Tennessee's condominium lien is automatic and fast-moving, which makes knowing its limits essential. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-415, the association has a lien on your unit from the time an assessment or fine becomes due, no separate recording required to create it, and if an assessment is payable in installments, the full amount becomes a lien once the first installment is due. The lien sits behind real estate taxes, liens recorded before the declaration, and a first mortgage recorded before the delinquency, but ahead of most everything else. This section is one of the Act's retroactive provisions, so it applies to older condominiums too for post-2009 delinquencies.
Enforcement is where the declaration matters most. The association may foreclose judicially, or, only if the declaration permits it, nonjudicially in like manner as a deed of trust with power of sale under title 35, chapter 5 of the code. A nonjudicial sale has no judge and moves quickly, but it comes with mandatory notice: before the first publication of the sale, the association must notify you and every recorded lienholder by mail, and notice is deemed received three days after deposit. Two more limits work for you. The association's priority over a first mortgage in foreclosure proceeds is capped at six months of common-expense assessments, and never more than 1% of the first mortgage's principal. And a lien not enforced within six years of becoming effective is extinguished entirely.
Subdivision HOAs: check where the lien power comes from
For a subdivision HOA there is no statutory lien. Whatever lien your HOA claims must be created by the recorded covenants, and its enforcement follows the terms of those covenants and general Tennessee property law. That means the first document to read is not a statute but your declaration: does it actually grant a lien for assessments, does it extend to fines and fees, and what procedure does it promise before a sale? An HOA asserting a lien its own documents never created, or sweeping in charges the documents don't secure, is overreaching, and that overreach is your defense.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-415
The assessment lien: arises automatically when an assessment or fine becomes due, capped six-month/1% priority over a first mortgage, judicial or declaration-authorized nonjudicial foreclosure with mailed notice to the owner and lienholders, and extinguishment after six years.
Tenn. Code Ann. title 35, chapter 5
The power-of-sale foreclosure procedure the condo act incorporates for nonjudicial enforcement, the same machinery used for deeds of trust.
Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-27-417
The records duty that lets an owner demand the financial detail behind a claimed delinquency before the lien fight escalates.
Step by step
How to respond to an assessment lien in Tennessee
Steps to take when a Tennessee association claims a lien or begins foreclosure over unpaid assessments.
- 01
Confirm the lien's legal source
Condominium: § 66-27-415 creates the lien automatically. Subdivision HOA: only the recorded covenants can create one, so read them first and demand the provision in writing if the HOA can't point to it.
- 02
Get an itemized ledger
Use the records right (§ 66-27-417 for condos) to demand a breakdown separating assessments from fines, late charges, interest, and attorney fees, and check whether your declaration excludes any of those from the lien.
- 03
Check the six-year clock
A condo lien is extinguished if enforcement proceedings aren't started within six years after the lien became effective. Old, stale balances being revived in a new demand deserve that scrutiny first.
- 04
Verify the pre-sale notice
Before any nonjudicial sale is first published, the association must mail notice to you and every recorded lienholder. Confirm the declaration actually authorizes nonjudicial foreclosure at all; without that authorization, only a judicial foreclosure is available.
- 05
Get counsel before a sale date exists
Power-of-sale foreclosure moves fast and without a judge. A Tennessee attorney can evaluate notice defects, the declaration's authorization, the ledger, and the six-year bar while there is still time to use them.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can a Tennessee condo association foreclose without going to court?
Only if the declaration permits it. Section 66-27-415 allows nonjudicial foreclosure in like manner as a deed of trust with power of sale, but that route requires declaration authorization, plus mailed notice to you and all recorded lienholders before the first publication of sale. Otherwise the association must foreclose judicially.
Does the association's lien beat my mortgage?
Mostly no. The lien is junior to a first mortgage recorded before the delinquency. In a foreclosure, the association's priority in the proceeds is capped at six months of common-expense assessments and can never exceed 1% of the first mortgage's principal.
How long does the association have to act on its lien?
Six years. Under § 66-27-415, a lien for unpaid assessments is extinguished unless enforcement proceedings begin within six years after the date the lien became effective. A demand built on older amounts is worth challenging on that ground.
My subdivision HOA says it has a lien on my house. Does it?
Only if your recorded covenants created one; Tennessee has no statutory HOA lien. Ask, in writing, for the exact covenant provision granting the lien and what it secures. An HOA that can't produce it is threatening with authority it doesn't have.