How do we record an HOA lien for unpaid dues and release it after payment?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 8, 2026

How an HOA board records a lien for unpaid dues: required notices in Texas, Florida and Colorado, the vote, sample lien wording, and releasing it after payment.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The order of the job

A recorded lien puts the association's claim in the county land records, where a title company will find it before the home can sell or refinance. The work runs in this order: finish the notices your state requires, audit the ledger, pull the owner's deed, vote, sign before a notary, record with the county, mail a copy, calendar the deadlines, and release the lien when the balance is paid. Texas makes you wait at least 120 days from the first notice. Florida requires a 45-day demand. Colorado says no separate recording is needed at all. Your declaration and state law control, and this guide is education, not legal advice. Have the association's attorney prepare the first lien. Our guide on the past-due dues timeline covers the months before this point.

Send the notices first

Texas. Property Code 209.0094 requires two delinquency notices before filing. The first goes by first-class mail, or by email to an address the owner gave you. The second goes by certified mail, return receipt requested, no earlier than the 30th day after the first. You cannot file before the 90th day after the second notice was sent. Florida. Section 720.3085(4) bars recording until the association has sent a written demand giving 45 days to pay, by certified or registered mail and by first-class mail, in substantially the statute's form titled Notice of Intent to Record a Claim of Lien. If the owner's address on file is not the parcel, mail to the parcel too. The statute counts the 45 days from mailing, but its form letter says 45 days after receipt. Count from the delivery date on the return receipt so the letter you sent stays true. Colorado. Section 38-33.3-316(4) says recording the declaration perfects the lien and no further claim of lien is required. The board's real work is the certified notice and contact steps in 38-33.3-209.5(1.7) and a majority vote to refer the account. Ask your attorney whether recording anything extra helps before paying for it. California. Civil Code 5660 requires an itemized certified-mail notice at least 30 days before recording.

Audit the balance and read the deed

Print the ledger and split it into dues, late fees, interest, fines and attorney fees. Someone other than the person who keeps the books should tie each line to the declaration or your collection policy. Fines deserve their own look. In Florida, a fine under $1,000 cannot become a lien (720.305(2)). Texas bars foreclosure when the debt is only fines and attorney fees tied to those fines (209.009), and Colorado has a similar bar (38-33.3-209.5(8)(c)). Unless the attorney says otherwise, keep fines off the lien. Then pull the owner's vesting deed from the county's online records. Copy the owner names and legal description exactly; a street address will not do. Confirm the lot has not sold since your roster was last updated. Stop and call the attorney before recording if any of these apply: - The owner filed bankruptcy. The automatic stay covers any act to create, perfect or enforce a lien against property of the estate (11 U.S.C. 362(a)(4)). - The owner may be on active military duty. Texas 209.0094(g) refers to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act directly. - The owner has died, or the title is in an estate. - The owner is current on a payment plan.

Take the vote

Under California Civil Code 5673, only the board can decide to record a lien, by majority vote in an open meeting, with the vote in the minutes. In Colorado, a referral to a collector or attorney takes a majority of the board in a recorded vote, and 38-33.3-308(4)(e) allows that discussion in closed session. The owner can ask for the result. The Texas and Florida lien sections set no vote, but your bylaws might. Vote anyway, so the treasurer is not carrying the decision alone. In Texas, keep the foreclosure decision separate: 209.0051(h) requires an open, noticed meeting to start a foreclosure action, so an email vote will not do. Sample motion, identified by lot number: "I move to authorize the treasurer to sign and record a lien against Lot 14 for unpaid assessments of $1,860 through June 30, 2027, as shown on the ledger dated July 6, 2027, the required notices having been sent on the dates in the account file, and to sign and record a release within 10 business days after full payment clears."

What the document has to say

Florida. Section 720.3085(1)(a) makes a claim of lien valid only if it states the parcel description, the record owner's name, the association's name and address, the assessment amount due, and the due date. Section 695.03 requires an acknowledgment for recording. Section 695.26 requires printed names and addresses under the signatures, the preparer's name and address, and a blank 3-by-3-inch space at the top right of page one. Texas. Section 209.0094 sets no content list, so follow your declaration and the attorney's form. Section 12.001 requires the instrument to be acknowledged or sworn, and 12.0011 requires an original signature on paper filings. California. Section 5675 requires the amount, legal description, record owner and itemized statement. Starting wording for the attorney to adapt: "CLAIM OF LIEN. [Association name and address], under the declaration recorded at [recording reference], claims a lien against [full legal description], owned of record by [names]. Assessments totaling $[amount] came due on [dates] and remain unpaid. This lien also secures later assessments, interest, late charges, costs and attorney fees as the declaration and state law allow." Add the signer's title and the notary block. In Texas, knowingly filing a fraudulent lien with intent to injure carries the greater of $10,000 or actual damages, plus fees and exemplary damages (Civil Practice and Remedies Code 12.002). An honest ledger error is not that, which is why you audit first.

Record it, mail it, calendar it

Check the clerk's website or call for the fee, page format and any e-recording option. Note the instrument number or book and page on the owner's account and keep the stamped copy. Mail the owner a copy by certified and first-class mail within a week. California requires certified mail to every owner of record within 10 calendar days (5675(e)). The Texas and Florida lien sections have no such rule, but a lien the owner never hears about collects nothing until a sale. Calendar these the same day: - Florida: watch for a Notice of Contest of Lien. The clerk mails it to the address on your claim of lien, and the association then has 90 days to sue or the lien is void (720.3085(1)(b)). If your address changes, make sure someone still gets that mail. - Colorado: a lien for unpaid assessments is extinguished unless enforcement starts within six years after the full amount comes due (316(5)). - A balance review at the next board meeting. Foreclosure takes separate notices and a separate decision, starting with Florida's 45-day letter under 720.3085(5) and Texas's lienholder notice under 209.0091.

Release it when the account is paid

Wait for the funds to clear, then release. A partial payment does not call for a release, and a settlement for less needs a board vote and a written agreement first. Florida gives you the form and the clock. Section 720.3085(1)(d) sets out the Release of Lien: the final payment amount, the through date, the book and page, the legal description, two witnesses and a notary. Section 701.04(3) gives 60 days after full payment to sign, send it for recording, and send the recorded satisfaction to whoever paid. The loser of a suit over it pays attorney fees. California allows 21 days under Civil Code 5685, with a copy to the owner. A lien recorded in error also gets 21 days, plus a declaration of the error, and the association reverses the related charges. Texas chapter 209 and Colorado's 38-33.3-316 set no release deadline, so set your own, such as 10 business days. Our guide on writing a collection policy shows where that clause goes. Sample wording: "[Association name] releases the lien recorded at [recording reference] against [legal description]. The amounts secured by that lien have been paid in full." If the lot is selling, the title company will ask for a payoff with a good-through date. In Colorado, a written statement of unpaid assessments is due within 14 days of a proper request and binds the association. Miss it and the association loses the right to assert a lien for assessments due as of the request date (316(8)).

A Texas timeline and the usual mistakes

- March 1, 2027: first delinquency notice by first-class mail. - March 31: second notice by certified mail, the 30th day. - June 29: the 90th day after the second notice, the first day you can file. - July 6: fresh ledger, deed pulled, bankruptcy checked. - July 8: board vote. - July 12: treasurer signs before a notary, the clerk records it, and a copy goes to the owner. - Within 10 business days after payment clears: release recorded, copy mailed. Common mistakes: - Filing a day early because someone counted from the wrong notice. Keep the certified receipts in the file. - Using the name on the roster instead of the name on the deed. - Rolling fines into the lien amount. - Forgetting the release. The old lien surfaces at a closing years later and the current board has no file. Keep one list of open liens and read it at every meeting.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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