New York HOA & condo lawsuits, liens and foreclosures: the numbers

New York on the map

275 of the 1,429 communities with court records (rings, coloured by their most common case type) and 4,849 of the 5,908 with recorded liens (dots, coloured by liens in the last five years) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here; the rest have no location in any record and are not on the map, but stay searchable. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.

HOA Spy indexes 15,158 New York homeowner and condominium associations. 1,429 of them appear in 2,204 court records — 0 from county and state trial courts, 1,737 from appellate courts and 467 from federal dockets. The county lien indexes we collect list 26,537 association liens against owners. New York ranks 7th of the 15 states with the most court records on HOA Spy. Every number on this page is computed from official court and county records; data as of 2026-10-02.

The facts

• The records are spread thin: 1,045 of the 1,429 communities with a court record appear in exactly one case, and the ten most-litigated together hold only 6% of the records.
• It cuts both ways: associations were the plaintiff in 761 records and the defendant in 751.
• The busiest year on file was 2013, with 111 records. The last full year, 2025, had 52 — the same as in 2020 (52).
• Appellate cases make up 79% of the records (1,737): decisions of the state's appellate courts. Next come Other cases (215).
• HOA Spy indexes no New York trial court yet, so these are appellate decisions (1,737) and federal dockets (467) only — the county-court suits where most HOA litigation happens are not counted here.
• 92 records are fair-housing, disability-accommodation or other civil-rights suits — the kind of case a buyer with a service animal or an accessibility request should know about.
• The recorder indexes for New York City (the five boroughs, ACRIS) list 26,537 association liens since 2003; 1,808 communities filed at least one lien in the last five years.
• Lien filings peaked in 2009 (1,813 in one year); 2025 saw 1,128, up 12% on 2020 (1,010).
• THE PARKCHESTER SOUTH CONDOMINIUM, INC. alone has 2,355 liens on file (2003–2026).

What the cases are about

Each court record is labelled by its nature of suit the way the map colours it. New York's 2,204 records break down as:

• Appellate1,737 · 79%
• Other215 · 10%
• Civil Rights92 · 4%
• Insurance51 · 2%
• Labor43 · 2%
• Collections31 · 1%
• Foreclosure19 · 1%
• Property15 · 1%
• Tax1 · 0%

Appellate: decisions of the state's appellate courts · Other: dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil") · Civil Rights: fair-housing, disability-accommodation and other civil-rights claims · Insurance: coverage disputes with an insurer · Labor: employment and labor claims · Collections: assessment, debt and contract claims · Foreclosure: the association foreclosing its lien, or named in a lender's foreclosure · Property: property and condominium disputes · Tax: tax matters

Who is suing whom

The side comes from the role the court recorded for the association where the docket gives one, otherwise from which side of the “v.” the association's name sits. Appeals, petitions and association-versus-association captions stay undetermined.

Filings by year

court records · 2026 is partial

The oldest records on file date from 1918. Years reflect the filing date on the docket (the decision date for appellate opinions); records with no date are left out. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — see the sources below.

Where the cases are

The county is the community's own (from its registration or ZIP), not the court's. Courts with the most New York records: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York (1,568); District Court, S.D. New York (295); District Court, E.D. New York (132); New York Court of Appeals (126); Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York (43); District Court, N.D. New York (25); District Court, W.D. New York (14); United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York (1).

Associations with the most court records

A long record is not by itself a verdict on a community: a large association collecting assessments through the courts can have hundreds of small-claims entries. Open the profile to see what the cases are and who brought them.

Liens and foreclosure filings

From the official-records indexes of New York City (the five boroughs, ACRIS) (NYC ACRIS (City Register)). A claim of lien is recorded when an association says an owner owes it money; a lis pendens is recorded when it actually files the foreclosure suit. Communities elsewhere in New York are not covered: no lien shown there means not checked, not clean.

claims of lien · 2026 is partial

Communities with the most liens on file

Corporate standing

Status as the registry lists it: unknown (8,756). An association that lets its corporation lapse can lose the right to sue in its own name until it is reinstated.

How New York compares

The states with the most court records on HOA Spy. The share column is the part of each state's indexed communities that appear in at least one case; it depends on which courts are indexed there as much as on the communities themselves.

Where this data comes from

• Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
• New York City (5 boroughs) liens: ACRIS via NYC Open Data (LOCC/TOLCC), 2003-2026 (39,908 documents)
• Lien index searched: NYC ACRIS
• Corporate standing: NYS Department of State — Active Corporations (data.ny.gov) (11,198 records)
• IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (272 records)
• Not collected: AG condo/HOA offering-plan registrations — search-only

Most HOA litigation happens in state trial courts, which have no national index; HOA Spy reads the portals it can. A New York community outside the indexed courts can have cases this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.

Questions people ask

How many HOA lawsuits are filed in New York each year?

In 2025, the last full year, 52 court records naming a New York community association were filed in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the five-year average is 58 a year. The busiest year on file is 2013 with 111.

Which New York associations have the most court cases?

By records on file: 120 Broadway Condominium (26); THE PARKCHESTER SOUTH CONDOMINIUM, INC. (26); Beneficial Homeowners Service Corporation (14).

How many HOA liens and foreclosures are recorded in New York?

In New York City (the five boroughs, ACRIS) — the only New York recorder index collected so far — 26,537 association liens are on file; 1,128 liens were recorded in 2025.

Do New York HOAs sue homeowners more than they get sued?

In the records with a known side, the association was the plaintiff 761 times and the defendant 751 times. Suits brought by associations are typically assessment collection and lien enforcement; suits against them typically come from owners, insurers or lenders.

How do I check a specific New York HOA?

Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, case and complaint on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. Communities with records also have a profile page under the New York directory. Data as of 2026-10-02.