Condo & HOA · Washington law

WUCIOA Washington 2028: What Changes for Older Condos?

By Prithvi Dhelia, broker at Beyond Real Estate · Published July 22, 2026 · Statutes verified July 22, 2026

On January 1, 2028, the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, commonly called WUCIOA, is scheduled to become the primary governing statute for older Washington condominiums that currently operate under Chapters 64.32 or 64.34 RCW.

This is not merely a change in statutory numbering.

For some Kirkland condominium associations, the transition will change how special assessments are ratified, how association borrowing is approved, what must be included in a resale certificate, and how the governing documents interact with state law.

Other requirements will feel familiar. Many older Washington condominiums already use owner budget ratification, prepare reserve studies, maintain association records, and provide resale certificates. The 2028 transition does not mean every existing procedure suddenly becomes invalid.

The important question is:

Which current practices already comply with WUCIOA, and which procedures, documents, and administrative systems need to change before January 1, 2028?

As an HOA board member and treasurer, I have had to track which statute governs my own association. The creation date alone does not always answer every operational question because selected provisions of the newer Condominium Act already apply to some older condominiums.

This article is educational and is not legal advice. Associations should have Washington community-association counsel review their governing documents and transition plan. This article reflects Washington statutes available on July 22, 2026. The Legislature could amend the law before January 1, 2028.

What is WUCIOA?

WUCIOA is Chapter 64.90 RCW. It provides a common statutory framework for condominiums, cooperatives, plat communities, and certain other common-interest communities.

Before January 1, 2028, WUCIOA applies primarily to:

• Common-interest communities created on or after July 1, 2018
• Older communities that amended their declarations to elect into WUCIOA

RCW 64.90.370 provides a process through which a community created before July 1, 2018 may amend its declaration and become subject to WUCIOA before the mandatory transition date.

Beginning January 1, 2028, RCW 64.90.360 provides that WUCIOA applies to all common-interest communities, subject to the statute’s specific exceptions. Chapters 64.32, 64.34, and 64.38 RCW apply to an older community only until that community becomes subject to WUCIOA.

For an ordinary residential condominium in Kirkland, this generally means that WUCIOA becomes the governing association statute on January 1, 2028 even if the condominium declaration was recorded decades earlier.

Which law governs older Washington condos today?

Before the 2028 transition, Washington condominiums can fall into several statutory categories.

Condominiums created before July 1, 1990

These condominiums were generally created under the Horizontal Property Regimes Act, Chapter 64.32 RCW.

However, selected provisions of Chapter 64.34 RCW already apply to pre-1990 condominiums. These include provisions addressing association powers, voting, assessments, records, resale certificates, and reserve studies. For these older communities, the applicable Chapter 64.34 provisions generally do not override inconsistent provisions in the declaration, bylaws, or original condominium documents.

This creates a layered analysis:

1. Chapter 64.32 may govern the original condominium structure.
2. Selected sections of Chapter 64.34 may govern later association operations.
3. The declaration and bylaws may control when the newer statute preserves inconsistent provisions.
4. Other generally applicable Washington laws may also apply.

Condominiums created after July 1, 1990 but before July 1, 2018

These condominiums are generally governed by the Washington Condominium Act, Chapter 64.34 RCW, unless the association has elected into WUCIOA. RCW 64.34.010 states that Chapter 64.34 applies to Washington condominiums created after July 1, 1990.

Condominiums created on or after July 1, 2018

These communities are generally governed by WUCIOA today.

Older communities that elected into WUCIOA

A condominium created before July 1, 2018 may already be governed by WUCIOA if its declaration was amended through the election process authorized by RCW 64.90.370.

A buyer or owner should not assume that an older-looking building remains under Chapter 64.32 or 64.34. The declaration and recorded amendments should be reviewed for an early WUCIOA election.

What happens on January 1, 2028?

For older residential condominiums, WUCIOA is scheduled to become applicable automatically. An owner vote to opt in should not be required merely for WUCIOA to begin applying on the statutory date.

That does not mean the association must recreate the condominium or record a completely new declaration.

RCW 64.90.375 provides that an older community becoming subject to WUCIOA is not required to satisfy WUCIOA’s original creation requirements or prepare or amend its map merely because of the transition. The statute also preserves actions validly taken and transactions validly entered into before the community became subject to WUCIOA.

This means, for example, that the transition does not automatically invalidate:

• A properly adopted prior budget
• An existing contractor agreement
• A validly levied special assessment
• A completed owner vote
• An existing association loan
• A prior enforcement action
• A recorded amendment
• A completed property transaction

The treatment of an action extending across January 1, 2028 may require legal review. A board approving a project in 2027, ratifying an assessment in 2028, and entering a loan afterward could encounter more than one relevant statutory stage.

What happens to older declarations and bylaws?

The declaration remains essential after the transition.

WUCIOA does not replace every community-specific rule with one universal set of terms. The declaration will continue to define matters such as:

• Unit boundaries
• Common elements
• Limited common elements
• Common-expense allocations
• Voting allocations
• Use restrictions
• Rental restrictions
• Maintenance responsibilities
• Insurance responsibilities
• Amendment thresholds
• The number and terms of board members

However, RCW 64.90.375 generally provides that a provision in the governing documents of an older community that is inconsistent with WUCIOA becomes invalid when the community becomes subject to the chapter, unless an applicable statutory exception permits the provision. The same section protects valid pre-transition actions and does not require the community to recreate its condominium map.

The practical result is not that the declaration disappears. It is that the declaration must be read together with WUCIOA.

A provision can fall into one of three categories:

1. It remains valid because WUCIOA permits the declaration to control.
2. It is supplemented by a statutory requirement.
3. It becomes unenforceable because it conflicts with a mandatory WUCIOA rule.

Boards should not expect owners, volunteer directors, managers, buyers, or escrow officers to resolve these conflicts by intuition. A legal review should identify the provisions that need to be amended, restated, or administered differently.

Practical change 1: Budget ratification

Many older Washington condo owners already participate in a negative budget-ratification process.

Under RCW 64.34.308, the board generally provides a budget summary within 30 days after adopting a proposed budget and schedules an owner meeting between 14 and 60 days after mailing the summary. The budget is ratified unless owners holding a majority of all association votes, or a larger percentage required by the declaration, reject it. A quorum is not required for ratification.

WUCIOA uses a similar negative-ratification structure under RCW 64.90.525. The board must provide the proposed budget within 30 days after adoption and schedule the ratification meeting no fewer than 14 and no more than 50 days afterward. The budget is ratified unless owners holding a majority of the association’s votes, or a larger percentage stated in the declaration, reject it.

The most visible procedural difference is that the maximum meeting window changes from 60 days under RCW 64.34.308 to 50 days under RCW 64.90.525.

The required budget information also changes.

A WUCIOA budget must include:

• Projected income by category
• Projected common expenses by category
• The assessments per unit and their due dates
• The amount contributed to reserves
• Whether the association has a compliant reserve study
• The extent to which the budget follows or deviates from the reserve study
• The reserve deficiency or surplus expressed on a per-unit basis

The older Condominium Act already requires substantial reserve and future-assessment disclosures in its budget summary. These include recommended reserve contributions, scheduled assessments, projected reserve sufficiency, possible future assessments, and multiyear reserve projections.

The transition should therefore not be described simply as moving from no disclosure to disclosure. For many older condominiums, the more accurate description is a change in statutory format, procedure, and legal authority.

Practical change 2: Special assessment ratification

This is one of the most important changes for older condominiums.

Under the older Condominium Act, RCW 64.34.304 generally allows an association, subject to its declaration, to adopt budgets, incur liabilities, and impose and collect assessments. RCW 64.34.308 requires scheduled special assessments to be identified in the budget summary, but it does not create the same separate statutory ratification process for every special assessment that appears in WUCIOA.

Before 2028, whether owners in an older condominium vote directly on a special assessment can depend heavily on:

• The declaration
• The bylaws
• Whether the assessment is part of a ratified budget
• The nature of the expense
• The board’s spending authority
• Whether the project is treated as maintenance, repair, replacement, or an improvement
• The association’s current governing statute

Under RCW 64.90.525(3), a WUCIOA board may propose a special assessment at any time, but the assessment becomes effective only after the board follows the budget-ratification procedure and the owners do not reject it. The board may also provide installment payments or an early-payment discount.

This is another negative-ratification process.

Unless the declaration requires a larger rejection percentage, owners holding a majority of the association’s total votes must reject the assessment. A majority of the owners attending the meeting is not necessarily enough.

After January 1, 2028, older condo boards should not continue imposing special assessments solely through the historical process without confirming that the process satisfies RCW 64.90.525.

Practical change 3: Association borrowing

A major repair project may be funded through reserves, a special assessment, an association loan, or a combination of all three.

Under the older Condominium Act, an association may generally make contracts and incur liabilities. It may assign its right to future income, including assessment income, only to the extent permitted by the declaration. The statute does not establish the same default borrowing-ratification procedure found in WUCIOA.

Under RCW 64.90.405(4), borrowing secured by an assignment of the association’s right to receive future income requires owner ratification.

The board’s notice must identify:

• The purpose of the loan
• The maximum loan amount
• The estimated assessments required to repay it
• The assessment term
• A reasonably detailed projection of how the funds will be spent
• The loan interest rate
• The loan term

The board must schedule a meeting between 14 and 50 days after mailing the notice. The borrowing is permitted unless owners holding a majority of the total association votes, or a larger percentage required by the declaration, reject it. A quorum is not required.

This matters for Kirkland condominiums considering recladding, roofing, plumbing replacement, deck reconstruction, or another project too large to fund from existing reserves.

Boards should review loan authority before issuing a request for financing. Lenders, association counsel, and owners need to understand whether approval requires:

• Board action
• Special-assessment ratification
• Borrowing ratification
• A declaration amendment
• More than one of these steps

Practical change 4: Resale certificate contents

Older condominiums currently provide resale certificates under RCW 64.34.425.

That certificate must disclose items including:

• Regular assessments
• Unpaid or levied special assessments
• Association and owner delinquencies
• Board-approved major repair costs exceeding 5 percent of the annual budget
• Reserve balances
• Financial statements
• The operating budget
• Litigation
• Insurance
• Governing documents
• The current reserve study, if one exists

Beginning with the WUCIOA transition, the resale certificate process will be governed by RCW 64.90.640.

The WUCIOA certificate is broader in several practical respects.

Anticipated expenses

RCW 64.90.640 requires disclosure of an expenditure or anticipated repair or replacement cost reasonably expected to exceed 5 percent of the board-approved annual budget, regardless of whether owners have the right to approve the cost.

The older RCW 64.34.425 language focuses on a qualifying anticipated repair or replacement cost that has been approved by the board.

The WUCIOA language may capture a major cost at an earlier stage, before a final project or assessment has been approved.

Missing information

The WUCIOA certificate must identify "NONE" or "RECORDS UNAVAILABLE" for categories that are not provided.

That distinction can help a buyer understand whether the association affirmatively reports that no item exists or lacks the records needed to answer.

Meeting minutes

RCW 64.90.640 requires the resale package to include the previous 12 months of board and association meeting minutes, excluding protected information under the association-records statute.

Meeting minutes are not listed as an automatic component of the current RCW 64.34.425 package.

This may be one of the most noticeable differences for Eastside buyers. Minutes often reveal:

• Early engineering discussions
• Repeated leak reports
• Insurance renewal concerns
• Delinquency trends
• Proposed loans
• Contractor disputes
• Projects not yet reflected in the reserve study
• Potential special assessments
• Owner concerns about building maintenance

Buyer cancellation period

RCW 64.90.640 generally gives a purchaser five business days after first receiving the resale certificate to cancel, subject to the detailed timing rules in the statute. It also provides a limited closing extension when the certificate is delivered fewer than five business days before closing.

Buyers should confirm the applicable deadline from the actual delivery date, purchase agreement, and governing statute. A document contingency in the contract and a statutory cancellation right are not necessarily the same thing.

Practical change 5: Association records

WUCIOA requires associations to retain specified records, including:

• Budgets and detailed financial records
• Minutes of owner and board meetings
• Actions taken without a meeting
• Governing documents and amendments
• Financial statements and tax returns
• Current owner and voting records
• Contracts
• Insurance policies
• Warranties
• Notices
• Records sufficient to prepare a resale certificate

Older associations may already keep most of these records. The operational issue is whether they are complete, organized, and retrievable within the time allowed for a resale certificate.

A board that waits for a unit to be listed before collecting its records may face:

• Missing minutes
• Unsigned resolutions
• Incomplete vote counts
• Unavailable contracts
• Outdated insurance information
• Conflicting owner ledgers
• An obsolete reserve study
• Delays producing the resale certificate

The transition is not only a legal project. It is also a records-management project.

Practical change 6: Reserve studies

Older residential condominiums are not starting from zero.

RCW 64.34.380 currently requires many associations with significant assets to prepare and update a reserve study unless doing so would impose an unreasonable hardship. The reserve study generally must be updated annually, with a professional site-inspection update at least every three years. The reserve-study provisions also apply to residential condominiums governed by Chapter 64.32 RCW.

Under WUCIOA, RCW 64.90.545 requires an association to prepare and update a reserve study unless a statutory exemption applies. The study must be updated annually, and at least every third year the update must be prepared by a reserve-study professional following a visual site inspection. Exemptions include certain nonresidential communities, communities with only nominal reserve costs, certain middle-housing communities, and situations where the cost of the study exceeds 10 percent of the annual budget. Governing documents may impose stricter requirements.

RCW 64.90.550 requires the study to include reserve components whose replacement cost exceeds 1 percent of the association’s annual budget, unless the study explains why the component was excluded. It also requires information about useful life, replacement cost, reserve balances, funded percentage, planned assessments, recommended contributions, 30-year projections, and the current reserve deficit or surplus allocated on a per-unit basis.

For many Kirkland associations, the practical preparation work should include:

• Confirming the date of the last professional site inspection
• Updating the study annually
• Checking whether all major components are included
• Reconciling completed projects with the component schedule
• Updating construction-cost assumptions
• Confirming the common-expense allocation used for per-unit disclosures
• Identifying planned assessments
• Comparing the budgeted contribution with the study’s recommendation

The transition does not automatically make a reserve study accurate. It changes the statutory framework under which the association prepares, discloses, and uses it.

What does not automatically change in 2028?

The 2028 transition does not automatically:

• Increase monthly dues
• Impose a special assessment
• Change every unit’s voting percentage
• Change every unit’s common-expense allocation
• Transfer window or deck responsibility
• Prohibit rentals
• Cancel an existing loan
• Invalidate a prior assessment
• Require the condominium to be recreated
• Require a new condominium map

Assessment allocations under WUCIOA generally follow each unit’s common-expense liability, subject to specific statutory rules and provisions in the declaration.

The declaration therefore remains critical. WUCIOA may control the approval process, but the recorded documents may continue to determine how the resulting expense is divided among units.

A transition review should distinguish between:

1. Procedure: How the association approves a budget, assessment, loan, or rule.
2. Allocation: Which units pay and in what percentages.
3. Responsibility: Whether a component is maintained by the owner or association.
4. Disclosure: What must be provided to owners and buyers.

These questions can have different answers.

What Kirkland condo boards should do now

January 1, 2028 is not the right date to begin preparing.

1. Confirm the condominium’s current governing law

The board should document:

• The condominium’s creation date
• The original governing statute
• Whether the declaration contains an early WUCIOA election
• Which Chapter 64.34 provisions currently apply
• Any recorded amendments affecting statutory governance

This conclusion should be supported by the recorded documents and, when needed, legal advice.

2. Obtain a governing-document transition review

Association counsel should compare the declaration, bylaws, rules, resolutions, and current practices with WUCIOA.

The review should identify provisions concerning:

• Budget notice and ratification
• Special assessments
• Borrowing
• Voting
• Quorum
• Proxies and ballots
• Meetings
• Records
• Enforcement
• Collections
• Insurance
• Reserve accounts
• Maintenance responsibility
• Resale certificates

The board should receive a written list of provisions that remain valid, are supplemented by statute, or will conflict with WUCIOA.

3. Update the budget calendar

The board should build the 14-to-50-day WUCIOA ratification window into its budget process. It should also verify that the budget includes the items required by RCW 64.90.525.

A late budget is not merely an administrative inconvenience if the association fails to provide the required notice or follow the required ratification process.

4. Create special-assessment procedures

The board should prepare a consistent process for:

• Adopting the proposed assessment
• Preparing the owner notice
• Calculating each unit’s share
• Scheduling the ratification meeting
• Collecting ballots
• Documenting the total voting power
• Recording the rejection count
• Confirming installment and early-payment terms
• Preserving the resolution and voting record

The board should not rely on a prior assessment template without checking it against RCW 64.90.525.

5. Prepare a borrowing checklist

Before soliciting or accepting loan terms, the board should determine whether the loan will be secured by future association income.

When RCW 64.90.405(4) applies, the notice must provide owners with the loan’s purpose, maximum amount, projected expenditures, interest rate, term, and estimated repayment assessments.

6. Organize resale-certificate records

The association should be able to produce:

• Current governing documents
• Current policies and resolutions
• Twelve months of meeting minutes
• Current budget
• Financial statements
• Owner and association delinquency data
• Insurance information
• Pending litigation information
• Reserve study
• Special-assessment information
• Major anticipated repair information
• Records requested by prospective lenders

RCW 64.90.640 requires an association to furnish the resale certificate within 10 days after a proper owner request and payment of the permitted fee.

7. Review the reserve study before the transition

The association should not wait until its first 2028 resale transaction to discover that its reserve study does not satisfy RCW 64.90.545 and RCW 64.90.550.

The board should verify:

• Study date
• Inspection level
• Professional independence
• Component list
• Excluded components
• Replacement-cost assumptions
• Funding projections
• Planned assessments
• Per-unit deficit or surplus
• Consistency with the current budget

8. Preserve the transition record

The board should preserve:

• Legal advice
• Transition resolutions
• Updated policies
• Owner notices
• Meeting minutes
• Voting records
• Budget templates
• Resale-certificate templates
• Loan approval records
• The basis for any decision not to amend the declaration

A future buyer, lender, director, manager, or attorney may need to understand what the board changed and why.

What owners should watch for

Owners should ask the board for a clear transition update before 2028.

Useful questions include:

• Which statute governs the condominium today?
• Has the association already elected into WUCIOA?
• Has association counsel reviewed the declaration?
• Will the declaration or bylaws be amended?
• Is the reserve study WUCIOA-compliant?
• Will the budget process change?
• How will future special assessments be ratified?
• Does the association have an existing loan?
• Is future assessment income pledged?
• Are meeting minutes complete?
• Can the association produce a WUCIOA resale certificate within 10 days?
• Are any major projects expected to cross the January 1, 2028 transition date?

Owners should not interpret every legal-review expense or document amendment as evidence that something is wrong with the building. Administrative preparation is part of responsible governance.

The more concerning situation is an association that has no transition plan, incomplete records, and a major project approaching the same deadline.

What Kirkland buyers should ask during the transition

A buyer purchasing in 2026 or 2027 may own the unit after WUCIOA becomes applicable. The purchase analysis should cover both the association’s present condition and its readiness for the new governing statute.

Ask which statute governs the association today

Request:

• The recorded declaration
• All recorded amendments
• The condominium creation date
• Written confirmation of any WUCIOA election
• The statutory basis used for the resale certificate

Ask whether transition work has begun

Request:

• Board minutes discussing WUCIOA
• Any transition resolution
• Governing-document amendment proposals
• The association attorney’s owner-facing summary, if one exists
• Budget or management proposals for transition work

Attorney-client privileged communications may not be available. The absence of privileged legal advice from the resale package is not, by itself, a red flag.

Ask about projects crossing 2028

For a pending roof, plumbing, deck, window, siding, or recladding project, determine:

• When the board expects to approve the project
• When the assessment will be proposed
• When ratification will occur
• Whether borrowing is expected
• Whether loan closing will occur before or after January 1, 2028
• Whether the association has obtained legal advice about the sequence
• Whether the seller or buyer will be responsible for future installments

Ask for meeting minutes even before they become automatic

Until WUCIOA governs the resale, the applicable RCW 64.34.425 certificate may not automatically include meeting minutes. Buyers can still request them through the seller and association.

At least 12 months should be reviewed. For a building with a major repair, insurance issue, or special-assessment discussion, 24 months may provide better context.

Ask whether the reserve study is ready for WUCIOA

A study can be current under the association’s existing practice yet still require updates to meet the WUCIOA content requirements.

Check:

• The inspection date
• Study level
• Excluded components
• Cost assumptions
• Planned assessments
• Per-unit deficit or surplus
• Whether the board has budgeted for the next update

Keep appropriate document contingencies

A buyer should be cautious about waiving document-review rights when:

• The association’s governing statute is unclear
• A special assessment is being considered
• A loan may be approved
• The reserve study is outdated
• Minutes are missing
• The board has not reviewed the 2028 transition
• The project approval process may cross the transition date

The relevant contract language and statutory rights should be reviewed with the buyer’s broker or attorney. A general contingency waiver may not answer every question about statutory resale-certificate rights, but a buyer should not assume that an exit right will remain available without confirming it.

A practical transition framework for buyers

A buyer can place the association into one of three categories.

Transition-ready

The association has:

• Identified its current governing law
• Engaged association counsel
• Reviewed the governing documents
• Updated its procedures
• Maintained complete records
• Prepared a compliant reserve study
• Established budget, assessment, borrowing, and resale workflows

This does not prove that the building is financially strong. It indicates that the association is addressing the governance transition deliberately.

Transition work in progress

The board has begun legal and administrative preparation but has not completed every amendment, procedure, or records project.

This may be reasonable in 2026 or 2027. The buyer should evaluate:

• What remains incomplete
• Who is responsible
• The expected completion date
• The budget
• Whether a major repair or loan complicates the transition

Unprepared

The board cannot identify the governing statute, has not discussed WUCIOA, lacks complete minutes, has no current reserve study, and cannot explain how a pending assessment or loan will be approved.

The transition itself may not create a large direct cost. The lack of records and process can make existing physical and financial risks harder to evaluate.

Frequently asked questions

Does every older Washington condo become subject to WUCIOA in 2028?

RCW 64.90.360 provides that WUCIOA applies to all common-interest communities beginning January 1, 2028, subject to specific statutory exceptions. An ordinary older residential condominium currently governed by Chapter 64.32 or 64.34 RCW will generally become subject to WUCIOA on that date.

Do owners need to vote to adopt WUCIOA in 2028?

The January 1, 2028 application is statutory and generally automatic. Before that date, an older community can elect into WUCIOA through a declaration amendment under RCW 64.90.370.

Does the association have to rewrite its declaration?

Not automatically. RCW 64.90.375 does not require an older community to recreate the condominium or prepare a new map. However, provisions inconsistent with mandatory WUCIOA requirements may become invalid, so a legal review and targeted amendments may be appropriate.

Will WUCIOA automatically increase condo dues?

No. The transition itself does not set a new assessment amount. Dues remain based on the association’s adopted budget, expenses, reserves, and the allocation provisions governing the units. WUCIOA may make funding gaps more visible through its budget and reserve-study disclosures.

Will a special assessment approved before 2028 remain valid?

RCW 64.90.375 states that WUCIOA does not invalidate an action validly taken or a transaction validly entered into before the community became subject to the chapter. The validity of a particular assessment still depends on whether it was properly approved under the law and governing documents applicable at the time.

Final perspective

The January 1, 2028 WUCIOA transition should not be viewed as a one-day paperwork event.

For older Kirkland condominiums, the practical work involves:

• Identifying the law that governs today
• Reviewing the declaration and bylaws
• Updating budget and special-assessment procedures
• Preparing for borrowing ratification
• Maintaining complete meeting records
• Producing a broader resale certificate
• Confirming reserve-study compliance
• Documenting decisions that cross the transition date

For owners, a prepared board reduces uncertainty.

For buyers, transition readiness is one more indicator of how the association handles complicated financial and governance issues. It does not replace analysis of the building, reserves, insurance, repairs, and assessments. It helps determine whether the records and approval processes can be trusted.

Get help reviewing condo documents

About the author. Prithvi Dhelia is a Washington real estate broker with Beyond Real Estate. He has owned and renovated local property and served as an HOA board member and treasurer through a major condominium recladding project and special assessment.

This article is educational and is not legal, engineering, insurance, lending, or tax advice. Statute citations reflect Washington law as published on July 22, 2026; several chapter 64.34 provisions are scheduled to change effective January 1, 2028 as WUCIOA's application expands. Confirm the governing statute, deadlines, and any material concerns with the relevant licensed professional. Prithvi Dhelia is a licensed real estate broker in Washington State with Beyond Real Estate.