass'n v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (D.C. 2014), the D.C. Court of Appeals held that foreclosure of that six-month priority slice can extinguish a first mortgage, which is why a few thousand dollars of condo arrears in DC can set off consequences wildly out of scale with the number on the ledger.

Now the protections, which the 2017 reforms made concrete. No sale may occur until a Notice of Foreclosure Sale of Condominium Unit for Assessments Due has been recorded in the land records and sent, at least 31 days before the sale, by a delivery service with tracking and by first-class mail, to you at the unit, at any last known address, and at any address you designated, with copies to the Mayor and to the holder of any first deed of trust. The notice must state the past-due amount that must be paid to stop the foreclosure, and it must state expressly whether the sale is for the six-month priority amount and not subject to the first deed of trust, or for more and subject to it. It must be accompanied by an enclosure breaking down the amount, explaining how to request a full account statement, and listing housing-counseling resources, in at least 18-point font. The sale must also be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation in the District. Skipped or defective steps in that sequence are defenses, not technicalities.

Your three hard levers

First, cure: the statute gives you the right to stop the sale at any time before it happens by paying the past-due assessments plus late charges, interest, and the association's reasonable fees and costs, not the whole accelerated balance. Second, time: the lien lapses and has no further effect if enforcement isn't instituted within three years of the assessment coming due, so scrutinize the age of every line on the ledger. Third, the payoff statement: any owner or purchaser is entitled on request to a recordable statement of unpaid assessments, due within 10 days, and the statute extinguishes the lien if the association fails to furnish it in time. Make that request in writing, dated, with proof of delivery, in every DC collection dispute. Few statutes anywhere hand an owner a cleaner tripwire.