She is seventy one. The condo has been paid off since 2019. Her only debt in the world was a car note she cleared last spring.
Then a letter came from the association. Forty two thousand dollars, payable in three installments, for structural work the building has to do.
She has six thousand dollars. And the first thing she said to me on the phone was that at least the bank cannot take it, because she does not have a mortgage.
I’m Kady. I help Florida homeowners through foreclosure, hardship, inherited property, illness, divorce, and all the things that show up without knocking. I am a Realtor with Momentum Realty and I buy houses, and I have been getting these calls all year.
Here is what made me write this one. Go and search for anything about Florida condo special assessments and read what comes back. Almost every page is written for boards and property managers. How to levy one. How to stay compliant. How to collect. There are hundreds of those articles and they are perfectly good at what they do.
There is almost nothing written for the woman with the letter.
So that is who this is for. Not the board, not the manager, not the lawyer. The owner who opened an envelope and cannot see a way through it. I am going to tell you what the association can actually do to you, how long it takes, where you genuinely have leverage, and what your four real options are, including the ones that have nothing to do with me.
A Florida condominium association can record a claim of lien against your unit for unpaid assessments and foreclose that lien independently of your mortgage, including when you have no mortgage at all. The lien secures not just the assessment but interest, administrative late fees, and the association’s reasonable costs and attorney fees, which is why a $42,000 balance does not stay $42,000. Before it can get there the association owes you a sequence of notices, and those notices are your window: a notice of late assessment giving you 30 days, a 45 day notice before it records a claim of lien, and a 45 day notice before it files suit to foreclose. The wave of assessments happening now is being driven by the milestone inspection and Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirements, reshaped by HB 913 effective 1 July 2025, which also created a limited two year funding pause some buildings qualify for. Your strongest moves are a written payment plan, asking for the documents, and acting while you still have all of your options rather than two of them.
- A paid off condo can still be foreclosed by the association over assessments. No mortgage required.
- Do not ignore the notices. Each one is a deadline and a chance, and the first one is the cheapest.
- Ask for a payment plan in writing, early. Associations accept them far more often than owners expect, and the ask costs nothing.
- Attorney fees are the part that ruins people. Paying inside the first notice window is specifically what keeps them off your balance.
- Request the SIRS, the milestone report and the budget. You are entitled to the records and they tell you whether more assessments are coming.
- If you sell, the debt follows the unit. A buyer is jointly and severally liable, which changes what your unit is worth.
01Why This Is Happening To So Many Buildings Now
You are not unlucky and your board is probably not incompetent. What you are living through is a statewide correction, and knowing why helps you work out whether this is the last letter or the first of several.
After Surfside, Florida put two requirements on condominium buildings. A milestone inspection of the structure, and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study, which is an engineer’s assessment of what the major structural components will cost to replace and when. Then, crucially, buildings were required to actually fund the reserves that study identifies rather than voting every year to waive them, which is what thousands of Florida associations had quietly done for decades.
That is the whole story. Buildings that had been underfunding reserves since the 1980s got an engineer’s report saying the roof, the balconies and the concrete need a specific amount of money, and the old option of voting to put it off was taken away.
HB 913, effective 1 July 2025, then adjusted the framework. Some of what it changed matters directly to you as an owner.
| Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Applies to buildings of three habitable stories or more | This catches far more small buildings than people assume, including three story walkups with parking underneath. Owners in small buildings are being surprised by this |
| Component threshold raised to $25,000, up from $10,000, and adjusted for inflation | Fewer small items get forced into the reserve study. Roofing, painting and paving are not subject to the threshold |
| Funding may come from regular assessments, a special assessment, a loan or a line of credit | A special assessment is not the only lawful route. Anything other than regular assessments requires a majority of the total voting interests |
| Reserves may be pooled, in two separate pools for SIRS and non SIRS items | Pooling usually lowers the annual funding requirement compared to funding each component separately |
| A limited funding pause of up to two years | The one that matters most if your building is about to levy. See below |
That pause is worth understanding properly, because it is the single most useful thing an owner can raise at a meeting. Eligible associations may suspend SIRS reserve funding for up to two years, by a majority vote of the total voting interests, for budgets adopted on or before 31 December 2028. The conditions are that the association received its milestone inspection within the two years before the pause, that it obtains the SIRS within two years after, and that funding does not resume until that study is in hand.
Read that carefully and notice what it does not do. It does not make the work unnecessary. It does not make the money disappear. It buys time, and it is only available to buildings that meet those conditions. But if your board is levying a crushing assessment before it has even completed the study that would tell everyone what is actually needed, the pause is a legitimate question to put in writing.
02Yes, The Association Can Foreclose
This is the part that stops people cold, so I am going to be very plain about it.
Under Florida Statutes section 718.116, your condominium association has a lien on your unit for unpaid assessments. It records a claim of lien in the public records, and it can bring a foreclosure action on that lien in the same way a mortgage lender would. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, so it goes through a court, and if the association wins there is a judgment and a sale.
Three things follow from that, and all three surprise people.
Your mortgage is irrelevant to whether this can happen. No mortgage, a small mortgage, a current mortgage, it makes no difference to the association’s right to foreclose its own lien. The woman with the paid off unit was not safer than her neighbour with a loan. In one respect she was in more danger, because there was no lender in the picture with an interest in protecting the property.
The amount does not have to be enormous. People imagine a threshold. There is no magic number at which the association becomes allowed to act. Associations foreclose over sums far smaller than a special assessment, because once the attorney fees attach, the arithmetic starts working in their favour rather than yours.
It runs on a different clock from a mortgage foreclosure. If you are also behind on your mortgage you now have two separate processes, with separate notices, separate deadlines and separate lawyers. They do not coordinate and nobody will explain the interaction to you.
One technical point that cuts in your favour. A recorded claim of lien expires one year after it is recorded unless an action to enforce it is commenced within that period, with that clock paused during a bankruptcy stay. That is not a strategy and I would never advise anybody to sit still and hope, because associations with counsel file well inside a year. But it is a real limit in the statute and it is one reason a well advised owner negotiates rather than panics.
03The Notices You Are Owed, Which Are Your Window
Here is the sequence, and I want you to see it as a series of doors rather than a series of threats. Every one of them is an opportunity that closes.
Notice of late assessment
Before the association can demand or collect attorney fees on a past due assessment, it must send you this notice, which gives you 30 days to pay the assessment, any late fee and the interest. It states the amount owed and gives you the chance to pay without legal fees attaching. If the association skips this notice, it cannot recover fees or costs tied to that past due amount. This is the cheapest moment in the entire process and most owners sit on it.
Notice of intent to record a claim of lien
For condominiums the owner gets 45 days to pay before a claim of lien is recorded. That was raised from 30 days in 2021. Once the lien is recorded it is a public record attached to your unit, which affects any sale or refinance.
The claim of lien is recorded
It secures the unpaid assessments due at the time plus those that accrue afterwards through final judgment, along with interest, administrative late fees and reasonable collection costs and attorney fees. This is where the balance starts to move away from you.
Notice of intent to foreclose
The association must give you written notice of its intent to foreclose, and no foreclosure judgment may be entered until at least 45 days after that notice. It has to be delivered by hand or by certified or registered mail with return receipt. If it was not given at least 45 days before the action was filed and you pay the assessments before final judgment, the association cannot recover its attorney fees and costs.
Foreclosure suit, judgment, sale
A judicial foreclosure like any other. If you are served you must respond to the court within the time stated on the summons, which in Florida is generally 20 days. Missing it risks a default judgment, which takes away most of your ability to raise defences or negotiate.
Count the days in that ladder. Thirty, then forty five, then forty five, plus the time the association takes to decide at each stage. In practice you usually have several months from the first notice, and I have watched people burn every one of them hoping the problem would turn out to be a mistake.
Do not do that. Those notices have dates on them, and the dates are the only part of this you can actually use.
Keep the notices with their postmarks and any certified mail receipts, and write the date you received each one on the letter itself. The statute attaches consequences to whether a notice was sent and when, so the dates are evidence. If you later need an attorney, handing them a dated file instead of a shoebox changes what they can do for you and how fast. And if you are the sort of person who does not open mail from the association because it is always bad news, this is the moment to break that habit.
04Why $42,000 Does Not Stay $42,000
This is the part that turns a hard problem into an unsurvivable one, and it is almost entirely avoidable.
The lien does not just secure the assessment. It secures the assessment plus interest, plus administrative late fees where the declaration allows them, plus the association’s reasonable costs and attorney fees incurred in collection. Those last two are the ones that compound against you.
On interest, the rate is whatever your declaration says, subject to the legal maximum. If your declaration is silent, the rate is 18 percent per year. Go and look at your declaration today, because a great many of them are silent and their owners assume some gentler number applies.
On late fees, if the declaration or bylaws provide for it, the association may charge an administrative late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each late installment, on top of interest.
And on attorney fees, there is no cap in the statute. There is only the word reasonable and a judge’s view of it.
Which is exactly why the first notice window matters so much. That thirty day notice of late assessment exists to give you a chance to pay before legal fees attach, and the statute says the association cannot collect fees tied to a past due assessment if it never sent the notice. The whole design of that provision is to reward the owner who acts early.
So if you can pay, even painfully, inside that first window, you are paying the assessment. Three months later you may be paying the assessment plus interest plus fees plus somebody’s legal bill, and that is a different conversation entirely.
05Where You Actually Have Leverage
More than you think, and none of it involves shouting at a board member in the car park. Six things, in the order I would do them.
Do this first
Ask for a payment plan, in writing
Associations grant these far more often than owners expect, because a plan that pays is worth more to the building than a lien that litigates. Put it in writing, propose a specific monthly figure you can genuinely sustain, and ask for written confirmation that fees and interest are suspended while you perform. Never agree verbally to a plan you have not seen in writing.
costs nothing, works often
You are entitled to these
Request the records
Ask for the Structural Integrity Reserve Study, the milestone inspection report, the current budget, the reserve schedule and the minutes of the meeting that levied the assessment. These tell you the one thing you most need to know, which is whether this is the only assessment coming or the first of three.
official records, in writing
The HB 913 question
Raise the funding pause and the alternatives
If your building may qualify for the two year SIRS funding pause, or if a loan or line of credit would spread the cost over years instead of months, those are lawful alternatives to a lump special assessment. Put the question to the board in writing before the vote, not after.
needs a vote of the total voting interests
Procedure matters
Check how it was levied
Special assessments have notice and meeting requirements, and the funding method chosen may itself require a majority of the total voting interests. If the procedure was not followed, that is a question for a Florida community association attorney. It is not a reason to stop paying, and treating it as one is how people lose.
ask a lawyer, do not self diagnose
Often overlooked
Look at your own borrowing options
A home equity line, a personal loan, or a family loan at a real interest rate is usually cheaper than 18 percent plus late fees plus somebody’s attorney. If you have equity and income, borrowing to clear the assessment is frequently the rational move even when it feels like the frightening one.
compare against 18 percent
If a suit is filed
Get a lawyer and respond on time
Once you are served, the clock is the court’s and generally allows 20 days to respond. A Florida community association defence attorney is worth the consultation, and many offer a first call free. Legal Aid serves some counties. Do not let a default judgment happen because the paperwork was intimidating.
20 days once served
And one more thing that is not on that list because it is not a tactic, it is just true. Talk to your neighbours. In nearly every building where I have seen a large assessment land, a meaningful number of owners cannot pay it, and most of them are sitting alone with the letter feeling ashamed. Owners who organise get payment plans, get information, and sometimes get the funding method changed. Owners who hide get liens.
06Can You Sell With an Unpaid Assessment?
Yes, and you need to understand how the money works before you list, because this is where sellers get a nasty surprise at closing.
Under Florida Statutes section 718.116, a purchaser of a unit is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due before the transfer, and must pay the amount owed within 30 days after the transfer. The purchaser can seek reimbursement from the previous owner, but the association can look to the new owner for the debt.
What that means in practice is that the debt effectively travels with the unit, so a buyer prices it in. If you owe $42,000 in assessments, no buyer is paying you full market value and then volunteering to take on the $42,000 as well. It comes out of your proceeds, one way or another, either as a payoff at closing or as a reduction in price.
That is not a reason not to sell. It is a reason to know your number before you start.
The document that gives you that number is the estoppel certificate. You, or the closing agent, request it from the association and it states exactly what is owed on the unit, including assessments, interest, late fees, attorney fees and any special assessment installments not yet due. Florida law sets timing and fee limits for these. Get one before you list rather than at closing, because the figure on it is often higher than the owner expected and you want that shock early, while you still have choices.
And disclose it. Florida law requires a seller to disclose known facts materially affecting the value of the property that are not readily observable, and a large unpaid assessment, or a levied assessment with installments still to come, is squarely within that. Hiding it does not make it go away, it just converts a price negotiation into a lawsuit.
07What Your Mortgage Company Will and Will Not Do
Two misconceptions here, and they pull in opposite directions.
The first is the hope that your mortgage company will pay the assessment for you, the way it pays your property taxes and insurance out of escrow. Generally it will not. Condominium assessments are not usually escrowed, and your servicer is not standing by to advance $42,000 on your behalf.
The second is the belief that your lender will somehow stop the association. It will not do that either, and its interests are not aligned with yours in the way you might assume.
There is a provision people hear about and misread, so let me be exact. Section 718.116 contains a limit sometimes called the safe harbour. A first mortgagee, or its successor or assignee, that acquires title through foreclosure or a deed in lieu is liable for assessments that came due before it acquired the unit only up to the lesser of the regular periodic assessments that came due in the 12 months before acquisition, or 1 percent of the original mortgage debt. That limit applies only where the mortgagee joined the association as a defendant in its foreclosure.
Notice who that protects. The lender. It is a cap on what a bank owes the association after the bank takes the unit. It does nothing for you, it does nothing for a buyer at an association foreclosure sale, and it does nothing for a third party who buys at auction. I have seen people at auctions and people reading forums badly misunderstand this and assume the cap covers them. It does not.
What your lender will do, if your mortgage payments stop because you diverted them to the assessment, is treat you as in default and start its own process. Which is how an owner ends up facing two foreclosures at once. If you are choosing between the mortgage and the assessment, that is the moment to ring a HUD approved housing counselor, which is free, and to read what I have written about loan modifications in Florida, because you may be able to ease one side while you deal with the other.
What people believe
My condo is paid off, so nobody can take it.
What is true
The association has its own lien and can foreclose it with no mortgage anywhere in the picture.
What people believe
I disagree with how the board handled this, so I will withhold payment until they fix it.
What is true
Withholding is the one move that reliably ends badly. Pay or negotiate, and take the dispute up separately with an attorney.
What people believe
If I sell, the assessment stays behind with me and the buyer starts fresh.
What is true
A purchaser is jointly and severally liable for the previous owner’s unpaid assessments, so it comes out of your price or your proceeds.
08Your Four Honest Options
Strip everything else away and there are four. I am going to describe all of them fairly, including the three that do not involve me.
One. Pay it. From savings, from a home equity line, from a personal loan, from family. If you can do this inside the first notice window you avoid the interest and the fees entirely, and that is almost always the cheapest outcome available. Compare whatever borrowing costs you against 18 percent plus fees plus legal costs before you decide you cannot afford to borrow.
Two. Negotiate a payment plan and keep the unit. This is the right answer for a lot of people and it is the one I push hardest, because it keeps you in your home. Written plan, sustainable number, confirmation that fees and interest are held while you perform. Then perform, every month, without fail, because a broken plan is much harder to renegotiate than a first plan was to obtain.
Three. Sell on the open market. If you have equity and some time, list it with a Realtor. Get the estoppel certificate first so you know the real payoff, disclose the assessment, and price it knowing that a buyer will account for the debt. You will net less than you would have before the letter arrived, and you will net far more than you would after a judgment.
Four. Sell as is, fast, for cash. This is what I do, and I will be straight with you about when it is the right call and when it is not. It is the right call when the clock has run down, when there is no plan the association will accept and no money to pay, when the arithmetic genuinely does not work, or when you simply need this over with and the certainty is worth more to you than the last few percent. No commission, no repairs, no showings, no waiting on a buyer’s lender, and you choose the closing date. It is the wrong call if a payment plan would have worked, and if that is your situation I will tell you so and send you off to arrange one.
The woman with the paid off unit did not sell it.
We got the estoppel certificate, pulled the reserve study, and found that the board had set up installments and would consider a longer plan for owners who asked. She asked, in writing, and proposed a figure she could actually manage.
They took it. It is not comfortable and it will take her a few years. But she still owns it, and she sleeps at night.
I made nothing on that call and I would take it again tomorrow. I say I save more homes than I sell and I mean it literally.
Send me what it says and I will tell you plainly what I would do in your position, even when the answer is a payment plan and not a sale.
Questions People Ask Me
Can a condo association foreclose on my unit in Florida?
Yes. Under Florida Statutes section 718.116 the association has a lien on your unit for unpaid assessments, and it can record a claim of lien and bring a foreclosure action on that lien. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, so it goes through a court. This is entirely independent of your mortgage, which means it can happen whether you have a large mortgage, a small one, or none at all. A paid off condo is not protected from an assessment foreclosure.
What happens if I simply cannot pay my condo special assessment?
You will receive a notice of late assessment giving you 30 days to pay before attorney fees can attach, then a 45 day notice before a claim of lien is recorded, then a 45 day notice before the association files to foreclose. Use those windows. Ask in writing for a payment plan, request the reserve study and budget so you know whether more is coming, and get a consultation with a Florida community association attorney if a suit is filed. Doing nothing is the only approach that reliably ends in a judgment.
How much notice does the association have to give me?
Three notices matter. A notice of late assessment giving you 30 days to pay the assessment, late fee and interest, which the association must send before it can demand or collect attorney fees on that past due amount. A notice of intent to record a claim of lien, giving condominium owners 45 days. And a notice of intent to foreclose, delivered by hand or by certified or registered mail with return receipt, after which no foreclosure judgment may be entered until at least 45 days have passed.
How much interest can the association charge?
Interest runs at the rate stated in your declaration, up to the legal maximum. If the declaration does not state a rate, the rate is 18 percent per year. Separately, if the declaration or bylaws provide for it, the association may charge an administrative late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each late installment, in addition to interest. Go and read your own declaration, because many are silent on the rate and their owners assume otherwise.
Can the association make me pay its attorney fees?
Yes, and this is the part that does the real damage. The lien secures the association’s reasonable costs and attorney fees incurred in collection, with no dollar cap in the statute. There are two protections. If the association never sent the notice of late assessment, it cannot recover fees and costs tied to that past due assessment. And if the notice of intent to foreclose was not given at least 45 days before the action was filed and you pay the assessments before final judgment, the association cannot recover its fees and costs. Both reward acting early.
Can I pay a special assessment in installments?
Often yes. Many Florida associations levy large assessments in installments from the outset, and many will agree to a longer individual plan when an owner asks early and proposes something realistic. There is no statutory right to a plan, so this is a negotiation rather than an entitlement. Ask in writing, propose a specific monthly figure you can sustain, and get written confirmation of whether interest and fees are suspended while you perform.
Why did my building suddenly need this much money?
Because the rules changed. Florida now requires milestone inspections and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study for buildings of three habitable stories or more, and requires associations to actually fund the structural reserves the study identifies rather than voting each year to waive them, which thousands of associations had done for decades. An engineer’s report arrived with a number on it and the old option of putting it off was taken away. HB 913, effective 1 July 2025, adjusted the framework further.
What is the two year funding pause I keep hearing about?
Under HB 913, eligible associations may pause SIRS reserve funding for up to two years, by a majority vote of the total voting interests, for budgets adopted on or before 31 December 2028. The conditions are that the association received its milestone inspection within the two years before the pause, that it obtains the SIRS within two years after, and that funding does not resume until that study is obtained. It does not cancel the work or the cost. It buys time, and whether your building qualifies is a question worth putting to the board in writing.
Can I refuse to pay if I think the board did this wrongly?
I understand the instinct and I would urge you not to. Withholding payment is the single most reliable way to turn a dispute into a lien and then a judgment, because the balance grows with interest and fees while the argument plays out. If you believe the assessment was not levied properly, or that the funding method required a vote that was not taken, that is a question for a Florida community association attorney. Raise it as a separate matter, and keep paying or negotiating in the meantime.
Can I sell my condo with an unpaid special assessment?
Yes, but know your number first. Under section 718.116 a purchaser is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due before the transfer and must pay the amount owed within 30 days after the transfer. So the debt effectively travels with the unit and a buyer will price it in, meaning it comes out of your proceeds or your price. Request an estoppel certificate from the association before you list, so you know the real payoff including interest, fees and any installments not yet due.
What is an estoppel certificate?
It is a document from the association stating exactly what is owed on a specific unit, including assessments, interest, late fees, attorney fees and any special assessment installments that are not yet due. Florida law sets timing and fee limits for providing one. Get it before you list rather than at closing, because the figure is frequently higher than the owner expected and you want that information while you still have options.
Will my mortgage company pay the assessment for me?
Generally no. Condominium assessments are not usually escrowed the way property taxes and insurance are, and your servicer is not going to advance a large special assessment on your behalf. Your lender also will not stop the association from foreclosing its own lien. And if you divert your mortgage payment to the assessment, your servicer will treat you as in default and begin its own process, which is how owners end up facing two foreclosures at once.
What is the safe harbor, and does it protect me?
It does not protect you. Section 718.116 limits what a first mortgagee owes the association for pre acquisition assessments after it takes title through foreclosure or a deed in lieu, to the lesser of the regular periodic assessments that came due in the 12 months before acquisition or 1 percent of the original mortgage debt, and only where the mortgagee joined the association as a defendant. It protects lenders. It does nothing for an owner, and it does nothing for a third party who buys at an auction, which is a misunderstanding I see constantly.
How long does the association’s lien last?
A recorded claim of lien is effective for one year after it is recorded unless an action to enforce it is commenced within that period, and that time is extended during a bankruptcy stay. I would never treat that as a plan, because associations with counsel file well inside a year and the balance grows the whole time. But it is a genuine limit in the statute and it is one more reason the association has an incentive to settle with an owner who engages.
I have been served with a foreclosure lawsuit. What now?
Respond to the court within the time stated on the summons, which in Florida is generally 20 days from service. Do not miss it. A default judgment removes most of your ability to raise defences or negotiate from any position of strength. Get a consultation with a Florida community association defence attorney, which many offer free for a first call, and check whether Legal Aid serves your county. Bring the dated notices and your correspondence with you.
Should I just sell and be done with it?
Only if the arithmetic says so, and I will tell you the truth either way. If a payment plan gets you to a monthly number you can carry, stay, and I will help you chase that. If the reserve study shows more assessments coming and your income is fixed, then selling now, with equity and a choice of exits, is far better than selling after a judgment has eaten the equity. The worst outcome I see is an owner who waits eighteen months, loses the equity to fees and legal costs, and then sells anyway.
Keep reading
A gentle note: I am a Florida Realtor with Momentum Realty and a home buyer, not an attorney, an accountant, a community association manager, or an engineer, and this is general information rather than advice about your unit or your association. Condominium law changes frequently in Florida, your declaration and bylaws control a great deal of what applies to you, and the details differ building to building. Statutory references here reflect publicly available information as of October 2026, including Florida Statutes sections 718.116 and 718.121 and changes made by HB 913 effective 1 July 2025. Please confirm everything with your association’s official records and a licensed Florida community association attorney, and speak with an attorney straight away if a foreclosure action has been filed against you.
Written by Kady Andreoli, founder of Helping Hand Home Solutions FL and a Realtor with Momentum Realty. Helping Florida homeowners explore every available option, from stopping foreclosure to selling on their own terms. Guidance without judgment, and people before profit. 904-400-2131 · kady@helpinghandhomesfl.com