Special assessments
What triggers one, how it gets approved, how it is paid, and the questions worth asking before you vote.
What a special assessment is
A one-off charge, in addition to regular assessments, levied to meet a cost the budget and reserves cannot. It is allocated among units the same way regular assessments are.
What causes one
Broadly three things: a large replacement arriving before the reserves are ready; an unexpected loss the insurance does not fully cover, including the deductible on a large claim; or a legal, regulatory or life-safety requirement with a deadline.
The common thread in the first case is under-reserving. A well-funded association meets a roof replacement out of reserves. A poorly funded one meets it out of everybody’s savings, at short notice.
How it gets approved
This depends on the declaration, the bylaws and the act that governs the association, and it is one of the provisions worth reading before you need it.
- Many documents let the board levy a special assessment up to a threshold without an owner vote, and require a vote above it.
- Where a vote is required, the threshold is set by the documents — a majority of those voting, or a percentage of all owners, are both common, and the difference matters a great deal.
- Notice requirements are usually specific: what the money is for, how much per unit, when it is due, and the meeting at which it will be considered.
- Emergency or life-safety work is sometimes carved out and treated differently.
How it is paid
- In a lump sum by a stated date, or in instalments over a defined period. The board decides the structure when it levies.
- It attaches to the unit, and is secured the same way regular assessments are.
- On a sale, who pays which instalments is a matter for the purchase and sale agreement — but the association will look to the unit. A pending or levied special assessment must be disclosed in the resale certificate.
- Some associations borrow instead, so owners pay a share of the loan through their regular assessment rather than a lump sum. That trades a large bill now for a smaller one over years, plus interest.
Questions worth asking before you vote
- What is the scope, and what does the engineer or the consultant say — not the contractor selling the work?
- How many bids, and what does the difference between them consist of?
- What happens if we do not do it this year? Some deferrals are cheap and some compound.
- What is the reserve balance, and why was this not funded from it?
- Is a loan an option, and what is the all-in cost compared with the lump sum?
- What is the contingency, and who decides if it is exceeded?
This guide describes how homeowners associations generally work in Washington. It is not legal advice and it is not specific to Queen's Court Owners Association. Where it says what is typical, this association’s own recorded declaration, bylaws and rules decide what is actually true — and where the two differ, the recorded documents control.