Iowa · Iowa Code §499B.19Iowa condo assessment statement: the buyer's liability for the seller's unpaid dues stops at the stated amount

Iowa's horizontal property (condominium) law makes the buyer in a voluntary conveyance jointly and severally liable with the seller for all of the seller's unpaid assessments for common expenses up to the time of the conveyance, without prejudice to the buyer's right to recover them from the seller (Iowa Code §499B.19). The same section gives the buyer a protection: the buyer is entitled to a statement from the council of co-owners or its representatives setting out the amount of the seller's unpaid assessments, and is not liable for – nor is the apartment subject to a lien for – any unpaid assessments in excess of the amount the statement sets out (§499B.19). The section sets no deadline or fee for the statement. Unpaid assessments are otherwise a lien on the apartment, prior to other liens except tax liens and the first mortgage of record (§499B.17), and a first-mortgage holder or other purchaser who takes title through foreclosure of the first mortgage is not liable for assessments that fell due before it acquired title (§499B.18).