Indiana condo & HOA document review

Why Indiana is different

Indiana has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act or the Uniform Condominium Act, so neither statute carries UCIOA's buyer-protection machinery — there is no statutory super-lien, no uniform resale certificate, no mandatory reserve study, and no statewide developer-transition timetable. The condominium act expressly does not apply to HOAs, so the first diligence question in any Indiana transaction is which statute governs: a recorded condominium declaration creating units plus undivided common-area interests is IC 32-25, while a subdivision or planned community of lots is IC 32-25.5. Most associations are also nonprofit corporations, so the Nonprofit Corporation Act (IC 23-17) supplies default governance rules that fill gaps. There is no state condo or HOA regulator with broad enforcement power, no community-association-manager licensing, and no statewide structural-inspection law. Indiana has no super-lien, and this is one of the most important Indiana-specific facts. Under IC 32-25-6-3 the condominium assessment lien is expressly subordinate to property-tax liens and to all sums unpaid on a first mortgage of record, with no carve-out giving the association even a few months of priority. If a first-mortgagee forecloses, the acquirer is not liable for common-expense assessments that became due before it took title — the back-dues claim is extinguished. HOA liens under IC 32-25.5 are likewise subordinate to first mortgages. That makes Indiana very lender-friendly but raises collection and financial-distress risk for associations, because a high-delinquency community can quietly lose unrecoverable back dues to a bank foreclosure and reallocate the loss to paying owners through assessment increases or specials. A high delinquency rate is therefore a more serious financial signal in Indiana than in super-lien states. The dominant consumer story is insurance-market stress driven by severe convective storms. Indiana home-insurance premiums rose roughly 12.3 percent in 2023 and 13.0 percent in 2024 — about 40 percent over six years, with an average premium reported near $3,094 — and master-policy and HO-6 costs are climbing in tandem. The cost driver is hail, tornado, and straight-line wind: Indiana recorded the third-most hail events in the U.S. in 2024, and reports cite 73 confirmed tornadoes in 2024 (12 rated EF-2 or stronger) and 59 in 2025 as Tornado Alley shifts east into the Midwest. Wind and hail named-peril deductibles, often percentage-based, are rising on master policies, and a deductible above 5 percent of replacement cost can exceed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limits and jeopardize financing. The Indiana FAIR Plan does not write a condominium (HO-6) policy and operates without state oversight, and there is no state backstop for HOA master policies, so hard-to-place master risk goes to surplus lines at higher cost. IC 32-25-8-11 expressly contemplates insufficient insurance proceeds, so post-storm reconstruction shortfalls regularly trigger special assessments. Reserve underfunding and surprise special assessments are the second strong story, sharpened by thin disclosure law. Indiana condos must establish and maintain a replacement reserve fund under IC 32-25-4-4, but the statute sets no funding target, percent-funded standard, or schedule and requires no professional reserve study — a fund can be technically compliant and grossly underfunded. Indiana HOAs have no reserve-study or reserve-funding mandate at all; the widely reported Conner Creek community in Fishers reportedly held only about $140,000 in reserves while facing a proposed $3.5M loan and large per-owner special assessments. Indiana also has no condominium resale-certificate or estoppel statute. Disclosure runs through the general Residential Real Estate Sales Disclosure law (IC 32-21-5, with a limited two-business-day rescission for late or amended defect disclosure) and the HOA-document delivery rule (IC 32-21-5-8.5, requiring governing documents and assessment information at least 10 days before closing), so buyers must request reserves, financials, minutes, and insurance themselves. The 2026 session (HB 1115) capped the payoff/resale-letter fee at $50, barred records-production fees, required an adopted Schedule of Fines before any fine, set a four-day board-meeting notice rule, and capped owner-consent thresholds at two-thirds — strong secondary hooks every buyer should confirm the governing documents have been updated to reflect.

Indiana topic guides

Indiana-specific guidance

Already own in Indiana?

Owner guides for the notice you just got

Already dealing with a specific Indiana situation? Start here instead of the buyer flow: