South Dakota HOA Assessments & Liens: No Statutory Assessment Lien, Collection Rights Come From the Recorded Declaration

South Dakota lacks a comprehensive homeowners'-association statute, and its former horizontal-property chapter (SDCL ch. 43-15) was repealed. Condominiums fall under the Condominium Act, SDCL ch. 43-15A, but that chapter is primarily a developer-registration, public-offering, and recordation statute overseen by the Real Estate Commission. SDCL 43-15A-4 lists only the particulars a master deed must contain - land and building descriptions, unit identification, common areas, and insurance - and the chapter creates no lien for unpaid common-expense assessments and no foreclosure remedy. Its only lien section, 43-15A-29, concerns contractor liens. So an association's power to levy assessments, record a lien, and collect arises entirely from the recorded declaration, enforced as a contract or equitable servitude under general real-property lien law.

An owner who fails to pay assessments faces only the remedies the recorded declaration provides - typically a contractual lien, late fees, interest, and a suit or foreclosure if the covenants authorize it. South Dakota provides no statutory assessment lien or foreclosure procedure for condos or HOAs, so the governing documents and general lien law control.