Homeowners association

What it means

An association is created by documents recorded against the land, so its rules run with the property and bind whoever owns it next, including somebody who inherits.

It collects assessments, enforces restrictions and in most states can place a lien on a home for unpaid dues.

Why it matters

Assessments do not pause because an owner died. They accrue against an empty house, and an estate that ignores them can find a lien waiting at the sale.

The association's documents are also where an age restriction, a rental restriction or an approval requirement for a new owner actually lives.

When you are likely to meet it

• When a house in a planned community sits empty during an estate.
• When an estate wants to rent the home out rather than sell it.
• When the buyer's lender asks for an estoppel letter from the association.

How this varies by state

Lien rights, notice requirements and what an association may charge are set state by state.

Related terms

• Age-restricted communityA neighborhood that may lawfully require residents to be over a certain age, usually 55 or 62.
• Community development districtA local government unit that funds a community's infrastructure and bills residents for it, separately from the association.
• DeedThe recorded document that says who owns a piece of real property, and how they hold it.
• LienA recorded claim against property, securing a debt, that has to be dealt with before the property can be transferred cleanly.
• Real propertyLand and what is permanently attached to it — a house, a barn, a fixed structure. Everything else a person owns is personal property.
• RecordingFiling a document with the county so that it is on the public record.
• Vacant and unoccupiedTwo words an insurer uses differently, and the difference can void the cover on an empty house after a death.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• The empty house