Wisconsin HOA fine rules

Wisconsin's homeowners association statute requires no notice before a fine. Wis. Stat. § 710.18 recognises fines — its definition of "Assessment" is "a regular or special charge or fee for common expenses, or a charge, fee, or fine against a specific residential lot or residential lot owner, that an association is authorized to levy or impose under the covenants and restrictions for a residential planned community" (§ 710.18(1)(a)) — but it prescribes no notice, procedure or standard for imposing one. The notice duties the section does impose run elsewhere. Before an association may suspend an owner's rights for nonpayment: "If the covenants and restrictions for a residential planned community authorize the association to suspend certain rights of a residential lot owner for failure to timely pay assessments or other amounts owed to the association, the association may, unless the covenants and restrictions provide otherwise, suspend those rights only after the association provides the residential lot owner a written notice identifying the rights the association intends to suspend and the actions the residential lot owner may take to avoid that suspension" (§ 710.18(6)). For meetings: "The association of a residential planned community shall provide notice of any meeting of the association at least 48 hours before the meeting," and unless the covenants and restrictions provide otherwise the association shall give written notice to all residential lot owners, send notice to each owner's last-known electronic mail address, send notice by 1st class mail to each owner's last-known post-office address, post notice on the association's Internet site if it maintains one, and post notice in at least one improved area accessible to all owners if the community has one (§ 710.18(4)). Any notice required before a fine itself comes from the recorded covenants and restrictions rather than from Wisconsin law.

Wis. Stat. § 710.18 fixes no cure period before a fine. The only opportunity-to-avoid language in the section attaches to suspension of rights for nonpayment rather than to a fine: the written notice must identify "the rights the association intends to suspend and the actions the residential lot owner may take to avoid that suspension," but no number of days is set (§ 710.18(6)). The fixed periods in the section run to other subjects — 48 hours' notice of an association meeting (§ 710.18(4)), 30 days to file a public notice with the department of financial institutions after an association is created or its filed information changes (§ 710.18(3)(a), (d)), and 10 business days for an association to provide a requested payoff statement (§ 710.18(7)(b)). Any cure period available to a Wisconsin homeowner before a fine comes from the recorded covenants and restrictions.

Wisconsin sets no dollar cap on an association fine, but it does bar fines outright while an association is out of compliance with its public-notice filing duty. Every association must file a notice with the department of financial institutions — within 30 days of creation for an association created on or after December 14, 2022, by January 13, 2023 for an association existing on that date, annually thereafter, and again within 30 days of any change in the filed information (Wis. Stat. § 710.18(3)(a) to (d)). "If an association fails to file a notice required under this subsection, the association may not do any of the following until the association files the required notice: a. Charge a late fee or other fine for any unpaid assessments owed by any residential lot owner. b. Charge a fee in connection with any transfer of ownership of a residential lot that the association would otherwise be authorized to charge under the covenants and restrictions for the residential planned community" (§ 710.18(3)(f)1.), and "Any prohibited action taken by an association during a period of noncompliance under this paragraph is void and unenforceable" (§ 710.18(3)(f)2.). A separate cap limits what an association may charge for documents rather than what it may fine: where the association furnishes copies of the covenants and restrictions on an owner's request it may not, unless the covenants and restrictions provide otherwise, charge "an amount that exceeds the actual costs of furnishing the information or $50, whichever is less" (§ 710.18(5)).

Wisconsin's homeowners association statute gives owners access to the governing documents rather than a general inspection right. The covenants and restrictions "shall be recorded with the register of deeds in every county in which the residential planned community is located" (Wis. Stat. § 710.18(2)(a)), and "Beginning on January 1, 2023, if the association for a residential planned community maintains an Internet site on which information related to the residential planned community is available to the public, the association shall post the covenants and restrictions for the residential planned community on the Internet site" (§ 710.18(2)(b)). Each association's filing with the department of financial institutions must give "The name, mailing address, and electronic mail address or daytime telephone number for an individual who is authorized to respond on behalf of the association to requests for copies of the covenants and restrictions and other information and documentation related to the residential planned community" (§ 710.18(3)(e)3.), and where the association furnishes those copies on request it may not, unless the covenants and restrictions provide otherwise, charge more than "the actual costs of furnishing the information or $50, whichever is less" (§ 710.18(5)). A separate right covers amounts owed: an owner "may submit to the association a written request for a payoff statement for a specified date not more than 30 days after the request is submitted," the association "shall provide a payoff statement to the residential lot owner within 10 business days after the request is submitted," one such statement must be provided without charge in any 2-month period unless the association has adopted a fee by the meeting-and-resolution procedure in § 710.18(7)(c)2., the association "may charge a fee not to exceed $25 for each additional payoff statement requested for the residential lot during that 2-month period" (§ 710.18(7)(c)1.), and if the association misses the deadline it "is liable to the residential lot owner for any actual damages caused by the association's failure or $350, whichever is less" (§ 710.18(7)(b), (c), (d)). For broader records, most Wisconsin associations are nonstock corporations under chapter 181, where "a member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in s. 181.1601 (5) if the member gives the corporation written notice or a written demand at least 5 business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy" (Wis. Stat. § 181.1602(1)), with accounting records and the membership list available on the same 5 business days' notice if the demand "is made in good faith and for a proper purpose," the member "describes with reasonable particularity the purpose and the records the member desires to inspect," and "The records are directly connected with this purpose" (§ 181.1602(2), (3)).