Washington WUCIOA 2026: What Condo Buyers Need to Know

WUCIOA covers every Washington community on January 1, 2028. Until then, older communities follow a short list of its rules. Under WUCIOA, buyers get a $275-capped resale certificate and five business days to cancel.

Updated September 29, 2026: corrected which communities WUCIOA covers before 2028, changed the cancellation window to five business days, and added the resale certificate changes that took effect June 11, 2026.

If you are buying a condo or a home in a Washington HOA, the first question is which law the community falls under. The answer decides what the resale certificate must contain and how long you have to back out after it arrives.

Washington is moving every community association onto one statute, the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA). That move finishes on January 1, 2028. Until then a community created before July 1, 2018 still runs mostly under the older condo or HOA law, and picked up only a list of WUCIOA rules on January 1, 2026. Buyers in older communities get a different set of protections, and many summaries of the 2026 changes leave that out.

This guide sorts out which rules reach your purchase, what changed in 2026, and what to ask for before you sign.

What Is WUCIOA?

WUCIOA (RCW 64.90) is Washington's single law for condos and HOAs. It governs communities created since July 2018 now and all communities from January 1, 2028.

WUCIOA stands for the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, codified as RCW 64.90. It replaces four older laws:

• RCW 64.32: Horizontal Property Regimes Act (the oldest condos)
• RCW 64.34: Condominium Act
• RCW 64.38: Homeowners Association Act
• RCW 58.19: Land Development Act

All four stop applying on January 1, 2028, when they are repealed (2024 c 321, SSB 5796). Until that date, WUCIOA applies in full only to a community created on or after July 1, 2018, or an older community that amended its declaration (the recorded document that sets up the community and its rules) to opt in (RCW 64.90.360).

SB 5129 (2025) extended a list of WUCIOA sections to older communities starting January 1, 2026 (RCW 64.90.365). The ones a buyer will notice are open board meetings with an owner comment period, a fee-free way to pay assessments, the EV charger and heat pump rules, and the reserve study requirement. The WUCIOA resale certificate is not on that list. The list also skips two kinds of communities: small non-condo communities (50 homes or fewer, where the developer can no longer build more or add units) whose declaration caps average dues at $1,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and nonresidential or mixed-use communities. For a plain-English primer, see What Is WUCIOA?

Ask the listing agent or the association when the community was created and whether it has amended its declaration to opt into WUCIOA. That answer decides which of the rules below reach your purchase.

Key Deadlines: What's Already Live and What's Coming

Washington changed its condo and HOA rules on January 1, 2026 and again on June 11, 2026. The older laws are repealed on January 1, 2028.

The Washington State Bar News notes there is no grace period: older associations must follow the new rules from the day they apply, even where their governing documents say something different, and actions taken under the old procedures may be open to challenge.

If the seller or the association tells you a rule does not apply to them yet, ask which law they are relying on and when the community was created.

Resale Certificates: What You Get Depends on the Community

A WUCIOA community owes a 26-item certificate and five business days to cancel. An older condo still uses the Condominium Act version, which also caps the fee at $275.

Communities under WUCIOA

The seller must give you a resale certificate before you sign, or otherwise before closing (RCW 64.90.640). It lists 26 categories, including:

• The current operating budget and latest financial statements
• Whether a reserve study exists, and a copy of the most recent one
• 12 months of board and association meeting minutes
• Insurance coverage and the insurance agent's contact
• Special assessments already levied, and any expense expected to exceed 5% of the annual budget
• Unpaid judgments and lawsuits involving the association
• Rental and occupancy restrictions
• The declaration, bylaws, rules, and, since June 2026, every board policy and resolution in effect

The association must furnish it within 10 days of the owner's request. The charge is capped at $275, plus up to $100 to update a certificate within six months. Since June 11, 2026 the association cannot charge extra for documents already on an owner portal, cannot make the owner open an account with a third party to pay for or receive the certificate, and must write "NONE" or "RECORDS UNAVAILABLE" for any category it leaves out (ESHB 1500).

Your right to cancel: you can cancel within five business days after you first receive the certificate. If it reaches you more than five business days before you sign, the right does not apply. If it arrives fewer than five business days before closing, you can push closing back to the fifth business day after you received it.

The certificate also limits what you can inherit. You are not liable for unpaid assessments above the amount it states, or for an alteration to the unit that breaks the rules if the association should have known about it and left it off the certificate.

Older condos (created before July 1, 2018)

A condo that has not opted into WUCIOA still uses the Condominium Act version, RCW 64.34.425, until 2028. It has the same $275 cap and 10-day delivery. The buyer's remedy is worded differently: you can back out of the contract until the certificate is provided and for five days after, or until closing, whichever comes first.

Older HOAs outside a condo

If you are buying a house in an older HOA that has not come under WUCIOA, there may be no required resale certificate at all. We found no resale certificate section in the Homeowners Association Act (RCW 64.38). Ask your agent which association documents your contract requires the seller to deliver, and when.

Which certificate form your deal uses

Washington has two statewide resale certificate forms, and the right one depends on whether the community is under WUCIOA. According to the Washington Realtors Legal Hotline, a condo still under the Condominium Act uses Form 27, and a house or condo in a WUCIOA community uses Form 27CIC. If the wrong form is delivered, your clock to cancel does not start. Ask your broker which form applies before you count on a cancellation deadline.

New Rights for Existing Owners

Since January 1, 2026, owners in most Washington communities get open board meetings, 15 minutes of comment before votes, a fee-free way to pay, and EV charger rights.

Board meetings are open to owners except for limited executive sessions, and no final vote can happen in one (RCW 64.90.445). Owners get 14 days' notice of a board meeting, or 7 days for an event that could not have been foreseen. The board must set aside at least 15 minutes at the start of each meeting for owners to comment on agenda items before it votes, with at least 90 seconds per owner unless more than 10 owners want to speak. When meetings are held remotely, anyone entitled to take part must have a telephone option.

Associations must offer at least one way to pay assessments at no charge to the owner (RCW 64.90.480(10)).

An association cannot prohibit or unreasonably restrict an EV charging station for an owner's personal use in the unit or in a designated parking space (RCW 64.90.513). An application not denied in writing within 60 days is treated as approved, unless the delay comes from a reasonable request for more information. The owner, and each later owner, pays for upkeep, electricity and damage, so a unit you buy may come with a charger and its costs. Heat pumps get similar protection (RCW 64.90.580).

Three 2026 laws, effective June 11, 2026, add to this. An owner who sends a question by certified mail gets a written answer within 30 days (the association can extend that in limited cases), and the cost of a legal opinion on it is spread across all owners through dues rather than billed to the owner who asked (EHB 1501). Governing documents cannot ban fire-hardened building materials, though reasonable design rules are allowed (SSB 6054). And the rule making the owner pay for a charger or heat pump can no longer be changed by the governing documents (SHB 2354).

If the unit you are buying has a charger or heat pump, ask the seller what it costs each year to run and maintain, because those costs pass to you.

Assessment Collection Protections

An association must mail a delinquency notice within 30 days, wait 15 days before collecting, and meet a minimum balance before it can foreclose.

If many owners in the community are behind on dues, this is the process the association must follow before it can foreclose. The same steps appear in all three Washington laws, WUCIOA (RCW 64.90.485), the Condominium Act (RCW 64.34.364) and the Homeowners Association Act (RCW 64.38.100). Under WUCIOA:

• A notice of delinquency must go out by mail within 30 days after an assessment becomes past due.
• For 15 days after that notice, the association cannot take other collection action. The only charges allowed in that window are printing and mailing, a fee of up to $10, and a single late fee of $50 or 5% of the unpaid assessment, whichever is less.
• Foreclosure cannot start until the owner owes at least three months of assessments or $2,000, whichever is greater, not counting fines, late charges, interest or legal fees, and at least 90 days have passed since that amount built up.
• A second notice has to follow, and foreclosure mediation is available. SB 5686 opened it to association liens as of January 1, 2026.

For a buyer, these rules matter when you read the certificate's line on delinquent accounts across the community. A building where many owners are behind collects slowly, and special assessments are how shortfalls usually get covered.

The Seller's Unpaid Assessments Can Follow You

In a WUCIOA community, the association can collect the seller's unpaid assessments from you. The certificate caps how much.

When a unit is sold (other than by foreclosure), the buyer and seller both owe the seller's unpaid assessments up to closing, and the association can collect the full amount from either one (RCW 64.90.485(17)). You keep the right to recover what you pay from the seller.

Your protection is the certificate. You are not liable for more than the unpaid amount it states. The association must also give an owner or lender a signed statement of unpaid assessments within 15 days of a request, and that statement binds the association.

Before closing, ask your agent to have the seller or your lender request that signed statement, and check that the unpaid balance on it matches the figure the title company is using.

For a deeper look at how assessment debt is handled at closing, see our state-by-state guide to who pays the HOA special assessment at closing.

What Buyers Should Check Before Closing

Find out which law the community is under, then check the certificate, reserve study, minutes and delinquencies before you sign.

1. Which law applies: Ask when the community was created and whether it has amended its declaration to opt into WUCIOA. That decides which certificate and which cancellation window you get.
2. The certificate itself: In a WUCIOA community, check that every category is answered, including any marked "NONE" or "RECORDS UNAVAILABLE", and that the charge is at or below $275.
3. The date you received it: Write it down. Your cancellation window counts from that day.
4. Reserve study: Updated this year? Site-inspected by a professional within the last three years? What percent funded is it?
5. 12 months of meeting minutes: Look for red flags like deferred maintenance, board conflict, or pending litigation
6. Delinquencies: The certificate states assessments more than 30 days past due across the community. Compare that with the operating budget.
7. Expected big expenses: Any cost over 5% of the budget must be listed. Ask how it will be paid.
8. The right certificate form: Ask your broker whether the community is under WUCIOA (Form 27CIC) or is an older condo under the Condominium Act (Form 27), and check that the certificate you got matches.

If the association takes longer than 10 days to produce the certificate, ask the listing agent why before you set a closing date. A late certificate can move your cancellation window and your closing.

How Washington Compares to Florida and California

Washington is folding condos and HOAs into one law by 2028. It requires annual reserve study updates but sets no minimum reserve balance.

The reserve rules are where a Washington buyer has to do the most reading. Unlike Florida, which since the Surfside-era reforms makes condo buildings three stories or higher fund reserves for their structural components, with limited exceptions (Fla. Stat. 718.112), Washington leaves the funding level to the board. Unless the community is exempt, for example because its reserve costs are tiny or its units are all nonresidential, the reserve study must be updated annually, with a professional site inspection at least every third year (RCW 64.90.545), and must show the percent funded and a 30-year plan (RCW 64.90.550). Reserve money must be kept separate from the association's other funds (RCW 64.90.535). We found no minimum balance anywhere in these sections.

Because Washington sets no minimum, pull the reserve study from the certificate, read the percent funded and the recommended yearly contribution, and ask the association how it plans to close any gap.

A note on enforcement: these rules are enforced mostly by owners. Under WUCIOA, an owner can sue the association or its management company over resale certificate fees, late delivery or a carelessly prepared certificate, and the court may award attorney fees to the winner (RCW 64.90.640(4)). If you think a rule was broken in your purchase, talk to a Washington real estate attorney.