What Is the Washington State Homeowners Association Act?

The Washington State Homeowners Association Act most people are searching for is the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, known as WUCIOA and codified at RCW 64.90.¹ It sets the ground rules for how homeowners associations run their meetings, levy assessments, enforce violations, and respect owner rights. Right now it applies only to communities created on or after July 1, 2018, plus older communities that voted to opt in. On January 1, 2028, it applies to every common interest community in the state.

Which Communities the Act Covers Now and in 2028

If your community was formed on or after July 1, 2018, WUCIOA already governs it. If it was formed earlier, you are likely still operating under the Homeowners’ Associations Act (RCW 64.38) or the Condominium Act (RCW 64.34), unless your association amended its declaration to opt into WUCIOA.¹

That changes on January 1, 2028. From that date forward, WUCIOA governs every common interest community in Washington regardless of when it was created. Older HOAs still running on prior statutes should pull out their declarations and bylaws well before then and flag any provision that conflicts with the newer law. Waiting until the deadline invites confusion over which rule controls a given dispute.

How the Act Governs Budgets and Assessments

Assessments pay for maintenance, insurance, management, and reserves. Under WUCIOA they must be levied at least once a year based on an adopted budget, and allocated among units using the method set out in the governing documents.¹

Budget Ratification Is Automatic Unless You Reject It

The board drafts the budget and sends it to every owner. A ratification meeting then has to be held between 14 and 50 days after the budget goes out. The default most owners miss: the budget is ratified automatically unless owners holding a majority of the association’s votes affirmatively reject it at that meeting. No quorum is required for ratification to happen.¹ Silence is approval. If you dislike a proposed budget, you have to show up and get a majority to vote it down.

Reserve Studies

WUCIOA requires an initial reserve study prepared by a qualified reserve study professional, based on a site inspection of completed improvements or a review of plans for improvements not yet built. The study must be updated annually, and a professional has to conduct a new visual site inspection at least every three years.² The budget must then disclose whether the association has a qualifying reserve study, how much the budget deviates from the study’s recommendations, and the current reserve surplus or shortfall on a per-unit basis. Communities that skip these updates tend to be the ones hit with sudden special assessments when a roof or parking deck fails.

Meetings, Voting, and Records You Can Access

The association must hold at least one owner meeting each year, with written notice sent between 14 and 50 days in advance.³ Board meetings also require advance notice, and owners have the right to attend except during executive sessions held for specific purposes such as legal consultations or contract negotiations. No final vote may happen in executive session.

The default quorum for a membership meeting is 20 percent of allocated votes, counting attendance in person, by proxy, by remote participation, or by absentee ballot. Board meetings require a majority of directors.⁴ Governing documents can change the membership-meeting number, but these are the statutory defaults.

Owners may vote in person, by absentee ballot, or by proxy. For contested board elections, the ballot must leave space for write-in candidates, secret ballots must be opened and counted publicly, and sitting board members and candidates are barred from handling or counting the secret ballots.⁵ The association can send official notices electronically only to owners who have consented in writing. Consent is revoked automatically if two consecutive electronic notices fail to deliver.

Records You Can Request

Owners, mortgage holders, and their authorized agents have the right to examine and copy association records.⁶ RCW 64.90.495 sets the retention minimums:

Seven years for budgets, financial statements, tax returns, receipts and expenditures, contracts, and the materials used to approve or deny architectural requests or enforce the governing documents.
One year for ballots, proxies, and other voting records, measured from the date of the election or vote.
Indefinitely for meeting minutes of all owner and board meetings (other than executive sessions) and records of actions taken without a meeting.

An association that refuses a lawful records request is violating the statute, and that refusal often becomes evidence in whatever dispute follows.

What Boards Can and Can’t Do to Enforce Rules

Boards can fine owners, suspend privileges, and pursue legal action against violators. Fines must follow a schedule the board previously adopted and distributed to owners, and the owner must get notice and an opportunity to be heard before any fine is imposed.⁷ Enforcement also has to be consistent. Singling out one owner for conduct the board ignores elsewhere invites a legal challenge and can get the HOA’s action thrown out.

Limits on Suspending Owners

When an owner falls behind on assessments, the board can suspend some privileges for a reasonable period, but the law draws hard lines. The HOA cannot deny the owner access to the unit or any common elements needed to reach it. It cannot suspend the owner’s right to vote. And it cannot withhold services if doing so would endanger anyone’s health, safety, or property.⁷

Liens and Foreclosure

Unpaid assessments create a lien on the owner’s unit. Under the Homeowners’ Associations Act (RCW 64.38), which still governs many older communities, the association cannot start foreclosure unless the owner owes at least three months of assessments or $2,000, whichever is greater, and at least 90 days have passed since that minimum accrued. Because foreclosure is drastic, courts examine whether the association followed every procedural step.

Owner Rights the HOA Can’t Override

WUCIOA gives associations wide authority to adopt rules, then carves out specific areas where that authority is limited.

Solar Panels

An HOA cannot prohibit the installation of solar panels on or within a unit if they meet applicable health, safety, and certification standards. Water-heating panels must be certified by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation or a similar national body; electricity-generating panels must comply with the National Electric Code and applicable safety standards.⁸ Governing documents can impose reasonable aesthetic requirements, such as matching frame paint or keeping panels below the roofline, and can require ground-mount shielding as long as that shielding doesn’t degrade performance by more than 10 percent. The HOA can also require the owner to indemnify the association for installation damage. Panels on common elements still need board approval.

Rentals

The association can adopt rules affecting unit use only in limited circumstances: to implement an existing declaration provision, to regulate behavior that violates the declaration or harms other residents’ enjoyment, or to restrict leasing when the rule is reasonably designed to meet the underwriting requirements of institutional mortgage lenders.⁸ A board that imposes a blanket rental ban or short-term rental restriction through a simple rule change, without a declaration amendment approved by the required supermajority, is on shaky ground.

EV Chargers and Heat Pumps

Fee-shifting makes certain owner rights especially strong. In lawsuits over electric vehicle charging stations, and, effective January 1, 2026, over heat pump installations, the court must award attorney fees to a prevailing unit owner.¹ That mandatory “shall award” language, as opposed to the usual “may award,” shifts the financial risk heavily toward associations that wrongfully deny these installations.

Amending the Declaration

Changing the declaration requires a formal vote. Under RCW 64.90.285, at least 67 percent of the association’s allocated votes must approve the amendment, unless the declaration itself sets a different threshold, which can run as high as 90 percent.⁹ Amendments that restrict how owners can use their units typically require the higher supermajority. The Washington Supreme Court applied this strictly in Filmore LLLP v. Unit Owners Ass’n of Centre Pointe Condo., striking down an amendment restricting unit leasing because the association failed to obtain the 90 percent approval needed for a change affecting permitted uses.¹⁰ Procedural shortcuts on amendments get undone.

When Developer Control Ends in New Communities

In newly built communities, the developer (the “declarant”) initially controls the association’s board. For master associations covering multiple communities, that control must end no later than 60 days after 75 percent of all possible units across the member communities have been conveyed to non-declarant owners, and the homeowner-elected board must be seated within 90 days after that. Individual community timelines follow similar triggers under RCW 64.90.415. If you bought into a newer development where the builder still runs the board, knowing when control transfers is central to protecting your interests.

Resolving Disputes and Paying for Them

WUCIOA favors mediation and arbitration, and many governing documents require owners to attempt one or both before suing. If alternative resolution fails, any party can bring a lawsuit to enforce rights under the Act or the governing documents. Courts generally have discretion to award reasonable attorney fees and costs in enforcement actions. In assessment-collection suits, the association can recover its collection costs and attorney fees even without a judgment, and the prevailing party is entitled to fees and costs on appeal.¹ In lawsuits to enforce the reserve study requirements, a court may award fees to the prevailing party.

1
Washington State Legislature. Chapter 64.90 RCW – Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act
2
Washington State Legislature. RCW 64.90.545 – Reserve Study
3
Washington State Legislature. RCW 64.90.445 – Meetings
4
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 64.90.450 – Quorum
5
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 64.90.509 – Governing Documents May Not Vary Provision of Chapter, Exceptions
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 64.90.495 – Association Records
7
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 64.90.405 – Powers and Duties
8
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 64.90.510 – Regulatory Authority, Limitations, Governing Documents
9
Washington State Legislature. RCW 64.90.285 – Amendment of Declaration
10
Justia. Filmore LLLP v Unit Owners Assn of Centre Pointe Condo (Majority)