RCW 64.90.485 After SB 5686: Washington HOA Delinquency Notices, Fee Caps and Foreclosure in 2026

Since January 1, 2026, a Washington association must mail a statutory notice of delinquency no later than 30 days after an assessment goes past due, may charge almost nothing for 15 days after that notice, must mail a second notice before it forecloses, and may not commence a foreclosure unless the owner owes the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000 — fines, late charges, interest and fees excluded — 90 days have run since that amount accrued, any mediation referral is finished, and the board has voted to foreclose on that specific unit.

Before 2026 the sequence was a late fee on the eleventh, an attorney demand letter around day 60, and foreclosure on whatever the lien had grown to. Two of those steps are now regulated by the day; the third has a floor under it. The rules come from E2SSB 5686, chapter 393, Laws of 2025, and expand the collections summary in our complete WUCIOA guide.

Who this applies to — every Washington association

The section everyone cites is RCW 64.90.485, the WUCIOA lien section, but E2SSB 5686 wrote the same language into the older acts at the same time. RCW 64.38.100 carries identical rules for pre-2018 homeowners associations, with one threshold condition — the duty attaches “If the governing documents of an association provide for a lien on the lot of any owner for unpaid assessments.” RCW 64.34.364 carries them for pre-2018 condominiums at subsections (17) and (18), and RCW 64.32.200 reaches horizontal property regime condominiums.

The session law fixes the date: “Sections 1 through 4 and 11 through 14 of this act take effect January 1, 2026.” Those older chapters are captioned “Effective until January 1, 2028,” because they are repealed that day — an argument for the WUCIOA transition work now.

The first notice — RCW 64.90.485(21)(a)

“No later than 30 days after an assessment becomes past due, an association must provide a notice of delinquency to a unit owner by first-class mail that meets the following criteria.” — RCW 64.90.485(21)(a)

Not “may” — and the clock starts on the declaration’s past-due date.

What the notice must say

Delivery. It must “Be mailed to the unit address and to any other address that a unit owner has provided to the association for the transmission of notice, and by email if the unit owner’s electronic address is known to the association” (.485(21)(a)(i)). First-class mail is the channel; email is additive.

Language. It must “Be provided in English and any other language indicated as a preference for correspondence by a unit owner,” with a safe harbor — “Translation inaccuracies shall not diminish a good faith effort to provide notice in a preferred language other than English” (.485(21)(a)(ii)).

Content. It must “Include a first preforeclosure notice that states as follows”:

“THIS IS A NOTICE OF DELINQUENCY FOR PAST DUE ASSESSMENTS FROM THE UNIT OWNERS ASSOCIATION TO WHICH YOUR HOME BELONGS. THIS NOTICE IS ONE STEP IN A PROCESS THAT COULD RESULT IN YOUR LOSING YOUR HOME. CONTACT A HOUSING COUNSELOR OR AN ATTORNEY LICENSED IN WASHINGTON NOW … DO NOT DELAY. BE CAREFUL of people who claim they can help you.... REFER TO THE CONTACTS BELOW for sources of assistance.” — RCW 64.90.485(21)(a)(iii)

The block then names three contacts under “SEEKING ASSISTANCE” — the statewide foreclosure hotline, HUD and the civil legal aid hotline — with blanks for a phone number and website. Those blanks are not yours to fill from memory: “The association shall obtain the toll-free numbers and website information from the department of commerce.“

A model first notice

The statute prescribes that block and nothing else. This is a model, not legal advice.

[Association name] — Notice of Delinquency. Date: [date mailed]. To: [owner], [unit]. Mailed first class to [unit address] and [other addresses on file]; emailed to [address] if known.

Past due: [month] assessment $[amount] since [date]; administrative fee $10.00; late fee $[lesser of $50 or 5%]; printing and mailing $[actual]. Total due $[total]. How to pay: [methods].

Until the 15th day after the date of this notice, the association will take no other action to collect this assessment and will charge no other collection costs.

[Insert word for word the first preforeclosure notice required by .485(21)(a)(iii), with current Department of Commerce contacts. Send the whole notice in English and any language the owner designated.]

The 15-day standstill and the fee cap — RCW 64.90.485(21)(b)

This subsection makes most Washington fee schedules unlawful as written.

“Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, until the 15th day after providing a unit owner with a notice of delinquency that meets the requirements in (a) of this subsection, an association may not: (i) Take any other action to collect a delinquent assessment; or (ii) Charge a unit owner for any costs related to the collection of the delinquent assessment except for: (A) The actual costs of printing and mailing the notice of delinquency; (B) An administrative fee of no more than $10 related to providing the notice of delinquency; and (C) A single late fee of no more than $50 or five percent of the amount of the unpaid assessment which triggered the fee, whichever is less.” — RCW 64.90.485(21)(b)

Work it on a real number. An association assesses $350 a month and mails the notice on January 15. The late fee is the lesser of $50 or five percent of $350 — five percent is $17.50, so $17.50 is the cap, and under $1,000 the percentage test always wins. Add the $10 administrative fee and actual printing and postage; nothing else until January 30.

A $25 late fee plus a $75 attorney demand letter — a common pairing in Washington collection policies — now fails twice: the $25 exceeds the $17.50 cap, and the demand letter is barred as “any other action to collect” and as a collection charge. Permitted, $27.50 plus postage; charged, $100. Nor can you outrun the notice by sending the file to counsel: under .485(21)(c), “the association or the association’s attorney shall mail the first preforeclosure notice.”

Those caps govern the standstill window, not the whole account: afterward .485(18) allows “reasonable late charges” and interest capped by RCW 19.52.020, and each newly past-due assessment starts its own notice and standstill.

Collections that follow the statute’s calendar. Dynamite Management runs collections for Washington associations inside HOA Fiscal — the 30-day notice, the standstill, the second notice, the mediation wait and the board vote, in that order. See how condo and HOA financial management works.

The second notice — RCW 64.90.485(21)(d) and (22)(b)

A first notice, properly sent and ignored, does not support a foreclosure:

“Mailing the first preforeclosure notice pursuant to (a) of this subsection does not satisfy the requirement in subsection (22)(b) of this section to mail a second preforeclosure notice at or after the date that assessments have become past due for at least 90 days. The second preforeclosure notice may not be mailed sooner than 60 days after the first preforeclosure notice is mailed.” — RCW 64.90.485(21)(d)

Two independent gates, and the later controls: mail the first notice on day 30 and the 60-day gate lands on day 90, the same day the 90-day gate opens. Mail it late and the wait gets longer.

The foreclosure floor — RCW 64.90.485(22)

An association “may not commence an action to foreclose a lien on a unit under this section unless” all five are met.

Condition 1 changes most portfolios. Fines, late charges, interest, attorneys’ fees and collection costs do not count, so an owner sitting on $4,300 made up of $900 in assessments and $3,400 in fines and legal fees is not foreclosable. And it is the greater of the two tests: at $350 a month, three months is $1,050, so $2,000 binds and is not reached until the sixth missed assessment; at $700, three months is $2,100 and that test binds. Neither $2,000 is inflation-indexed under RCW 64.90.065(1).

Condition 3 is also misread: the 90 days runs from the date the floor accrued, not the first missed payment.

Condition 5 is a meeting-law problem. RCW 64.90.445(2)(a) provides that “A final vote or action may not be taken during an executive session,” and (4) requires each decision voted on to be “recorded in the minutes.” The board may consult counsel privately, but the motion to foreclose on a named unit is a final action taken in open session — our partner site’s guide to Washington HOA meeting rules covers the mechanics. A standing resolution covering “delinquent accounts” is not enough.

Mediation under RCW 61.24.163 — what a referral does to the timeline

E2SSB 5686 pulled assessment delinquencies into the Foreclosure Fairness Act program, and the association does not control the entry point.

“The foreclosure mediation program established in this section applies only to borrowers or unit owners who have been referred to mediation by a housing counselor or attorney.” — RCW 61.24.163(1)

Only a counselor or attorney may refer, and only after an earlier step. RCW 61.24.155(5)(b) requires that “Prior to referring the unit owner to mediation, the housing counselor or attorney shall submit a written request to the association … requesting that the unit owner and association meet and confer over the assessment charged,” and (5)(c) says that session “should occur within 30 days.” Refusing does not stop mediation — if the association “refuses to participate … or otherwise fails to respond” within 30 days, “the unit owner may be referred to mediation.” Between request and session the association “is prohibited from charging to the unit owner any attorneys’ fees” incurred trying to collect (.155(6)).

What the association then waits for is in .163(19)(c): if the owner was referred before filing, “the association may not file a complaint for judicial foreclosure until the association receives the mediator’s certification stating that the mediation has been completed”; if referred after filing, it “may not seek judgment” until then. The escape is the 10-day rule .485(22)(d) repeats. Commerce selects a mediator within 10 days and the mediator convenes within 70 days, so budget three to five months — and send someone with authority, because .163(12) requires the parties to address a payment plan, a fee waiver or “any other workout plan.”

The two $2,000 figures, and the six-month priority

RCW 64.90.485 contains two $2,000 amounts that have nothing to do with each other. Confusing them is a common error in Washington collection policies.

The first is a cap on fee priority. Subsection (3)(a)(i) gives the lien priority over a recorded first security interest for the common expense assessments, excluding capital improvements, “which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six months immediately preceding the institution of proceedings.” Subsection (3)(a)(ii) adds a slice for foreclosure costs and attorneys’ fees incurred after notice to the lender, which “shall not exceed $2,000 or an amount equal to the amounts described in (a)(i) of this subsection, whichever is less” — and exists only on “not less than 60 days’ prior written notice” to the holder.

The second is the foreclosure floor in (22)(a)(ii). Say it plainly to the board: $2,000 is the most in fees the association can put ahead of the bank; $2,000 is separately the least in assessments an owner must owe before it may file.

The priority is forfeitable. Under .485(6), “If the association forecloses its lien under this section nonjudicially pursuant to chapter 61.24 RCW … the association is not entitled to the lien priority provided for under subsection (3) of this section, and is subject to the limitations on deficiency judgments as provided in chapter 61.24 RCW.” Nonjudicial foreclosure quotes cheaper and moves faster; it costs the super-priority and the deficiency remedy. Pre-2018 condominiums make the same trade at RCW 64.34.364(5). Insiders also cannot buy: “No member of the association’s board, or their immediate family members or affiliates, are eligible to bid for or purchase … any interest in a unit at a foreclosure of the association’s lien” (.485(13)(e)).

The records duty — RCW 64.90.495

The preforeclosure material is now a record by name: RCW 64.90.495(1)(s) retains “The preforeclosure information required by RCW 64.90.485(21).” Copies are free and follow the owner’s language:

“A unit owner is entitled to receive a free electronic or written copy of the preforeclosure information retained under subsection (1)(s) of this section from the association which must be provided in English and any other language indicated as a preference for correspondence by a unit owner.” — RCW 64.90.495(5)(c)

Read that against its neighbor: (5)(b) gives an owner “a free annual” copy of the owner list, while (5)(c) carries no annual limit and no fee. Requests run on the general timetable in (2)(a)(ii) — “Upon 10 days’ notice … but in no event later than 21 days.” Pre-2018 HOAs use RCW 64.38.045 until 2028. Keep a file: notice, mailing date, addresses used, language version, second notice. That is what proves conditions 2 and 3 years later.

A collections calendar for 2026

This assumes the notice goes out on the statutory outside date and the assessment is $350 a month, so the $2,000 test binds. The intervals are statutory; when the floor accrues depends on your numbers.

An association with a modest assessment cannot foreclose inside a year on one delinquency, and carries the shortfall throughout — the argument for holding enough cash in the operating account that an eight-month cycle is an annoyance, not a special assessment.

Rewrite the collections policy — the six clauses every Washington policy now needs

Washington does not require a written collections policy, but it does require specific behavior — and a policy describing different behavior is a liability in the resale certificate.

1. Notice. Mail a notice no later than 30 days after any assessment goes past due — first class to the unit and every other address on file, by email where known, in English and any designated language, carrying the preforeclosure block with current Commerce contacts.

2. Fees. In the 15 days after each notice: printing and mailing, a $10 administrative fee, one late fee of the lesser of $50 or five percent. Delete every flat demand-letter, lien-preparation and collection-processing fee. State later-stage charges and interest separately, capped by RCW 19.52.020.

3. Attorney referral. No account goes to counsel until the first notice has been mailed and the standstill has run; if one does, counsel mails the notice. No attorneys’ fees between a meet-and-confer request and the session.

4. Second notice. At or after 90 days past due and no sooner than 60 days after the first, with the same preforeclosure information.

5. Foreclosure authorization. No foreclosure unless all five conditions of .485(22) are documented and the board approves by motion in open session naming the unit. Judicial is the default; nonjudicial forfeits the six-month priority.

6. Records. Retain the preforeclosure information under RCW 64.90.495(1)(s); provide free copies in the owner’s designated language.

Then check the mechanics. The ledger has to date-stamp the notice, hold the addresses and language preference, and separate assessments from fines and fees so the floor can be read off the account — ordinary fund-accounting features that sit in the Essentials plan of HOA Fiscal, and are not features of a spreadsheet. Self-managed boards will find the wider argument in the self-management guide.

What to do this quarter

1. Strike from your fee schedule anything that is not printing, postage, $10, or the lesser of $50 and five percent.
2. Get the current Commerce contacts and build the preforeclosure block into your notice template word for word.
3. Set a calendar rule that fires at 30 days past due, not 60 or 90.
4. Split assessments from fines, late charges and interest so the floor is a number you can read.
5. Adopt the six clauses at an open board meeting and record the vote.
6. Retain each notice, mailing date, address list and language version under RCW 64.90.495(1)(s), and re-read the neighbouring sections in the complete WUCIOA guide.

Frequently asked questions

When must a Washington HOA send a notice of delinquency?

No later than 30 days after an assessment becomes past due. RCW 64.90.485(21)(a) requires first-class mail to the unit and any other address on file, plus email if known, in English and any language the owner designated, carrying the statutory first preforeclosure notice with contacts from the Department of Commerce.

What late fee can a Washington HOA charge?

In the 15 days after the notice, RCW 64.90.485(21)(b) allows only printing and mailing, an administrative fee of no more than $10, and “A single late fee of no more than $50 or five percent of the amount of the unpaid assessment which triggered the fee, whichever is less” — $17.50 on a $350 assessment. Afterward .485(18) allows “reasonable late charges” and interest capped by RCW 19.52.020.

Can a Washington HOA foreclose for unpaid dues?

Yes, but only when all five conditions in RCW 64.90.485(22) are met: the threshold owed in assessments alone, a second notice mailed, 90 days elapsed since the threshold accrued, any RCW 61.24.163 mediation complete, and board approval “specifically against that unit.” Foreclosing nonjudicially forfeits the six-month priority (.485(6)).

How much must an owner owe before an HOA can foreclose in Washington?

The greater of three months of assessments or $2,000 of assessments, measured when the action is commenced — .485(22)(a). At $350 a month the $2,000 figure controls, because three months is only $1,050; at $700 the three-month test controls at $2,100. Neither is inflation-adjusted under RCW 64.90.065(1).

What is the 15-day standstill?

The window in RCW 64.90.485(21)(b): “until the 15th day after providing a unit owner with a notice of delinquency,” an association may not “Take any other action to collect a delinquent assessment” or charge collection costs beyond printing and mailing, a $10 administrative fee and one capped late fee.

Does SB 5686 apply to HOAs formed before 2018?

Yes. E2SSB 5686, chapter 393 of the Laws of 2025, amended the older acts alongside WUCIOA effective January 1, 2026: RCW 64.38.100 for pre-2018 homeowners associations whose documents provide for a lien, RCW 64.34.364(17) and (18) for pre-2018 condominiums, RCW 64.32.200 for horizontal property regimes — all repealed January 1, 2028.

What is foreclosure mediation for HOAs in Washington?

The Foreclosure Fairness Act program in RCW 61.24.163, extended to assessment delinquencies by E2SSB 5686. It “applies only to borrowers or unit owners who have been referred to mediation by a housing counselor or attorney” — owners cannot self-refer and associations cannot initiate it. The counselor or attorney must first request a meet-and-confer session, which should occur within 30 days.

Do fines count toward the foreclosure threshold?

No. RCW 64.90.485(22)(a) counts assessments only, “not including fines, late charges, interest, attorneys’ fees, or costs incurred by the association in connection with the collection of a delinquent owner’s account.” A balance made up mostly of fines and legal fees does not qualify.

Collections that follow the statute’s calendar. Dynamite Management runs collections for Washington associations inside HOA Fiscal — the 30-day notice, the standstill, the second notice, the mediation wait and the board vote, in that order. See how condo and HOA financial management works, or contact us about your association’s delinquency file.