Debt of the Owner. "A regular or special assessment and any late charges, reasonable fees and costs of collection, reasonable attorney's fees, if any, and interest, if any, as determined in accordance with Section 1366, shall be a debt of the owner of the separate interest at the time the assessment or other sums are levied." Civ. Code §1367.1(a).

A condominium assessment becomes a debt of the owner when the assessment is levied by the condominium association. The debt is only a personal obligation of the owner, however, until the community association records a notice of delinquent assessment against the owner's interest in the development. Recording this notice creates a lien and gives the association a security interest in the lot or unit against which the assessment was imposed. The lien dates from the time the lien is properly recorded. California follows the "first in time, first in right" system of lien priorities. Condominium assessment liens follow this same system. An assessment lien is prior to all other liens recorded subsequent to the notice of assessment, except that the [CC&Rs] may provide for the subordination thereof to any other liens and encumbrances. (Diamond Heights v. Financial Freedom, internal cites and quotes deleted)

No Offsets. Members cannot deduct a portion of their dues because they do not use recreational facilities or because they have a grievance against their association.

A system that would tolerate a [condominium] owner's refusal to pay an assessment because the unit owner asserts a grievance . . . would threaten the financial integrity of the entire condominium operation. (Park Place v. Naber.)

These statutory provisions reflect the Legislature's recognition of the importance of assessments to the proper functioning of condominiums in this state. Because homeowners associations would cease to exist without regular payment of assessment fees, the Legislature has created procedures for associations to quickly and efficiently seek relief against a nonpaying owner. Permitting an owner to broadly assert the homeowners association's conduct as a defense or "setoff" to such enforcement action would seriously undermine these rules. (Park Place v. Naber.)

No Escrow Accounts. Owners cannot put their assessments in an escrow account and claim they are "paying" their assessments. Homeowners can dispute charges but they must continue to pay their assessments while they dispute them.