Yes, a Massachusetts condominium association can put a lien on your unit for unpaid common expenses, and that lien can lead to foreclosure, even while your mortgage payments are current. Under § 6(a), the organization of unit owners "shall have a lien on a unit for any common expense assessment levied against that unit from the time the assessment becomes due," and recording the master deed itself creates record notice and perfects that lien; the association doesn't have to file a separate claim of lien first. The lien covers your regular common-expense assessments, plus any fines, late charges, attorney's fees, court costs, and interest the organization has lawfully assessed against you under § 6(a)(ii).
But the statute wraps that lien in a real, and unusually mortgage-lender-focused, procedural sequence under § 6(c). Once your account is at least sixty days delinquent, the association has to send you a notice of the delinquency by certified and first-class mail, and, if your first mortgage lender has told the association its name and address, it has to send that lender the same notice. Then, at least thirty days before actually filing an action to enforce the lien, the association has to send the first mortgagee a separate notice of its intent to sue. None of this is a favor to you personally, it's built to protect the mortgage lender's position, but it does mean there's a real notice sequence and a real filing threshold before the association can force the issue in court.
The six-month super-priority, and how it flips foreclosure math
Here's the mechanic that surprises most owners: your condo association's lien can leapfrog your own first mortgage for a limited slice of what you owe. Under § 6(c), the lien is generally junior to a first mortgage recorded before your delinquency, but it takes priority over that mortgage for up to six months of common-expense assessments, based on the adopted budget, that would have come due in the six months before the association sues to enforce the lien, plus the costs and reasonable attorney's fees of that enforcement action. That priority slice doesn't include special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties, or interest, only the regular common-expense assessments and the enforcement costs. It's exactly this priority position that gives mortgage lenders a real incentive to step in and pay off a delinquent owner's common-expense arrears rather than let the association foreclose ahead of them, which is why so much of § 6(c)'s notice machinery is aimed at the lender, not at you.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(a)
Creates the organization's lien on a unit for any unpaid common-expense assessment from the time it becomes due, perfected automatically by recording the master deed.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(c)
Requires a 60-day delinquency notice and a 30-day pre-suit notice to the first mortgagee, sets the lien's priority against other liens, and gives it super-priority over a first mortgage for up to six months of common expenses plus enforcement costs.
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(d)
Requires the organization to furnish a written statement of unpaid amounts within ten business days of a request; once recorded, that statement discharges the unit from any lien for sums it doesn't list.
Step by step
How to respond to a Massachusetts condo lien or delinquency notice
Steps to take when you receive a common-expense delinquency notice or lien threat from your Massachusetts condo association.
- 01
Read the notice for the delinquency date and the amount
Confirm whether you're past the 60-day mark under § 6(c) and exactly what the association claims you owe. The clock on further action generally doesn't start until this notice goes out by certified and first-class mail.
- 02
Request the ten-business-day statement of account
Send a written request for the statement of unpaid amounts required by § 6(d). The association must respond within ten business days, and once that statement is recorded, any sum it doesn't list can't attach as a lien against your unit.
- 03
Separate common expenses from fines, fees, and interest
The lien's super-priority over your own first mortgage under § 6(c) only covers up to six months of regular common-expense assessments plus enforcement costs, not fines, late charges, penalties, or interest. An inflated balance padded with those extras is worth scrutinizing.
- 04
Loop in your mortgage lender early
Because § 6(c)'s notice sequence and thirty-day pre-suit warning are built around the first mortgagee, your lender may have both the incentive and the contractual right to step in and cure the common-expense arrears before the association can foreclose ahead of it. Ask your servicer directly.
- 05
Get a Massachusetts attorney before an action is filed
Once thirty days have passed after the pre-suit notice to your mortgagee, the association can file to enforce the lien. Talk to a licensed Massachusetts attorney while you still have time to negotiate a payment plan or challenge the amount claimed.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can my Massachusetts condo association really foreclose on my unit over unpaid dues?
Yes. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 183A, § 6(a) gives the organization a lien for unpaid common-expense assessments that recording the master deed automatically perfects, and § 6(c) sets out the notice sequence and priority rules that lead toward enforcement of that lien, which can end in foreclosure.
Does the association have to notify my mortgage lender before it can lien or foreclose?
It has to try to, if your lender has told the association its name and address. Section 6(c) requires a 60-day delinquency notice and a separate 30-day notice of intent to sue, both sent to the first mortgagee, before the association files an action to enforce the lien.
Can the association's lien really jump ahead of my own mortgage?
For a limited slice, yes. Section 6(c) makes the lien junior to a first mortgage recorded before your delinquency, except that it takes priority for up to six months of common-expense assessments, based on the adopted budget, plus the costs and attorney's fees of enforcing the lien. That slice doesn't include fines, late fees, or special assessments.
What if the association won't tell me exactly what I owe?
Send a written request under § 6(d). The organization has ten business days to furnish a statement of the amount owed, and once that statement is recorded, any charge it doesn't list can't be enforced as a lien against your unit.