Whenever a condominium unit is sold in Washington State, a resale certificate must be prepared disclosing a long list of information which you will find in RCW 64.34.425. The required facts include (but are not limited to) information regarding the amount of the monthly assessments, any upcoming special assessments, the association's annual financial statement, and copies of the association's governing documents.

Until this year, the maximum fee an association could charge for the preparation of a resale certificate was $150. Due to a recently adopted change in the law, the maximum allowable fee for resale certificates will be going up to $275, effective in July 2011.

Please note that although the maximum allowable fee has increased to $275, that does not mean your association should automatically begin charging that amount. All fees charged by condominium associations must be reasonable, and that standard remains in effect despite this change in the law.

How do you know if your resale certificate fee is reasonable? The fee charged by your association should be reasonably related to the actual costs incurred by the association in preparing the resale certificate. For self-managed associations where a Board member is preparing the resale certificate, the cost may differ from the cost incurred by an association that is not self-managed and which has the resale certificate prepared by a professional.

If you have any questions we can answer, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us directly. We look forward to continuing this conversation with you in our future posts!