Priority of HOA liens in CA...

The appellate case of Thaler vs Household Finance was certified for publication in May of 2000. It changed the way we determine the priority of recorded HOA liens against real property here in California.

Before the Thaler decision, the priority of a recorded HOA lien was determined, not by the date the lien was recorded, but via a "relation back" theory, back to when the controlling CC&R's for the particular condo project were recorded.

So the Thaler case stands for the principle that the priority of a lien, recorded against real property in this state, is established by the date the lien itself was recorded, not when some earlier document was recorded.

I like the Thaler case finding. It's application makes it much easier to determine the relative priorities of recorded liens against the title of property–it's simply established by the chronology of the recording dates of the open, recorded liens.

Relation-back theories of priority murky the waters and make title searching much more tentative and uncertain.

To find the Thaler case on the internet and download it as a PDF document, go to http://wwwfindlaw.com/california/CA02_caselaw/5_2000ca.html.

--------------------------Ward

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