Residences at Cape Ann Heights Condominium Association v. Halupowski, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-032-13)

NOTICE:  All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.  If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750;  (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us       12‑P‑1689                                       Appeals Court   RESIDENCES AT CAPE ANN HEIGHTS CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION  vs.  BRIAN HALUPOWSKI & others.[1]     No. 12‑P‑1689. Essex.     December 11, 2012.  ‑  February 21, 2013. Present:  Kafker, Milkey, & Agnes, JJ.   Condominiums, Common expenses.  Real Property, Condominium.  Lien.  Practice, Civil, Dismissal.  Jurisdiction, Superior Court, In rem.  Superior Court, Jurisdiction.       Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on August 12, 2011.   An appeal from a judgment of dismissal was heard by Green, J., in the Appeals Court, and the case was reported by him to the Appeals Court.     Gary M. Daddario for the plaintiff.     MILKEY, J.  The plaintiff is the owners’ association of a residential condominium located in Gloucester.  It brought this action to enforce a statutory lien on one of the condominium’s units.  The basis of the lien was $ 3,759.55 in unpaid common expenses.  Concluding that the association was unlikely to recover more than $ 25,000, a judge of the Superior Court dismissed the action without prejudice.  See G. L. c. 212, § 3A(b).  The association appealed pursuant to G. L. c. 212, § 3A(c), and the single justice reserved and reported the matter without decision to a full panel of this court.  We reverse. Discussion.  Chapter 183A of the General Laws governs the creation and administration of condominiums.  Pursuant to § 6 of that chapter, the condominium’s common expenses are to be assessed against all units in the condominium in proportion to the units’ interest in the condominium’s common areas, and “[t]he organization of unit owners shall have a lien on a unit for any common expense assessment levied against that unit from the time the assessment becomes due.”  G. L. c. 183A, § 6(a)(i), as amended by St. 1992, c. 400, § 7.  These assessments are levied against the units themselves, and constitute “covenants running with the land.”  Trustees of the Prince Condominium Trust v. Prosser, 412 Mass. 723, 725 (1992).  The lien is enforceable through “a civil action brought in the superior court for the county where [the condominium] lies or in the district court in the judicial district where [the condominium] lies.”  G. L. c. 254, § 5, as amended by St. 2010, c. 350, § 7.  See G. L. c. 183A, § 6(c).  The outcome of such a suit, if successful, is an order for the sale of the unit, subject to the procedures outlined in G. L. c. 254, […]

Read more...