Iowa has no general HOA assessment statute, so a planned-community HOA's lien rights come from its recorded declaration plus contract law. For condominiums under the Horizontal Property Act, Iowa Code § 499B.17 gives the co-owners a priority lien for unpaid common expenses that may be foreclosed like a mortgage.
Iowa enacted no comprehensive HOA act, so for a typical planned-community association, assessment authority and any lien or foreclosure remedy flow entirely from the recorded CC&Rs and are enforced as a contract. Condominiums are different: under the Horizontal Property Act, Iowa Code § 499B.17 provides that 'all sums assessed by the council of co-owners but unpaid... shall constitute a lien on such apartment prior to all other liens except only tax liens... and all sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record.' That lien 'may be foreclosed by suit... in like manner as a mortgage of real property,' and the association may bid at the sale. The Act sets no dollar cap—amounts come from the declaration and bylaws (§ 499B.15).
Condo (Ch. 499B): priority statutory lien foreclosable as a mortgage, plus separate money judgment. Planned-community HOA: only the lien/foreclosure remedy written into the recorded declaration; no statutory backup.
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