Washington HOA Laws in 2026: The Complete WUCIOA Guide

Washington homeowners associations and condominium associations are governed by the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act — chapter 64.90 RCW, universally called WUCIOA. Since January 1, 2026, ten of its sections apply to every association regardless of when the community was created, and E2SSB 5686 wrote the same new collection rules into RCW 64.90.485 and the old chapters alike (RCW 64.34.364 and 64.38.100), so those reach every association too. On January 1, 2028, the old acts — chapters 64.32, 64.34 and 64.38 RCW — are repealed, and chapter 64.90 becomes the only law of Washington community associations. The 2025 and 2026 sessions changed meetings, voting, collections, reserves, audits, resale certificates and owner inquiries.

This guide walks the chapter section by section with the operative language quoted. One caution first: nothing in Washington law requires board training, requires mediation before every lawsuit, or sets a $300,000 audit threshold. Those claims are wrong. No agency writes regulations under chapter 64.90 either — the statute is self-executing, and enforcement means a lawsuit with fee-shifting under RCW 64.90.685.

What changed in 2026 at a glance

Which law governs your association — RCW 64.90.360, 64.90.365 and 64.90.370

RCW 64.90.360(1) says the chapter “applies to all common interest communities,” but subsection (2) holds that back: before January 1, 2028 it reaches only a community “created on or after July 1, 2018” and an older one “that amends its declaration to elect to be subject to this chapter.”

The ten sections that already apply to pre-2018 communities — RCW 64.90.365(1)

ESSB 5129 rewrote RCW 64.90.365 to pull an exact list forward to January 1, 2026, displacing conflicting old law:

“(1) Except for a plat community or miscellaneous community described in RCW 64.90.360(4) and a nonresidential or mixed-use common interest community described in RCW 64.90.100, the following sections apply to a common interest community created before July 1, 2018, and any inconsistent provisions of chapter 58.19, 64.32, 64.34, or 64.38 RCW do not apply: (a) RCW 64.90.370; (b) RCW 64.90.405(1) (b) and (c); (c) RCW 64.90.445; (d) RCW 64.90.480(10); (e) RCW 64.90.502; (f) RCW 64.90.513; (g) RCW 64.90.525; (h) RCW 64.90.545; (i) RCW 64.90.580; and (j) RCW 64.90.010, to the extent necessary to construe this subsection.” — RCW 64.90.365(1)

That is early election, budgets and assessments, meetings, the fee-free payment method, emergency powers, EV charging, budget ratification, the reserve study, heat pumps, and the definitions needed to read the list. Under subsection (2), “.370 and 64.90.525 supersede existing provisions of the governing documents” of communities formerly under chapter 64.38.

Note what is not on that list: records (.495), financial statements and the audit (.530), reserve accounts (.535), insurance (.470) and resale certificates (.640) do not reach a pre-2018 community until January 1, 2028. That gap produces most of the bad advice circulating in Washington — a board reads a WUCIOA article, applies the $100,000 audit test, and misses that it is still on the $50,000 test in RCW 64.38.045(2).

The small-community and middle-housing exemptions — RCW 64.90.360(4)

Both exemptions live in the declaration, not in the facts on the ground. A plat or miscellaneous community not subject to a development right is subject only to a listed subset of the chapter if it:

“(A) Contains no more than 50 units; and (B) Provides in its declaration that the annual average assessment of all units restricted to residential purposes, exclusive of optional user fees, may not exceed $1,000, as adjusted pursuant to RCW 64.90.065.” — RCW 64.90.360(4)(a)(i)

SHB 2354 added a narrower 2026 carve-out for a community that “Consists of no more than six units that are all middle housing as defined under RCW 36.70A.030” with the same $1,000 cap; that one is a real exemption, leaving only RCW 64.90.020, .025 and .030 in force. The 50-unit version is not — a qualifying small community still owes meetings, quorum, voting, assessments, liens, records, rules, budgets, financial statements, reserves and resale certificates. What it escapes is short: insurance (.470) and the accounts-and-reconciliation duty (.475). Few declarations carry the $1,000 cap. Read yours before assuming you are exempt.

Electing in early, and the 2028 repeal — RCW 64.90.370

RCW 64.90.370(3) gives an older community an amendment route that overrides whatever supermajority its declaration demands: the board proposes on its own or on the written request of owners holding 20 percent of the votes, gives 30 days’ notice of a meeting, then circulates a ballot. The amendment is “deemed approved if owners holding at least 30 percent of the votes in the association participate in the voting process, and at least 67 percent of the votes cast by participating owners are in favor.”

The repeal date is fixed: the reviser’s note on RCW 64.90.365 states that chapters “58.19, 64.32, 64.34, and 64.38 RCW were repealed by 2024 c 321, effective January 1, 2028.” There is no July 2028 date. What a pre-2018 board should do before then is covered in WUCIOA 2028: what every Washington HOA board needs to do now.

The board: powers, duties and standard of care — RCW 64.90.405, .410, .435, .518 and .520

RCW 64.90.405(1) is the short mandatory list: adopt organizational documents, adopt budgets, impose assessments, prepare financial statements, hold funds as RCW 64.90.530 requires. Subsection (2) settles several recurring fights. The association may fine, but only “after notice and opportunity to be heard” and under “a previously established schedule of fines adopted by the board of directors and furnished to the owners.” It may require nonbinding ADR “as a prerequisite to commencement of a judicial proceeding” — a power the board may adopt, not a duty the statute imposes. It may suspend privileges of a delinquent owner but may not deny unit access, “Suspend a unit owner’s right to vote,” or withhold a health-or-safety service. Borrowing against future assessments needs owner ratification on the budget’s 14-to-50-day timeline.

RCW 64.90.410 sets the standard of care: directors and officers “must exercise the degree of care and loyalty to the association required of an officer or director of a corporation organized,” with corporate conflict rules and chapter 24.06 RCW immunities, “regardless of the form in which the association is organized.” After the transition meeting the board has at least three members, a majority of them owners, no declarant appointee, and no power to amend the documents or change its own terms without an owner vote. RCW 64.90.435 lists what bylaws must cover, including the ratification process; RCW 64.90.518 requires pre-election notice of seats open, candidate qualifications and “The process, manner, and deadline for submitting nominations”; and RCW 64.90.520 lets owners remove a director with or without cause on the lesser of a majority of eligible votes or two-thirds of votes cast, if removal was in the notice.

Meetings, notice and owner comment — RCW 64.90.445

RCW 64.90.445 has applied to every Washington association since January 1, 2026. Owner meetings take notice “not less than 14 days and not more than 50 days before the meeting date”; board meetings take notice “at least 14 days before the meeting” unless already on a schedule given to owners, with a seven-day electronic exception for “a meeting to address an event or condition that could not have been reasonably foreseen.” Board meetings are open, executive session is limited to five grounds — attorney consultation, litigation, labor or personnel, commercial transactions under negotiation, and matters whose public knowledge “would violate the privacy of any person” — and no final vote may be taken in session. Remote meetings are allowed if everyone can hear and comment, votes are “conducted by roll call or other verbal vote,” and every participant “is given the option of participating by telephone.” Directors may not vote by proxy or absentee ballot. Then the rule that surprises boards most:

“The board must provide at least 15 minutes at the beginning of each meeting for unit owners to comment about agenda items before the board votes. The board may place reasonable time restrictions of not less than 90 seconds per owner per unit, except that the time per owner per unit may be reduced and allocated equally if more than 10 unit owners wish to comment.” — RCW 64.90.445(2)(e)

Our sister site treats the whole section at length — notice calendars, executive session, running the comment period, and what belongs in the minutes — in Washington HOA meeting rules under RCW 64.90.445, with companion pieces on executive session minutes and how long to keep meeting minutes. Two adjacent sections matter: RCW 64.90.450 sets the default owner quorum at 20 percent, counted at the start including proxies and absentee ballots and held “throughout any meeting”; and RCW 64.90.515 makes electronic notice “effective only upon unit owners and board members who have consented, in the form of a record,” with consent revoked after two consecutive failed transmissions.

Voting — RCW 64.90.455

RCW 64.90.455 allows in-person, absentee, proxy and ballot-without-a-meeting voting, including electronically. A proxy must be dated and, “Unless stated otherwise in the proxy, a proxy terminates 11 months after its date of issuance.” For a vote without a meeting the return deadline “may not be fewer than 14 days after the date of the notice,” a paper ballot goes to every owner who has not consented in a record to electronic voting, and ballots count only if the number cast “equals or exceeds the quorum required to be present at a meeting.”

Three matters take a secret ballot regardless of the bylaws: election of directors, removal of directors or owner-elected officers, and amendments to the governing documents. Any board-election ballot “must designate a blank space for unit owners to cast a vote for one or more candidates.” And under subsection (9)(c), incumbent directors and anyone “whose name is placed on the ballot as a candidate” may not possess, access or participate in opening or counting secret ballots before they are counted and recorded at a meeting. In practice the association needs disinterested tellers — a manager, an inspector of elections, or owners who are neither incumbents nor candidates. No quorum is needed to open and count. The meeting procedure around the count is on the RCW 64.90.445 pillar.

Records and owner inquiries — RCW 64.90.495 and 64.90.715

RCW 64.90.495 lists nineteen categories of records to retain. Accounting records, financial statements, tax returns, contracts, and architectural and enforcement decision materials each run seven years; ballots and proxies one year. E2SSB 5686 added “The preforeclosure information required by RCW 64.90.485(21),” and owners get a free copy of it annually. Records must be available “Upon 10 days’ notice unless the size of the request or need to redact information reasonably requires a longer time, but in no event later than 21 days without a court order.” Twelve categories are redacted first — personnel and medical records, contracts under negotiation, litigation, privileged communications, executive session records, other owners’ unit files, and anything “which would compromise the secrecy of a ballot.” The association may charge a reasonable fee for copies and is “not obligated to compile or synthesize information.”

RCW 64.90.715, created by ESHB 1501 effective June 11, 2026, is not a records request — it is a duty to answer questions:

“When a unit owner or the unit owner’s authorized agent files a written inquiry by certified mail with an association regarding one or more topics related to either association governance or operations, or both, the association must respond, in the form of a record, to the unit owner or the unit owner’s authorized agent within 30 days after receipt of the inquiry.” — RCW 64.90.715(1)

The 30 days may extend to the next regular monthly board meeting, by 30 additional days “to respond to a complex inquiry,” or for time to obtain a legal or third-party opinion — whose cost must be a common expense and may not be specially assessed to the inquiring unit. A “substantive response” is defined generously, including “a factual explanation, reference to governing documents, reference to association records already available for inspection by owners, statement of current association practices.” The board may limit itself to one inquiry per unit per 30 days, and the prevailing party “is entitled to recover its reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs” — so log certified mail the day it arrives. RCW 64.38.185 is the identical parallel for pre-2018 HOAs and expires January 1, 2028.

Money: budgets, assessments and the annual ratification — RCW 64.90.525 and 64.90.480

RCW 64.90.525 has applied to every association since January 1, 2026 and supersedes the documents of former chapter 64.38 HOAs. The mechanic is the reverse of what most old bylaws describe — owners do not approve the budget, they get a chance to reject it:

“Within thirty days after adoption of any proposed budget for the common interest community, the board must provide a copy of the budget to all the unit owners and set a date for a meeting of the unit owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than fourteen nor more than fifty days after providing the budget. Unless at that meeting the unit owners of units to which a majority of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage specified in the declaration reject the budget, the budget and the assessments against the units included in the budget are ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.” — RCW 64.90.525(1)(a)

Quorum is irrelevant, and rejection takes a majority of all votes in the association — an almost impossible bar at a normally attended meeting. Three of the six required budget contents are reserve disclosures: the amount budgeted for reserves, whether a study meeting RCW 64.90.550 exists “and, if so, the extent to which the budget meets or deviates from the recommendations of that reserve study,” and “The current deficiency or surplus in reserve funding expressed on a per unit basis.” Special assessments follow the same path.

RCW 64.90.480 allocates common expenses by common expense liability unless the declaration provides otherwise for limited common elements, benefits to fewer than all units, insurance in proportion to risk, or metered utilities, and before specially assessing a unit for owner-caused damage the association “must give notice to the unit owner and provide an opportunity for a hearing.” Since January 1, 2026 subsection (10) is short and absolute: “An association must provide at least one method of accepting payment of assessments from unit owners at no charge or as a common expense.” If your only channels are a card processor with a convenience fee and a per-item lockbox, you are out of compliance; free ACH is the usual fix. Our master budget guide walks the build, hoameeting.com covers ratifying the HOA budget in Washington, and operating cash is in how much cash should your HOA keep.

Collections after SB 5686 — RCW 64.90.485

RCW 64.90.485 is the longest section in the chapter and, since January 1, 2026, the one most likely to cost an association money. The association holds a statutory lien on each unit “for any unpaid assessment against the unit from the time such assessment is due,” perfected by recording the declaration. It sits behind pre-declaration encumbrances, property taxes and first security interests, except for a six-month slice: subsection (3)(a)(i) gives priority over a recorded mortgage for the assessments, excluding capital improvements, “which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the six months immediately preceding the institution of proceedings.” A separate priority covers costs and fees incurred after a 60-day notice to the lender, capped at “$2,000 or an amount equal to the amounts described in (a)(i) of this subsection, whichever is less” — a cap on fee priority, not the same $2,000 as the foreclosure floor below. Confusing the two is a common error in collection policies.

The standstill language is where most fee schedules break:

“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)

Even then, foreclosure requires that the owner owe at least:

“the greater of: (i) Three months or more of assessments, 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; or (ii) $2,000 of assessments, not including fines, late charges, interest, attorneys’ fees, or costs” — RCW 64.90.485(22)(a)

and that “At least 90 days have elapsed from the date the minimum amount required in (a) of this subsection has accrued.” Fines and fees do not count toward the floor — a $4,000 balance that is mostly violation fines does not qualify. Board members and their immediate family and affiliates may not bid at the association’s own sale, and nonjudicial foreclosure under chapter 61.24 RCW forfeits the six-month priority. Collections is now a calendar, not a judgment call: miss the 30-day notice and you have arguably forfeited every collection charge after it; skip the board vote and the foreclosure is defective. The full RCW 64.90.485 collections walkthrough has a model first notice, a day-by-day 2026 calendar and the six clauses every Washington collections policy now needs.

Dynamite Management runs the books for self-managed Washington associations — collections under the new SB 5686 sequence, reserve accounting, the annual audit or waiver, and the monthly board packet, inside HOA Fiscal. See how condo financial management works.

Financial statements, reconciliation and the audit threshold — RCW 64.90.530 and 64.90.475

RCW 64.90.530(1) requires a financial statement at least annually “in accordance with accrual based accounting practices.” Cash-basis statements do not satisfy it. SHB 2354 then raised the audit threshold:

“The financial statements of associations with annual assessments of $100,000 or more must be audited at least annually by a certified public accountant. In the case of an association with annual assessments of less than $100,000, as adjusted pursuant to RCW 64.90.065, an annual audit is also required but may be waived annually by unit owners other than the declarant of units to which a majority of the votes in the association are allocated, excluding the votes allocated to units owned by the declarant.” — RCW 64.90.530(2)

Read that carefully. At or above $100,000 the audit is mandatory and unwaivable. Below it the audit is still required — the default is an audit — and the waiver takes an affirmative vote of a majority of all votes in the association, every year. A quiet year with no vote means the association owes an audit. Until January 1, 2028 a pre-2018 HOA is instead on RCW 64.38.045(2): “$50,000 or more,” waivable “if 67 percent of the votes cast by owners, in person or by proxy, at a meeting of the association at which a quorum is present, vote each year to waive the audit.” Subsections (3) and (4) bar commingling — funds in the association’s name at a qualified institution, never mixed “with the funds of any other association or with the funds of any managing agent” — which puts pooled trust accounts out of compliance.

RCW 64.90.475(2) adds that “the accounts of the association must be reconciled at least annually unless the board determines that a reconciliation would not result in a material savings to any unit owner.” Annual is the floor, not the target — the audit, the reserve disclosures and the resale certificate all depend on a ledger that ties to the bank. RCW 64.90.470 requires property insurance on the common elements at not less than “eighty percent of the actual cash value of the insured property at the time the insurance is purchased and at each renewal date,” commercial general liability insurance, and “Fidelity insurance” — the line most self-managed boards discover they never bought.

Reserves — RCW 64.90.535 through 64.90.560

Washington’s reserve rules are among the most prescriptive in the country, and ESSB 5129 tightened them for 2026. Reserve funds may not be commingled with operating funds, and under RCW 64.90.535:

“reserve funds must be held in an interest-bearing account at a financial institution domiciled in the United States that is regulated by FINRA or by the office of the comptroller of the currency. The reserve account must be maintained by the board and titled solely in the name of the association, with authorized signatories for the account added or removed only at the direction of the board.” — RCW 64.90.535(2)(a)

Cash, money market funds, certificates of deposit and Treasury bills, notes or bonds are permitted, weighed against the prudent-investor factors in RCW 11.100.020(3). Securities are fenced: new investments “May only be made when the total value of reserve funds is equal to or greater than $250,000” and may not drop the balance in the permitted accounts below 50 percent, unless owners holding at least 75 percent of the votes authorize more. The $250,000 floor is not indexed — RCW 64.90.065 adjusts only the amounts in RCW 64.90.360(4), 64.90.530(2) and 64.90.640(2). Every disbursement other than investments and internal transfers requires “The signature of at least two persons who are officers or directors of the association” plus invoices tied to a reserve component. Under RCW 64.90.540 the board may borrow from reserves for unforeseen non-reserve costs, but must record it in the minutes, notify owners, and adopt “a repayment schedule not to exceed twenty-four months.”

The reserve study itself, RCW 64.90.545, is one of the ten sections that reached pre-2018 associations in 2026:

“An updated reserve study must be prepared annually. An updated reserve study must be prepared at least every third year by a reserve study professional and based upon a visual site inspection conducted by the reserve study professional.” — RCW 64.90.545(1)

The exemptions in subsection (2) are narrow: nonresidential communities, those with “only nominal reserve costs,” middle-housing communities with no on-site wastewater or health-and-safety component, and the cost test — “When the cost of the reserve study or update exceeds 10 percent of the association’s annual budget.” RCW 64.90.550 sets contents: every component whose replacement cost exceeds one percent of the annual budget, the reserve balance and “The percentage of the fully funded balance to which the reserve account is funded,” full-funding, baseline and professional-recommended contribution rates projected across thirty years, and the deficit or surplus “expressed on a dollars per unit basis.” Owners holding 20 percent of the votes may demand a study when three years have passed since the last professional one (.555) and may sue to enforce it. Apart from an attorneys’ fee award, RCW 64.90.560 bars monetary damages against the association or its directors for failing to fund reserves or obtain a study — directors are protected personally, but the association still has to do the work.

Resale certificates after HB 1500 — RCW 64.90.640

ESHB 1500 rewrote RCW 64.90.640 effective June 11, 2026, and it hits management workflows hardest. The certificate must be signed by an officer or authorized agent, “based on the books and records of the association and the actual knowledge of the person signing,” and must contain every listed category “and the statement ‘NONE’ or ‘RECORDS UNAVAILABLE’ for each category of records that is not provided.” Blank lines are no longer an option.

The list now includes items many associations were summarizing rather than producing: a statement current to within 45 days of any unit or association obligation more than 30 days past due; any expenditure “reasonably anticipated to be in excess of five percent of the board-approved annual budget”; “The annual financial statement of the association, including the most recent financial audit report available”; and, in subsection (1)(u), the governing documents, “all policies, procedures, and resolutions approved by the board that are currently in effect,” twelve months of minutes and “the most current reserve study for the association.” Not a summary of the study — the study. With no compliant study, the certificate must carry the warning that “This association does not have a current reserve study.” Delivery is ten days, and the fee language is now precise:

“a reasonable charge to the owner for the preparation of a resale certificate may not exceed $275, covering the direct costs of copying and providing such information, and may not include any additional charges for providing documents that are maintained in electronic form on a website, web portal, or application available to unit owners. The association may also charge a unit owner a nominal fee not to exceed $100 for updating a resale certificate within six months of the unit owner’s previous resale certificate request.” — RCW 64.90.640(2)(b)

So $275 is a ceiling on direct costs, not a flat fee; documents already posted online cannot be billed; and an association “may not require a unit owner to contract with or establish an account with a third party” to pay for or receive the certificate. Buyers gain protection too: a purchaser is not liable for an assessment greater than the certificate discloses, nor for a violation created by an alteration that “in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have been known to the association or its authorized agent at the time of conveyance, but was not identified in the resale certificate.” The purchaser may cancel “within five business days after first receiving the resale certificate,” and an owner may sue over “the fees charged, timeliness of delivery, or preparation of a resale certificate,” with fees to the prevailing party. One timing point trips up condominium boards: ESHB 1500 amended RCW 64.90.640 but did not amend RCW 64.34.425, so pre-2018 condominiums stay on the older rules until January 1, 2028, and pre-2018 HOAs have no statutory certificate at all. Preparing certificates from live books is part of what we do in condo and HOA financial management.

Rules, restrictions and what associations can no longer prohibit

Chapter 64.90 has accumulated a long list of things a Washington association may not ban, and together they drive most architectural-committee disputes.

Rule adoption — RCW 64.90.505. Before adopting, amending or repealing a rule the board must give owners the text and “A date on which the board will act on the proposed rule or amendment after considering comments from unit owners,” then distribute what it adopts. “Every rule must be reasonable.”

Flags, signs, solar and bins — RCW 64.90.510. No prohibition on displaying the United States or Washington state flag or a flagpole for them, subject to reasonable time, place, manner and size rules; none on signs “regarding candidates for public or association office, or ballot issues”; none on a compliant solar energy panel on or within a unit, though documents may require roof-conforming placement; and none on storing garbage, compost and recycling receptacles in a private garage, side yard or backyard, though screening and collection days may be regulated.

Discriminatory covenants — RCW 64.90.511 and .5111. The board may amend the documents to remove an unlawful restriction without an owner vote; on an owner’s written request it has 90 days to decide “reasonably and in good faith” whether one exists and 90 more to remove it.

Landscaping — RCW 64.90.512. Documents may not prohibit drought resistant landscaping, pollinator habitat, or wildfire ignition resistant landscaping, subject to rules that do not make the use “unreasonably costly or otherwise effectively infeasible.” This subsection “does not apply to condominium associations.”

EV charging — RCW 64.90.513. No effective prohibition or unreasonable restriction within a unit or designated parking space. For single-family, site-condominium or non-adjacent planned-unit associations, no approval may be required unless the station is “installed within or upon a common element” or “connected to a common electrical power supply.” Otherwise an application “not denied in writing within 60 days from the date of receipt” is deemed approved, and the owner must register the station “within 30 days after installation.” A willful violation costs actual damages plus a civil penalty “not to exceed $1,000” and the owner’s fees.

Heat pumps — RCW 64.90.580. Same architecture: board approval for common-element work “shall not be unreasonably withheld,” a written decision within 60 days or the application “is deemed approved,” no installation fee, and the same $1,000 civil penalty. SHB 2354 made .513 and .580 non-variable by the governing documents.

Fire-hardened materials — RCW 64.90.582. New in 2026 under SSB 6054. Documents may not prohibit materials meeting the International Wildland Urban Interface Code, NFPA standard 1140, or the IBHS wildfire-prepared home requirements; design rules survive only if they leave “one or more reasonable options” and do not make the materials infeasible or significantly costlier. It is retroactive — a provision “in effect on June 11, 2026, that is inconsistent with this section is void and unenforceable” — and does not reach common elements.

Rentals, occupancy and transit-oriented development — RCW 64.90.565, .575 and .710. An association may require an owner to screen a tenant at the owner’s expense but “may not require that a copy of the tenant screening report or any background information pertaining to a tenant be furnished to the association.” Apart from short-term rental limits and building-code occupant load, it may not enforce any provision “that regulates or limits the number of unrelated persons that may occupy a unit.” And documents created after July 27, 2025 for a community in a station area may not prohibit density required under RCW 36.70A.840 or require parking inconsistent with RCW 36.70A.842.

Condominium warranties and construction — RCW 64.90.665 through .680

EHB 1403 narrowed the implied warranty in RCW 64.90.670. Older condominiums stay on subsection (2)(a), which requires construction “in accordance with engineering and construction standards, including applicable building codes, generally accepted in the state of Washington at the time of construction.” For a condominium created on or after July 27, 2025, subsection (2)(b) instead requires improvements free from defective materials, built “in a workmanlike manner,” and built “in accordance with the plans, specifications approved by the applicable jurisdiction,” manufacturer guidelines and “applicable building codes in effect at the time of permit approval.” A claimant must also show the breach is “more than technical,” significant to a reasonable person, and has caused physical damage, materially impaired building systems, or presents an actual safety risk.

The other half is the express-warranty alternative in RCW 64.90.675(4). A declarant may escape the implied warranties by providing an insured express warranty covering all units and common areas and enforceable by later purchasers and the association, with minimum periods of “One year for defective workmanship and materials,” “Two years for defective plumbing, electrical, and ductwork distribution systems,” and “10 years for structural defects to load-bearing structural members.” HB 2304 widened eligibility: for a condominium created on or after June 11, 2026 the option reaches any unit “located in a new building or a conversion building containing 12 or fewer units and four or fewer stories” — stacked flats included, where the 2025 version stopped at two stories, three with parking or commercial on one level, or side-by-side layouts.

The 2025 and 2026 sessions: every bill that changed chapter 64.90

Two widely discussed 2026 bills did not pass: HB 2118, which would have let an owner opt out of covenants adopted after purchase, and HB 2646, which would have created one-way attorney fees and an opportunity to cure. Nothing passed in 2025 or 2026 on rental restrictions, fine caps or condominium insurance, and electronic voting needed no new bill — RCW 64.90.455 has permitted it since the chapter took effect in 2018.

What a Washington board should do before January 1, 2028

Pre-2018 associations have sixteen months. Start with the declaration: under RCW 64.90.015 the documents “may not vary a provision of this chapter that gives a right to or imposes an obligation or liability on a unit owner, declarant, association, or board” except the items in subsection (3). Map the conflicts now, because amendments take months. Then work the list:

1. Fix the meeting bylaws — strike 48-hour board notice, executive-session grounds beyond the five in .445(2)(b), and board proxy voting. In force since January 1, 2026.
2. Get the reserve study on the .545 cadence and put the .525(2) reserve disclosures in the budget.
3. Open a compliant reserve account under .535: association-titled, interest-bearing, FINRA- or OCC-regulated, two-signature disbursements with invoices.
4. Rewrite the collections policy to RCW 64.90.485 and calendar the 30-, 15-, 60- and 90-day clocks.
5. Decide the audit question every year — mandatory at $100,000 or more in 2028; below that it happens unless a majority of all votes waives it.
6. Buy fidelity insurance and check property coverage against 80 percent of actual cash value at renewal (.470).
7. Start a .495 retention file and a certified-mail log for .715 inquiries.
8. Build the resale certificate package — audit, current policies and resolutions, the full reserve study, twelve months of minutes — and post what you can to a website, where you may not charge for it.
9. Add a no-fee payment channel if you do not have one (.480(10)).

The full 2028 walkthrough is in WUCIOA 2028: what every Washington HOA board needs to do now. Boards staying self-managed should read how to self-manage an HOA and can run fund accounting, reserve tracking and statutory elections on HOA Fiscal. We work with associations statewide from Vancouver — see Washington HOA management.

Frequently asked questions

What is WUCIOA?

The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, chapter 64.90 RCW — one 2018 statute for condominiums, HOAs and cooperatives. It replaced chapters 64.32, 64.34 and 64.38 RCW for communities created on or after July 1, 2018, and becomes the only law for every Washington association on January 1, 2028.

Does WUCIOA apply to my HOA if it was formed before 2018?

Partly now, entirely on January 1, 2028. Since January 1, 2026, RCW 64.90.365(1) applies ten sections to pre-2018 communities: RCW 64.90.370, .405(1)(b) and (c), .445, .480(10), .502, .513, .525, .545, .580 and .010. Inconsistent provisions of the old chapters “do not apply.” An older association may also elect the whole chapter early under RCW 64.90.370.

What changed in Washington HOA law in 2026?

Two waves. January 1, 2026 brought the ten-section phase-in and rewritten collections in RCW 64.90.485 — a 30-day delinquency notice, a 15-day standstill capping charges at $10 plus one late fee of the lesser of $50 or 5 percent, and a foreclosure floor of three months of assessments or $2,000. June 11, 2026 raised the audit threshold to $100,000 (.530), rewrote resale certificates (.640), added a 30-day owner-inquiry deadline (.715) and fire-hardened materials (.582), and widened the condominium express warranty (.675).

How much notice does a Washington HOA board meeting require?

Fourteen days. RCW 64.90.445(2)(f) requires notice of time, date, place and agenda “at least 14 days before the meeting,” unless the meeting is on a schedule already given to owners. A meeting on an event “that could not have been reasonably foreseen” takes seven days’ electronic notice. Owner meetings take 14 to 50 days.

What is the audit threshold for Washington HOAs?

Under RCW 64.90.530(2), assessments of $100,000 or more require an annual CPA audit that cannot be waived. Below $100,000 an audit is still required unless owners holding a majority of all votes waive it that year. SHB 2354 raised the figure from $50,000 on June 11, 2026. Until January 1, 2028 a pre-2018 HOA stays on RCW 64.38.045(2): $50,000, waivable by 67 percent of votes cast.

How much can a Washington HOA charge for a resale certificate?

Not more than $275, and only for actual direct costs. RCW 64.90.640(2)(b) caps the charge at “$275, covering the direct costs of copying and providing such information,” and bars “any additional charges for providing documents that are maintained in electronic form on a website.” An update within six months may carry up to $100, no third-party account may be required, and delivery is due within 10 days.

Can a Washington HOA foreclose on unpaid dues?

Only after a set sequence. RCW 64.90.485(22) requires that the owner owe the greater of three months of assessments or $2,000 — excluding fines, late charges, interest and fees — that 90 days have elapsed since that amount accrued, that the second preforeclosure notice went out at or after 90 days past due and no sooner than 60 days after the first, that any RCW 61.24.163 mediation is complete, and that “The board approves commencement of a foreclosure action specifically against that unit.”

Where must a Washington HOA keep its reserve funds?

In a separate, non-commingled, interest-bearing account “at a financial institution domiciled in the United States that is regulated by FINRA or by the office of the comptroller of the currency,” titled solely in the association’s name (RCW 64.90.535(2)(a)). Cash, money market funds, CDs and Treasuries are allowed. Securities require reserves of at least $250,000 with at least 50 percent left in permitted accounts, unless 75 percent of the votes authorize more. Every disbursement needs two officer or director signatures and invoices.

What is RCW 64.90.715?

The owner-inquiry section created by ESHB 1501, effective June 11, 2026. An owner’s written inquiry sent by certified mail about association governance or operations must get a response in a record within 30 days — substantive, or notice that more time is needed. The deadline extends to the next regular monthly board meeting, by 30 days for a complex inquiry, or for a legal opinion, whose cost is a common expense. The board may limit itself to one inquiry per unit per 30 days, and the prevailing party recovers fees.

Dynamite Management runs the books for self-managed Washington associations — collections under the new SB 5686 sequence, reserve accounting, the annual audit or waiver, and the monthly board packet, inside HOA Fiscal. See how condo financial management works or contact us. Dynamite also prepares Form 1120-H for Washington associations — HOA tax preparation.

Doug McLain is the owner of Dynamite Management and founder of HOA Fiscal, a former CPA who audited association financial statements, and a community association manager for more than 20 years. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm the current text of any section before relying on it.