Alabama condo law caps interest at 18% and requires notice before a lien is enforced.
The Alabama Uniform Condominium Act sections cited set no owner vote for special assessments, so check your declaration. The association may adopt budgets and impose assessments, subject to the declaration, and must assess at least annually based on a budget. The assessment section applies to condos created after 1 January 1991; the powers section also reaches older condos for later events.
Ala. Code 35-8A-302(a)(2); 35-8A-315(a)For condos created after 1 January 1991, the association must give notice 10 to 60 days before any owners' meeting, by hand delivery or prepaid mail to your unit or the address you designated in writing. The notice must state the time, place and agenda, including any budget changes.
Ala. Code 35-8A-308The association must keep financial records and make all financial and other records reasonably available for you or your authorized agent to examine, in the county where the condominium is located. It may charge a reasonable fee or hourly charge. The statute sets no deadline for the association to respond.
Ala. Code 35-8A-318Past-due assessments bear interest at a rate the association sets, up to 18% a year (condos created after 1 January 1991). The association has a lien on your unit, and it can be foreclosed like a mortgage if the declaration conforms to Article 1A of Chapter 10 of Title 35; the association must send you and the lienholders of record reasonable advance notice of its proposed action. The lien is extinguished unless enforcement starts within three years, and if the association does not answer your written request for a statement of what you owe within 10 business days, it loses the lien for that amount (you still owe the debt).
Ala. Code 35-8A-315(b); 35-8A-316Alabama's Homeowners' Association Act sets no owner vote for special assessments in Chapter 35-20, so your declaration and bylaws decide; the association's organizational documents must provide for submitting the annual budget to members. The Act covers developments with a declaration recorded on or after 1 January 2016, and older associations only if a majority of their members elect to be governed by it. It does not cover commercial developments, condominiums governed by Chapters 8 or 8A, or cooperatives, time-shares and campgrounds.
Ala. Code 35-20-3; 35-20-5(c)(7)Unless your declaration or governing documents provide otherwise, the association must give the owner written notice of the assessment and lien by personal delivery or first-class mail when it claims a lien. At least 30 days before it records a statement of lien, it must send you written notice by certified mail.
Ala. Code 35-20-12(a), (d)For associations covered by the Act, on your written request the association must make its records available within a reasonable time not to exceed 30 days, and you pay reasonable costs. They include the current budget and reserve funds, a statement of financial condition for the last fiscal year, and any pending assessments the board has approved but not yet put in effect.
Ala. Code 35-20-13Unless your declaration says otherwise, the association has a lien for unpaid assessments from the date they are due, and it must record a statement of lien within 12 months of that date after sending you certified-mail notice at least 30 days beforehand. Under the Act's own procedure, a sale to enforce the lien needs a court action and newspaper notice once a week for three weeks.
Ala. Code 35-20-12Summarised from the statutes in November 2026. Not legal advice; your declaration and bylaws may add more rules.