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Can an HOA Foreclose Over a Special Assessment? The Notice Sequence

Updated August 25, 2026. Quick answer: Yes – a Florida condominium association can foreclose a lien for unpaid assessments, including a special assessment. But it cannot do it quickly. Two separate 45-day notices have to run first, and the second one carries a penalty if the association skips it.

The first 45 days: before a lien exists

Under Fla. Stat. s. 718.121(6), “no lien may be filed by the association against a condominium unit until 45 days after the date on which a notice of intent to file a lien has been delivered to the owner by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested”. The statute prescribes the form of that letter. It is a notice of intent to record a claim of lien, and it starts the clock.

Homeowners’ associations outside chapter 718 run the parallel rule at s. 720.3085(4): the written demand must “provide the owner with 45 days following the date the notice is deposited in the mail to make payment for all amounts due.”

The second 45 days: before a foreclosure judgment

Recording a lien is not foreclosing on one. Fla. Stat. s. 718.116(6)(b): “No foreclosure judgment may be entered until at least 45 days after the association gives written notice to the unit owner of its intention to foreclose its lien to collect the unpaid assessments.”

That second notice has teeth pointed both ways. If it is not given on time and the owner pays before final judgment, “the association shall not recover attorney fees or costs.” The fees are usually the part that turns a manageable balance into an unmanageable one, so the notice date is worth checking rather than assuming.

What this does and does not mean

It does not mean the assessment goes away, and it does not mean the association is bluffing. It means the sequence is documented and dated, and every date is checkable against letters you should already have received by certified mail.

If those letters do not exist, that is the first thing to establish – not as a strategy, but because the association’s own timeline is the thing a lawyer will ask you for first.

What this page does not settle

Scope: Florida condominium associations under chapter 718, with the chapter 720 parallel noted where quoted. No 50-state comparison is published here – notice periods and lien priority differ materially by state. Whether a first mortgagee’s safe-harbour cap applies to a particular balance is outside what was verified and is not addressed.

Sources

Related: Special Assessment · How to Challenge a Special Assessment in Florida · the reserve study a buyer should ask for.

General information drawn from the primary statutes, regulations and filings named above, not legal, tax or financial advice. Read your own governing documents or contract before relying on any general description, including this one.

Foreclosure is the end of the road. The deadline that put many Florida associations on this road in the first place is the structural integrity reserve study deadline.

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