For condominiums, the statute is direct. Under Ind. Code § 32-25-6-3, sums assessed for a unit's share of common expenses but left unpaid constitute a lien on the unit, effective at the time of the assessment. The lien's priority is bounded: it stands behind tax liens and behind all sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record, and ahead of most everything else. Enforcement is judicial: the lien is filed and foreclosed by suit, under the framework Indiana uses for mechanics' and materialmen's liens, which means a complaint, service, and a judge, never a private sale. The statute has one sharp edge worth knowing: during a foreclosure, if the bylaws provide for it, the owner can be required to pay a reasonable rental for the unit, and the association can seek a receiver to collect it.
For subdivision HOAs there is no statutory lien. Whatever lien your HOA claims must be created by the recorded covenants, and its scope, what it secures, whether fines and fees ride along with assessments, is whatever those covenants actually say. Enforcement still runs through the courts: Indiana is a judicial-foreclosure state, so an HOA seeking your home must file suit, prove the debt and the lien, and obtain a judgment and sheriff's sale, a process with built-in time and formal defenses. Every step of that process is a checkpoint where a padded ledger, a covenant that never granted the lien, or a skipped grievance procedure can be raised.
The grievance chapter reaches money disputes too
Remember that a dispute over what you owe an HOA, misapplied payments, charges the covenants don't authorize, fines swept into an assessment balance, is a claim about the interpretation, application, or enforcement of the governing documents. That puts it inside the grievance-resolution chapter (Ind. Code ch. 32-25.5-5), which requires the written-notice-and-meeting process before a legal proceeding begins. Served with a collection threat, you can serve a grievance notice back: it forces a documented conversation about the ledger at the moment the association would rather escalate, and it costs you nothing but a letter.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Ind. Code § 32-25-6-3
The condominium assessment lien: effective at the time of assessment, junior to tax liens and the recorded first mortgage, foreclosed by suit, with a possible rental charge and receiver during foreclosure if the bylaws provide.
Ind. Code ch. 32-25.5-5
The grievance procedure, which reaches assessment and ledger disputes in an HOA and must run before either side initiates a legal proceeding.
Ind. Code § 32-25.5-3-3
The records right used to demand the itemized ledger, bank records, and the covenant provisions behind any claimed lien.
Step by step
How to respond to an assessment lien in Indiana
Steps to take when an Indiana association claims a lien or files a foreclosure suit over unpaid assessments.
- 01
Find the lien's legal source
Condominium: § 32-25-6-3 creates the lien automatically for common-expense assessments. Subdivision HOA: only the recorded covenants can create a lien, so demand the provision in writing and read exactly what it secures.
- 02
Get the itemized ledger
Use a § 32-25.5-3-3 records request (HOA) or your condo documents' records provisions to separate true assessments from fines, late fees, interest, and attorney charges. Dispute in writing anything the documents don't authorize.
- 03
Serve a grievance notice on the dispute
For an HOA, a written claim notice under ch. 32-25.5-5 puts the ledger fight into the mandatory meet-and-confer process before the courthouse, and documents your good faith if it gets there anyway.
- 04
Answer any foreclosure complaint on time
Indiana association foreclosures are lawsuits. You will be served and have the right to answer, contest the debt, and raise defenses. A default judgment adopts the association's numbers wholesale; never let one happen by silence.
- 05
Negotiate with counsel before judgment
Judicial foreclosure is slow and costly for the association, which makes documented payment plans the common exit. Get any agreement in writing, with the lien released on completion, and involve an Indiana attorney before a judgment or sale date exists.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can an Indiana HOA foreclose on my home over dues?
Only through the courts, and only if its recorded covenants actually create a lien. Indiana has no statutory HOA lien, and foreclosure requires a lawsuit, a judgment, and a sheriff's sale, with every step a chance to contest the debt.
How does a condo lien work here?
Under Ind. Code § 32-25-6-3, unpaid common-expense assessments become a lien effective at assessment, junior to tax liens and the first mortgage of record, and foreclosed by suit. If the bylaws provide, the owner can owe reasonable rental during the foreclosure and a receiver can be appointed to collect it.
Does the association's lien beat my mortgage?
No. The condominium statute expressly subordinates the assessment lien to all sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record, and to tax liens. Indiana has no super-priority slice like some states give associations.
The balance they claim is mostly fines and legal fees. Does that matter?
Considerably. The condo lien secures common-expense assessments; an HOA lien secures whatever the covenants say and nothing more. A ledger padded with unauthorized charges shrinks fast under a records request, a grievance meeting, and a judge's review, in that order.