Does an assessment lien come before or after my mortgage?

After. The covenants say the assessment lien is subordinate to any mortgage on the property, whether the mortgage was placed before or after the assessment. "Subordinate" means the mortgage gets paid first.

But that subordination is narrower than it first sounds, and the limit matters.

It applies **only** to assessments that became due and payable **before** the property is sold or transferred through a foreclosure decree, or through some other proceeding taken in place of foreclosure. Those earlier assessments are the ones cleared.

Everything after that point still stands. The covenants say plainly that a foreclosure sale or transfer does not free the property from assessments that come due afterward, and does not free it from the lien of any later assessment.

So the practical picture is this. A foreclosure can wipe out the assessment balance that built up before the sale. It does not turn the lot into a lot that owes nothing going forward. Whoever owns the property after the sale owes assessments from then on, and those assessments create their own liens in the normal way.

This is one of the more technical parts of the covenants. If you are dealing with a foreclosure, a short sale, or buying a property that has been through one, talk to the office about where the assessments stand — and your own attorney about your situation.

*Source: Restrictive Covenants, Article V, Section 10.*