Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) Compliance
Introduction
The Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) is a Washington law that governs almost all forms of common interest communities involving real estate, including homeowners’ associations, condominiums and cooperatives. The WUCIOA rules are being phased in by the government starting in 2026. The rest of WUCIOA will come into effect on January 1, 2028.
All 150+ pages of the full text can be found in Chapter 64.90 in the Washington Revised Code .
Impact
The Board is still digesting the impact of this complicated law on our Association. To assist us, we have engaged independent, expert legal advice. Our goal is to comply with the law with as little impact on our members as possible while delivering clear guidance that can be followed by the members and the Board now and in the future.
Changes Starting 2026
- At the Annual Members’ Meeting the budget, assessments, and special assessments recommended by the Board will be adopted unless a majority of the full membership votes to reject them
- Members will receive 14 days’ notice of Board of Directors meetings and will be invited to attend and speak if desired
Changes Starting 2028
- We will post the changes as soon as we receive a Legal Opinion
FAQ
Yes. We will have additional expenses for outside legal counsel. We may also need to engage other consultants or vendors to assist us in complying with some of the additional mandatory requirements that will go into effect in 2028.
WUCIOA was not supposed to impact existing associations such as ours until 2028, but we have now learned that a new amendment passed last year brought many of WUCIOA’s provisions into effect for our Association this year.
WUCIOA has been in effect since 2018 for new associations created in or after 2018, but its impact on pre-existing associations such as ours was delayed for many years. Significant parts of the law went into effect for our Association this year. The remaining portions of the law will go into effect for our Association on January 1, 2028.
Those rules are in RCW 64.90.525, which you can read in full here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90.525. RCW 64.90.525 (1)(a) states: “Unless at [the members’ meeting] the unit owners of units to which a majority of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage specified in the declaration reject the budget, the budget and the assessments against the units included in the budget are ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.”
This is stated in RCW 64.90.365, which you can read in full here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90.365. RCW 64.90.365(1)(g) states that the new assessment voting rules in RCW 64.90.525 are now in effect for pre-existing HOAs.
That rule has been invalidated by WUCIOA. RCW 64.90.365(2) states that WUCIOA’s voting rule in RCW 64.90.525 supersedes inconsistent CC&Rs: “To protect the public interest, RCW 64.90.370 and 64.90.525 supersede existing provisions of the governing documents of all plat communities and miscellaneous communities previously subject to [the Washington Homeowners Association Act].” The Harney View Park and Road Association is a “miscellaneous community” for purposes of WUCIOA. RCW 64.90.010(34), available for review at https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90.010.
Yes. The Association received an opinion from VF Law, a firm that specializes in real estate matters including HOA law. Opinions will be linked in the Legal Opinions section of this page
No. There is a partial exception to much of WUCIOA for certain small HOAs, but Harney View Park and Road Association does not qualify. The partial exception applies to a miscellaneous community that, among other requirements, provides in its declaration that the annual average assessment of all units may not exceed $1,000, adjusted for inflation. RCW 64.90.360(4)(a)(i), available for review at https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90.360. This exception does not apply to Harney View Park and Road Association because our average annual assessment exceeds $1,000, and our declaration (our CC&Rs) does not include a limitation on assessment amounts.
No. The Randy’s Farm/Grindstone Road lots will continue to be exempt from assessments for direct road costs.
Board members conduct many day-to-day managerial activities on behalf of the Association that do not involve Board-level policy decisions. Just as examples, Board members managing road maintenance and insurance renewals. These managerial activities will now be conducted separately from formal Board meetings.
Yes. We will obviously have to update our CC&Rs to bring them into compliance with the law. The Secretary’s proposal, to be considered by the Board, is to ask VF Law to prepare updated documents for our Association, for consideration by the membership, which would take into account all provisions of WUCIOA that will be in effect for us as of January 1, 2028. In the meantime, during 2026 and 2027 the Association will be required to comply with the mandatory elements of WUCIOA that are already in effect, but the Secretary has proposed that we not do an interim update to our documents for those years. This is a practical approach to compliance that avoids the time, attention and expense of updating our documents twice.
Dan Thieme fixing a road sign
The Board structure and function will stay the same. Your Board members conduct many day-to-day managerial activities on behalf of the Association that do not involve Board-level policy decisions.