North Dakota HOA Assessments & Liens: Condo Lien Under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11, HOAs Rely on the Declaration

North Dakota lacks a comprehensive homeowners'-association statute. Condominiums are governed by the Condominium Ownership of Real Property chapter, where N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11 provides that "a reasonable assessment for common expenses ... shall be a debt of the owner" and "shall be and become a lien upon the condominium assessed when the administrative body causes such assessment to be recorded in the office of the recorder." The notice must state the amount and the record owner's name. The statute does not prescribe a foreclosure procedure or lien priority, so enforcement follows general real-property lien law. For ordinary (non-condo) HOAs, no statute creates an assessment lien at all; the association's power to charge, lien, and collect comes only from its recorded declaration and covenants, enforced as contract or as equitable servitudes under § 47-04.1-04.

An owner who fails to pay condo assessments faces a recorded lien on the unit under N.D.C.C. § 47-04.1-11, plus interest, costs, and penalties the declaration allows. In a non-condo HOA, remedies (lien, late fees, suit) depend entirely on the recorded declaration; North Dakota provides no statutory foreclosure right.