What Is WUCIOA?

WUCIOA is the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, codified at Chapter 64.90 RCW. It is the single law that will govern how every condominium, planned community, and homeowner association in Washington is created, run, and resold. Today it fully covers communities created on or after July 1, 2018, plus older ones that voted to opt in. Every community comes under it on January 1, 2028. Until then, most older communities follow only a short list of its rules, which took effect for them on January 1, 2026.

Before WUCIOA, Washington had three separate statutes for community associations: RCW 64.32 (Horizontal Property Regimes Act) for condos created on or before July 1, 1990, RCW 64.34 (Washington Condominium Act) for condos created after that date and before July 1, 2018, and RCW 64.38 (Homeowners' Associations Act) for HOAs created before July 1, 2018. WUCIOA, enacted as SB 6175 in 2018, took effect July 1, 2018 for new communities. SB 5129 (2025) made a short list of WUCIOA rules apply to most older communities from January 1, 2026, and SB 5796 (2024) repeals the older statutes on January 1, 2028.

Who WUCIOA Applies To

WUCIOA fully covers communities created on or after July 1, 2018, plus older ones that voted to opt in. Every Washington condominium, townhome association, and HOA comes under it on January 1, 2028.

WUCIOA covers:

• Condominium associations
• Townhome and planned-community associations
• Single-family-home HOAs
• Master-planned and mixed-use common-interest communities
• Cooperatives organized as common-interest communities

Since January 1, 2026, most communities created before July 1, 2018 also follow a short list of WUCIOA rules: meetings (including the 15-minute owner comment period), budgets, the reserve study requirement, how assessments can be paid, emergency powers, EV charging and heat pumps. The resale certificate rule is not on that list. Separately, a small-community rule covers HOAs that are not condos or cooperatives, have 50 or fewer units, have no developer rights left to add or change units, and have a declaration that caps the average yearly assessment at $1,000 (adjusted for inflation). Those communities follow only a listed set of WUCIOA sections, and the list still includes budgets, reserve studies, records, and the resale certificate. Ask the listing agent or the association when the community was created and whether it has voted to opt into WUCIOA.

Key Buyer-Facing Provisions

In a WUCIOA community: resale certificate within 10 days of the seller's request, $275 fee cap, a five-business-day buyer cancellation window in most cases, 30-year reserve study projections, and 7-year retention for most financial records.

The cancellation window is the most consequential buyer protection. In a WUCIOA community, a buyer can cancel within five business days of first receiving the resale certificate, without giving a reason, and the contract cannot take that right away. If the certificate arrived more than five business days before the contract was signed, the right does not apply. If it arrives fewer than five business days before closing, the buyer can push closing back to the fifth business day. Until 2028, older condos follow RCW 64.34.425 instead, which lets the buyer cancel until five days after the certificate arrives or until closing, whichever comes first. Older HOAs outside a condo may have no required resale certificate at all, so ask the listing agent which law the building follows.

The Phased Rollout (2018-2028)

WUCIOA took effect in 2018 for new communities. Under SB 5129, a short list of its rules reached most older communities on January 1, 2026. It becomes the only statute on January 1, 2028, when SB 5796 repeals the older laws.

• July 1, 2018. WUCIOA (SB 6175) takes effect. Applies to communities created on or after that date, and to older ones that vote to opt in.
• January 1, 2026. Under SB 5129, most older communities must follow a short list of WUCIOA rules: meetings, budgets, reserve studies, how assessments can be paid, emergency powers, EV charging and heat pumps. The resale certificate rule is not on that list.
• June 11, 2026. ESHB 1500 changes the WUCIOA resale certificate cancellation window from five days to five business days.
• January 1, 2028. SB 5796 repeals RCW 64.32, 64.34, 64.38, and 58.19. WUCIOA becomes the only statute governing Washington community associations.

Why It Matters When Buying

In a WUCIOA community, the resale certificate and the five-business-day cancellation window give you set time to review the building's finances, so plan your review around them.

For buyers in a WUCIOA community, this changes due diligence in three concrete ways. First, the seller must get you a resale certificate that includes the budget, the latest financial statements, the most current reserve study, and 12 months of meeting minutes. Second, you generally have five business days after first receiving it to cancel without giving a reason. Third, the association must keep its financial statements and tax returns for 7 years, but the right to inspect them belongs to owners, so ask the listing agent to have the seller request anything the certificate leaves out. For practical mechanics see how to get HOA documents before making an offer and our long-form WUCIOA explainer.