Section 448.080

Title XXIX OWNERSHIP AND CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTY

Chapter 448

Effective - 28 Aug 1983   

  448.080.  Common element costs to be paid by unit owners — unpaid amount to constitute lien — foreclosure. — 1.  Every unit owner shall pay his proportionate share of the expenses of administration, maintenance and repair of the common elements and of any other expense lawfully agreed upon.  Such proportionate share shall be in the same ratio as his percentage of ownership in the common elements as set forth in the declaration.  Payment thereof shall be in the amounts and at the times as determined by the unit owners or the board of managers, as hereinafter provided.

  2.  If any unit owner fails or refuses to make any payment of the common expenses when due, the amount thereof shall constitute a lien on the interest of such unit owner in the property, and upon the recording of notice thereof by the manager or board of managers shall be a lien upon such unit owner's interest in the property prior to all other liens and encumbrances, recorded or unrecorded; except only taxes, special assessments and special taxes theretofore or thereafter levied by any political subdivision or municipal corporation of this state and other state or federal taxes which by law are a lien on the interest of such unit owner prior to preexisting recorded encumbrances thereon, and encumbrances on the interest of such unit owner recorded prior to the date such notice is recorded which by law would be a lien thereon prior to subsequently recorded encumbrances, but only if such prior recorded encumbrance contains a statement of a mailing address in the state of Missouri where notice may be mailed to the encumbrancer thereunder.  Any encumbrancer whose lien is junior to the lien of the common expenses herein provided may from time to time request in writing a written statement from the manager or board of managers setting forth the unpaid common expenses with respect to the unit covered by his encumbrance and unless the request is complied with within twenty days, all unpaid common expenses which became due prior to the date of the making of such request shall be subordinate to the lien of such encumbrance.  Any encumbrancer holding a lien on a unit may pay any unpaid common expenses payable with respect to such unit and upon such payment such encumbrancer shall have a lien on such unit for the amounts paid at the same rank as the lien of his encumbrance.

  3.  The lien to secure payment of common expenses shall be in favor of the members of the board of managers and their successors in office and shall be for the benefit of all other unit owners, and may be foreclosed by an action brought in the name of the board of managers in like manner as a mortgage of real property, as provided in sections 443.190 to 443.310. Unless otherwise provided in the declaration, the members of the board of managers and their successors in office, acting on behalf of the other unit owners, shall have the power to bid in the interest so foreclosed at foreclosure sale, and to acquire and hold, lease, mortgage and convey the same.

  4.  In the event any person acquires or is entitled to the issuance of a sheriff's or other official deed in foreclosure of the lien for common expenses above provided, the deed conveying the interest of any unit owner and the interest so acquired shall be subject to all of the provisions of sections 448.005 to 448.210 and to the terms, provisions, covenants, conditions and limitations contained in the declaration, the plat, the bylaws or any deed affecting such interest then in force.

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(L. 1963 p. 648 § 9, A.L. 1983 H.B. 177)