TL;DR
Get cleaning gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
HOA Spy says its records index counts 10,296 foreclosure suits brought by Florida homeowners’ and condominium associations against members, along with 460,412 association lien claims. The figures show how association debt can threaten owners’ ability to sell or refinance, but the report cautions that filings are not the same as homes lost and does not establish the overall effect on Florida’s housing supply or prices.
HOA Spy’s Florida records analysis counts 10,296 foreclosure suits brought by homeowners’ and condominium associations against their own members, alongside 460,412 recorded claims of lien. The report argues that these actions can make housing pressure worse by putting owners at risk of losing homes and complicating sales or refinancing; the figures are filings, however, not a count of homes lost.
The analysis says it indexes 104,659 Florida associations. Of those, 27,377 have a unit count on file, representing a reported total of 1,518,436 homes. HOA Spy also counts 277,047 lis pendens, notices connected to foreclosure suits, and 48,999 court records naming an association. These figures are drawn from court dockets and county records, according to the report.
HOA Spy attributes the 10,296 association-filed foreclosure suits to 2,695 communities. It separately counts 1,629 lender foreclosure suits that name an association, distinguishing cases where an association is the party seeking foreclosure from cases brought by a lender. The report says association suits peaked at 875 in 2009; it lists 599 in 2025, the last full year, and 667 so far in 2026. The 2026 figure is partial and should not be compared with full-year totals as if the periods were equal.
The report says Florida law gives homeowners’ associations and condominium associations rights to place liens for unpaid assessments and, under specified statutes, pursue foreclosure. It describes how overdue assessments may accrue interest, late charges, collection costs and attorney fees. HOA Spy says an association lien can interfere with a sale or refinancing until the debt is resolved. The specific effect depends on the case and property; the source does not provide a statewide count of transactions blocked by liens.
How Association Debt Can Affect Owners
The records describe a mechanism that can affect housing stability even when a home is not ultimately taken through foreclosure. A lien may need to be addressed before a property sale closes or a lender approves refinancing, according to HOA Spy. A foreclosure case can add legal costs and place a household under pressure to pay, sell or otherwise resolve the dispute.
That matters in a state where housing costs and access to available homes are major concerns, but the report’s data do not prove that associations are driving Florida’s housing crisis overall. The counts establish that many legal filings exist; they do not quantify how many owners were displaced, how many homes left the market, or how association actions changed prices or housing availability.
The figures can help readers see the scale of association enforcement recorded in public documents. They also underline the need to distinguish legal actions and liens from completed foreclosures: the report says many suits end after an owner or lender pays, and a filing alone does not show that a home was lost.
homeowner foreclosure prevention books
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
What the Records Count
HOA Spy says its statewide index combines records from official court dockets and county recording systems. The report identifies Broward and Miami-Dade county official-record indexes among its sources for lien data, which it says covers association claims recorded since 1978. It states that individual communities link to their own records, while dues and home-price figures cited elsewhere on the page come from other sources and are dated and linked there.
The legal framework cited is Florida Statutes section 720.3085 for homeowners’ associations and section 718.116 for condominiums. HOA Spy says these provisions allow associations to claim liens for unpaid assessments and pursue foreclosure. Its page also counts 6,661 associations whose corporate status has lapsed or fallen out of standing, but the supplied material does not explain what that status means for each association’s operations or for a particular owner.
The report states that 73% of the nation’s association foreclosure suits are in Florida. That is a source-reported comparison, but the supplied material does not provide the underlying national total, comparison period or methodology for that percentage. It should be treated as HOA Spy’s figure rather than an independently verified measure.
“A housing crisis has three parts: what a home costs, how many are for sale, and whether the people in them get to stay.”
— HOA Spy
What the Filing Totals Cannot Show
The report does not say how many of the 10,296 suits ended in completed foreclosures, how many owners resolved their debts, or how many cases remain open. It explicitly warns that a foreclosure suit is not proof that a home was lost. Nor does it quantify the number of sales or refinancings delayed or stopped by liens.
The records also do not establish whether association enforcement has made Florida’s housing crisis worse at the statewide level compared with other causes, such as housing costs or limited supply. The source provides no causal analysis of prices, inventory or displacement. The precise date of publication is not included in the supplied material, and the 2026 total is described as partial without a cutoff date.
What Owners and Readers Can Check
HOA Spy says readers can open community-level reports linked from its index and review the underlying court or county-record entries. Those records may help establish whether a lien or case was filed, but the filing itself does not resolve the merits, current balance or final outcome of a dispute.
Further reporting would be needed to determine how many association cases result in foreclosure, how often liens prevent transactions, and how enforcement affects housing availability and prices. Until those outcomes are measured, the totals are best read as counts of recorded legal activity—not as a direct count of homes removed from Florida’s housing market.
Key Questions
How many association foreclosure suits does the report count?
HOA Spy counts 10,296 suits brought by Florida associations against their own members, across 2,695 communities. It says the number counts filings, not completed foreclosures.
How many association liens are listed?
The report counts 460,412 claims of lien recorded against homes in the records it indexes, dating from 1978. A lien is not itself proof that a home was foreclosed on.
Does a foreclosure suit mean an owner lost the home?
No. HOA Spy says many suits end when the owner or lender pays. Its report does not provide the number of cases that ended in completed foreclosures.
What does the report say a lien can do?
HOA Spy says a recorded lien can complicate a home sale or refinancing until the claimed debt is addressed. The report does not count how many transactions were blocked or delayed.
Are the 2026 figures full-year totals?
No. The report labels 2026 as partial and lists 667 association-filed suits so far. It does not give a cutoff date in the supplied material.
Source: hn
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
