Washington HOA and condo association law: what boards and owners need to know

What Washington law actually requires

The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, RCW 64.90, applies in full to condominiums and HOAs created on or after July 1, 2018. It also reaches older communities, but only in part: RCW 64.90.365 lists the sections that apply to associations created before that date (subject to exceptions for plat, miscellaneous, and nonresidential or mixed-use communities). The budget (64.90.525) and reserve-study (64.90.545) sections below are on that list; the records section (64.90.495) is not, so it governs a pre-2018 community only if the association has elected into the chapter — otherwise records duties come from RCW 64.34 (condominiums) or RCW 64.38 (HOAs). Check your governing documents or ask counsel which regime applies. The chapter sets specific procedures for budgets, reserve studies, and records that a management company either follows precisely or doesn't.

This is a summary of what the statute requires, not a restatement of every provision. Use it to know what to ask a management company, not as a substitute for reading your governing documents or talking to counsel.

Budget ratification

RCW 64.90.525 lays out a specific sequence: within 30 days of the board adopting a proposed budget, it must go to every owner, along with a meeting date for ratification set between 14 and 50 days out. Unless owners holding a majority of the association's votes (or a higher threshold set in the declaration) reject the budget at that meeting, it's ratified automatically — even without a quorum. If the budget is rejected or the notice requirement is missed, the last ratified budget simply carries forward.

The budget itself must show projected income and expenses by category, per-unit assessment amounts and due dates, current reserve contributions, a statement of whether the association has a compliant reserve study and how the budget compares to it, and the current reserve surplus or deficiency per unit. Special assessments follow the same ratification procedure and can be structured in installments.

What this means for choosing a manager: ask a candidate to walk through last year's budget ratification timeline. If they can't point to a specific notice date and meeting date inside that 14–50 day window, that's a compliance gap, not a formality.

Reserve studies

RCW 64.90.545 requires most associations to prepare a reserve study — an initial study from a reserve study professional based on a site inspection (or plan review for unbuilt improvements), updated annually, with a full professional site-inspection update at least every three years. Narrow exemptions exist: nonresidential-only communities, communities with only nominal reserve costs, certain middle-housing developments, or where the study would cost more than 10% of the annual budget.

What this means for choosing a manager: a reserve study isn't optional paperwork — it's the document your budget disclosure (above) is required to reference. Ask when the association's was last updated and by whom.

Records

Applicability: unlike the budget and reserve-study sections above, 64.90.495 is not among the provisions RCW 64.90.365 extends to communities created before July 1, 2018 — for those it applies only by election into the chapter.

RCW 64.90.495 requires associations to keep specified records — budgets, minutes, owner lists, governing documents, financial statements, contracts, and insurance policies among them — open to owner and mortgage-holder inspection, with narrow redactions for things like personnel matters, privileged legal advice, and ballot secrecy. Associations generally have 10 days' notice to make records available (longer only if reasonably required, never more than 21 days), and a managing agent must produce electronic records within 5 business days and written records within 10 business days of a board's request.

What this means for choosing a manager: these are hard deadlines, not aspirational ones. A manager who can't meet a 5-business-day electronic-records turnaround is exposing your board to a compliance problem it didn't create.