Condo Common Charge Liens in New York: Priority, Foreclosure and What Buyers Should Check

When a New York condo owner doesn’t pay common charges, the condo board gets a lien on the unit for the unpaid amount. That lien comes ahead of almost every other debt on the unit. Only real estate taxes, the first mortgage and a few government housing loans come before it. When the unit is sold, the unpaid charges are paid from the seller’s proceeds or by the buyer. That is why every condo closing needs a paid-to-date letter from the managing agent.

These rules come from New York’s Condominium Act. They apply in New York City, Westchester and the rest of the state. Only the office where the lien is recorded changes by location.

Where the board’s lien ranks

The board acts for all the unit owners. Its lien covers unpaid common charges plus interest, and it comes before every other lien except (New York’s condo lien law):

real estate taxes on the unit;
everything still owed on the first mortgage of record;
second mortgages held by certain state and city housing agencies (listed in the professional section below).

Everything else falls behind the board, no matter when it was recorded. That includes a private second mortgage, a home equity line (HELOC), a court judgment against the owner and a mechanic’s lien (a lien filed by an unpaid contractor, worker or supplier). A second-mortgage lender ranks behind the board even if its loan was recorded years earlier. In a building that is entirely non-residential, the condo’s declaration, its founding document, can put the lien ahead of all mortgages.

A first mortgage that was combined with a later loan can count as one first mortgage. In one case, where the combined loan was recorded before the board’s lien, a buyer at the board’s foreclosure sale took the unit subject to the full $92,000 combined loan, not just the original $54,000 first mortgage (a 2016 Court of Appeals decision).

How the lien is recorded and how long it lasts

The lien starts when the board files a sworn notice of lien with the office where the condo’s declaration is recorded (filing and foreclosure law). The notice names the unit and its owner, and states the amount, purpose and due date of the charges. If no notice has been filed within 60 days after the charges are due, any board member may file one.

New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx): recorded with the City Register. In ACRIS, the city’s online property records, it appears as document type LOCC (Lien of Common Charges). A release appears as TOLCC (Termination of Lien of Common Charges), per the city’s ACRIS document codes. See how to read ACRIS for title.
Staten Island: recorded with the Richmond County Clerk, not in ACRIS.
Westchester and the rest of the state: recorded with the County Clerk where the declaration is filed.

The lien lasts until the charges and interest are paid, or six years from filing, whichever comes first.

Unpaid common charges when a condo is sold

When a unit is sold or otherwise conveyed (transferred), the law says unpaid common charges “shall be paid out of the sale proceeds or by the grantee,” meaning the buyer. The debt does not disappear when the unit changes hands. If the seller’s proceeds don’t cover it, the buyer pays.

Both sides are protected by a written statement. Either the buyer or the seller can get a statement of unpaid charges from the managing agent or board. Neither owes more for charges before closing than that statement shows, and the unit can’t be liened for more. In practice this is the paid-to-date letter the managing agent issues before closing. It should cover:

monthly common charges;
special assessments;
late fees;
any transfer fee due at closing.

An owner can’t avoid common charges by abandoning the unit or not using the shared parts of the building (owner liability law).

The board’s right of first refusal

The law lets a condo’s by-laws, its operating rules, control how units are sold and leased (by-laws law). Most New York condo by-laws give the board a right of first refusal, the right to buy the unit on the same terms. The board reviews the contract and the buyer’s application, then issues a written waiver. This comes from the by-laws, not state law. Title companies routinely ask for the waiver, and it usually appears with the paid-to-date letter as a closing condition on the title report.

How the title company handles it

Item	Effect
Board’s common charge lien	Behind taxes and the first mortgage
Second mortgage, HELOC	Behind the board’s lien
Housing agency second mortgage	Ahead of the board’s lien
Notice of lien	Must be filed for the lien to take effect
How long the lien lasts	6 years from filing, or until paid
Sale of the unit	Arrears paid from proceeds or by the buyer
Paid-to-date letter	Caps what is owed at the stated amount
Owner abandons the unit	Still owes the charges
Board forecloses	Works like a mortgage foreclosure; 90-day notice first
First mortgage forecloses	Board’s lien cut off if the board is named

The title search picks up any recorded notice of lien. Recorded or not, the title report will normally list unpaid common charges as something to clear and ask for the paid-to-date letter at closing. Arrears on the letter are paid from the seller’s proceeds. A paid LOCC should be released in the records, or it will keep showing up on searches. See NYC closing costs for how these items appear on the closing statement.

First-mortgage lenders can get a condo endorsement, an add-on to their title policy. It covers losses if a lien for charges and assessments existing on the policy date ranks ahead of their mortgage (endorsement form). A second-mortgage lender gets no similar protection, because the law puts its loan behind the board’s lien.

When the board forecloses

The board can foreclose its lien the same way a bank forecloses a mortgage. Since a law signed on October 16, 2025 (the 2025 notice law), the board must first give the owner at least 90 days’ written notice. The notice must:

be in at least 14-point type;
be sent to the unit and to any other address of record;
state that the board intends to foreclose, the property address and the amount due.

This applies to foreclosures started on or after that date. The same law added a similar 90-day notice for incorporated homeowners’ associations.

The board can also sue the owner for the money without giving up the lien. Unless the by-laws forbid it, the board can bid at the sale and end up owning the unit. A buyer at the board’s sale takes the unit still subject to taxes and the first mortgage.

When the first mortgage is foreclosed

A first-mortgage foreclosure works the other way. New York’s highest court has held that this kind of foreclosure is not a “sale or conveyance” under the condo lien law (a 1993 Court of Appeals decision). The board’s lien ranks behind the first mortgage. If the board is named in the case and the sale produces no surplus, the board’s lien is wiped out. A surplus is money left over after the foreclosing lender is paid. Because it isn’t a “sale or conveyance,” the rule that the buyer pays the arrears doesn’t apply to the foreclosure buyer. Charges that come due after the buyer takes title are the buyer’s.

If the board was left out of the foreclosure case, its lien survives, as with any junior lien left out. That rule and the fixes for it are covered in which liens survive a New York foreclosure sale. For NYC auction research, see checking liens before a NYC foreclosure auction.

What buyers, lenders and investors check

A recorded notice of lien in ACRIS, or with the County Clerk outside the four ACRIS boroughs, and its filing date against the six-year limit.
The paid-to-date letter, ordered early, covering assessments and fees. It caps what the buyer can be charged for.
The by-laws, for the right of first refusal, transfer fees and rules on arrears, and the board’s waiver.
For second-mortgage lenders: the condo lien ranks ahead of their loan, so common charge status matters to them.
For auction bidders: which lien is being foreclosed. A first-mortgage sale cuts off a board that was named in the case. A board’s sale leaves the first mortgage in place.

Details for attorneys and title professionals

The housing agencies. The agencies whose second mortgages rank ahead of the board are the Job Development Authority, the Urban Development Corporation, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the Housing Trust Fund Corporation, the New York City Housing Development Corporation and, in New York City, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
The combined-mortgage case. In the 2016 case, the $92,000 combined loan was recorded before the board’s lien with no other lien in between, so the whole combined loan counted as the first mortgage of record.
Which section creates buyer liability. The buyer’s duty to pay arrears on a sale comes from the condo lien law’s sale rule, not from the rule that owners can’t escape charges by abandoning the unit.
Foreclosure procedure. The board forecloses under the state’s standard mortgage foreclosure procedure. The 2025 notice law put the parallel homeowners’ association notice in a new, separate part of the same state law on property court cases, not in the mortgage foreclosure part.

Official sources

Korvane Title is preparing to launch in New York. It is not licensed as a title insurance agent and does not accept title orders. Content on this site is general information, not legal advice.