How Florida HOAs and condo associations take homes

In Florida, a homeowner or condominium association can record a lien on a home for unpaid assessments and foreclose on it — and they do. Of the 12,006 foreclosure cases on file naming a Florida association, 10,296 (86%) were brought by the association itself, against one of its own members; 1,629 are a lender's foreclosure that names the association for its lien. In the recorder indexes of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, associations have recorded 460,412 claims of lien and 277,047 lis pendens, the filing that starts a foreclosure suit. Every number on this page is computed from official court dockets and county records, and every community named links to its records. These are counts of suits filed and filings recorded, not of homes sold: many end when the owner pays.

How an association takes a home

Florida law gives every association a lien on each home for unpaid assessments and the right to foreclose it — section 720.3085, Florida Statutes for homeowners' associations and section 718.116, Florida Statutes for condominiums. The steps are the same either way:

1. The assessments go unpaidA missed quarterly or monthly payment, a special assessment the owner disputes, or a fine that was added to the account. The amount that starts the process can be a few hundred dollars.
2. The association records a claim of lienA one-page document in the county's official records, against the home. By statute the lien secures not just the assessments but interest, late charges, the association's administrative and collection costs, and its attorney's fees — so the amount owed grows fastest once the lawyers are involved.
3. Notice of intent to forecloseThe association must send the owner written notice and wait, at least 45 days in Florida, before it can sue. If the full amount, fees included, is not paid in that window the suit can be filed.
4. The foreclosure suit and the lis pendensThe association files a foreclosure complaint in circuit or county court and records a lis pendens — notice of a pending suit — against the home. From here the owner has a short deadline to answer, and the association's legal fees are added to the debt.
5. Judgment and saleIf the owner does not pay or does not defend, the court enters a judgment for the whole amount and orders the home sold at public auction by the clerk. The association can bid its judgment. Whatever equity the owner had above the debt is paid out after costs; whatever was owed on the mortgage usually survives the sale.
6. Homestead does not stop itFlorida's constitutional homestead protection shields a home from most creditors, but Florida courts have held since 1980 that it does not bar an association's lien for assessments the owner agreed to when buying into the community.

A foreclosure suit is not the same as a lost home: most are settled when the owner pays the balance, fees included, or a lender pays it to protect its mortgage. HOA Spy counts the suits and the filings in the public record; no public index says how many ended in a sale. This page is not legal advice.

Who is foreclosing: the association, not the bank

Every court record on HOA Spy is labelled by its nature of suit, and the side the association is on comes from the role the court recorded for it, or from which side of the “v.” its name sits. 86% of the 12,006 Florida foreclosure records have the association as plaintiff: it is the association foreclosing its own lien on one of its members' homes. 2,695 Florida associations — 2.6% of the 104,659 indexed — have brought at least one such suit.

Association foreclosure suits by year since 2005

brought by the associationlender's suit naming the association · 2026 is partial

The peak was 2009, with 875 association foreclosure suits filed (about 2 a day). 2025, the last full year, had 599; 667 have been filed so far in 2026. Among the 7,223 closed association foreclosures with both dates on the docket, half were over within 164 days. Years are the filing date on the docket. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — the courts counted are listed below.

Courts with the most association foreclosure suits: Broward County Civil Central Courthouse (3,279); Broward County Civil West Courthouse (3,127); Miami-Dade County Court, Civil Division (1,630); Broward County Civil North Courthouse (487); Broward County Civil South Courthouse (402); Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, Civil Division (282); Hillsborough County Division N (246); Hillsborough County Division J (76).

The paper trail: liens and lis pendens

Before any suit there is a claim of lien, and the suit itself is announced by a lis pendens; both are recorded in the county's official records. From the indexes of Broward and Miami-Dade counties (Broward County Official Records index, Miami-Dade County Official Records index): 460,412 claims of lien by associations and 277,047 lis pendens since 1978 — 60% of the liens were followed by a foreclosure filing. 5,702 communities recorded a lien in the last five years.

claims of lienlis pendens · 2026 is partial

At the peak, in 2009, associations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties recorded 46,427 lis pendens — about 127 a day. Claims of lien peaked in 2008 with 29,518. 2025 saw 7,916 claims of lien, up 8% on 2020 (7,352).

Associations with the most foreclosure filings on record

The associations that foreclose the most

By foreclosure suits brought in the courts HOA Spy indexes. Open a community to see each case, with a link to the court's own record.

SHAKER VILLAGE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. alone has brought 81 foreclosure suits. A large association that forecloses as a matter of routine will have dozens; that is a fact about its collection policy, not a verdict on the community.

Florida county by county

The county is the community's own, from its registration or ZIP. Suits are counted only in the courts HOA Spy indexes, so a county whose court portal is not read shows few or none; the lien columns come only from the recorder indexes collected (Broward and Miami-Dade counties).

Where they are

8,148 of the 13,601 Florida communities with court records (rings — red where foreclosure is the most common case type) and 8,165 of the 34,198 with recorded liens (dots, coloured by liens in the last five years) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.

Florida against the nation

Florida associations foreclose on their own members more than every other state combined. 10,296 of the 14,168 foreclosure suits brought by an association on HOA Spy (73%) are Florida cases. Texas is next with 2,349. Counting every foreclosure record, the lender's included, Florida holds 12,006 of 21,898 (55%). Lien indexes are collected for Florida, Illinois and New York only, so the lis pendens count is for the covered counties, not a national ranking.

These are counts of records in the courts HOA Spy indexes, not rates: a state ranks high partly because its county courts publish searchable dockets and HOA Spy reads them. The comparison uses the same records and the same rules for every state.

If your association has filed

• Ask for the ledger. The notice must say what is owed; ask the association or its lawyer for an itemised account. Much of a lien balance is often interest, late charges and attorney's fees added to a smaller assessment debt.
• Use the notice window. Paying the assessments and fees before the deadline in the notice of intent stops the suit; a dispute about the amount should go to the association in writing, before the deadline, and be kept.
• A lis pendens means a suit is already filed. The complaint sets a deadline to answer (in Florida, 20 days from service); missing it lets the association take a default judgment. Legal aid offices and bar referral services handle these cases.
• Check the record. Search the community on HOA Spy: its report lists every lien, lis pendens and court case on file, each linked to the official record, so an owner or a buyer can see how often the association forecloses before the notice arrives.

Where this data comes from

• Trial courts: Broward County Clerk — eCaseView — Broward County
• Trial courts: Miami-Dade Clerk — civil, family & probate search — Miami-Dade County
• Trial courts: Hillsborough County Clerk — HOVER — Hillsborough County
• Miami-Dade County trial courts: Miami-Dade Clerk Commercial Data Services Civil FTP feed (daily civil tables + weekly indebtedness dump) (8,025 association cases)
• Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
• Broward liens: Official Records yearly index exports, public SFTP, 1978-2025 (553,668 documents)
• Miami-Dade liens: Miami-Dade Clerk Official Records public search API (per-association name queries), 1978-2026 (225,403 documents) — best-effort (partial): 53% name-match hit rate; 59 mass filers truncated at the API's 500-row cap
• Lien index searched: Broward County Official Records
• Lien index searched: Miami-Dade Clerk — Official Records
• Association roster: FL DBPR condo extracts (27,955 records)
• Corporate standing: Sunbiz quarterly non-profit extract (SFTP) (210,713 records)
• IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (285 records)
• Not collected: Palm Beach County lien index — subscription $600/yr
• Not collected: DBPR arbitration final orders — search form broken; published indexes stop ~2008

Foreclosure cases are the dockets whose nature of suit is a foreclosure, in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the association's side is the role the court recorded, else the caption. A community outside the indexed courts can have suits this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.

Questions people ask

Can an HOA foreclose on your home in Florida?

Yes. An association's lien for unpaid assessments can be foreclosed like a mortgage, after the statutory notice, and the records show it happens: 10,296 foreclosure suits brought by Florida associations are on file on HOA Spy, from 2,695 communities. Florida's homestead protection does not bar an assessment lien.

How many Florida homes have HOAs foreclosed on?

No public index counts completed sales. HOA Spy counts what the public record shows: 10,296 foreclosure suits brought by associations in the courts it indexes, and 277,047 lis pendens recorded by associations in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Many suits end when the owner, or the owner's lender, pays the balance.

Which Florida associations foreclose the most?

By suits brought: SHAKER VILLAGE CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. (81); ROYALE GARDENS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. (69); HIDDEN FOREST CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC. (67). The full table above lists ten.

When did Florida HOA foreclosures peak?

2009, with 875 association foreclosure suits filed. 2025 had 599.

Is Florida the worst state for HOA foreclosures?

Florida ranks 1st of the states on HOA Spy for foreclosure suits brought by associations, with 10,296 of 14,168; Texas has 2,349. The count depends on which courts are indexed in each state as well as on the associations, so it is a count of records, not a rate.

How do I find out if my Florida HOA has filed liens or foreclosures?

Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, lis pendens and court case on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. The Florida statewide page has every number by county and by year.