"Buying a Condo in Alaska: What Does the Resale Certificate Have to Tell You, and Can You Inherit the Seller's Unpaid Dues?"

Your offer on a two-bedroom condo in Anchorage was accepted on Friday afternoon. By Monday the listing agent mentions, almost in passing, that the seller fell behind on the association dues last winter and still owes part of a special assessment for the new roof. Nobody can tell you the exact figure yet. In Alaska, that figure is going to arrive on one page, from the association itself, and the number printed there decides how much of the seller's balance could ever become yours.

When you buy a resale condo in Alaska, the seller has to give you a resale certificate from the association, which the association must produce within 10 days of the seller's written request and fee. It states the dues, any unpaid balance, planned repairs, reserves, lawsuits and insurance. You are not liable for unpaid assessments or fees beyond the amount it states.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation, licensed in fifteen states, including Alaska. On a condo purchase, the certificate is the first document I want to read with you, because it answers questions about your money and about your loan at the same time.

What is an Alaska condo resale certificate?

The certificate is a written statement from the condominium association about the unit you are buying and about the association's own finances, rules and legal position. Alaska's rule is in AS 34.08.590, the resales section of the Alaska Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. The seller is the one who has to give you these documents. Before the contract is signed or before the closing, the seller has to give you a copy of the declaration as amended, the bylaws, the association's rules or regulations, and the certificate.

The association is the one that prepares it. Under the same section, the association has 10 days after a written request from the unit owner, and payment of a reasonable fee, to provide a certificate with everything the owner needs to comply. So the clock starts when the seller asks in writing and pays, and the association is the one on the clock.

The fee is set by the association. AS 34.08.320 lets the association impose a reasonable charge for preparing the resale certificate required by AS 34.08.590. The law has the seller make the written request, and your purchase contract says who bears the fee, including a split if you and the seller agree to one.

The act covers condominiums, cooperatives and planned communities created in Alaska after January 1, 1986. An older condominium may be outside much of it, but AS 34.08.040 applies a list of its sections, the resales section among them, to communities created before that date for events after it. The Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley home buyer's guide describes how those associations are run and who pays their shared costs.

What does the resale certificate have to tell you in Alaska?

The list in AS 34.08.590 is long, and each item is a question you would want answered before you own a share of the building. Among the statements the certificate has to carry:

• Any right of first refusal or other restraint on selling the unit, and how it affects this sale.
• The monthly common expense assessment, and any unpaid common expense or special assessment currently due from the seller. These are your dues, and the seller's balance, in writing.
• Any other fees payable by the owner of the unit being sold.
• Capital expenditures above a dollar threshold set in the statute that the executive board has approved for the current fiscal year and the two that follow. This is where a coming roof, siding or boiler project appears.
• The reserves for capital expenditures, and any part of them already set aside for a specific project.
• The most recent regularly prepared balance sheet and income and expense statement, if the association has one, and the current operating budget.
• Any unsatisfied judgment against the association, and the status of any pending suit in which it is a plaintiff or a defendant.
• The insurance coverage provided for the benefit of unit owners, which your own insurance agent will want to see.
• Whether the board knows of alterations or improvements to the unit, or to the limited common elements assigned to it, that violate the declaration. Limited common elements are the shared parts reserved for your unit, such as an assigned parking space or a deck.
• Whether the board knows of any violation of a health, safety, fire or building code affecting the unit, its limited common elements or any other part of the community.
• The remaining term of any leasehold estate affecting the community, and the terms for extending or renewing it, if the land under the building is leased.

The seller's unpaid dues and the amount on the certificate

Under AS 34.08.590, a purchaser is not liable for an unpaid assessment or fee greater than the amount set out in the certificate prepared by the association. Whatever the certificate says the seller owes is the most of that old balance that can ever reach you.

If the unpaid-assessment line shows a balance, you and your agent can ask that it be paid off from the seller's proceeds at closing, so none of it becomes yours. If it shows zero, an old charge the association finds later cannot be passed to you as the new owner.

The same section protects the seller too. A seller who hands you the certificate is not liable to you for an error the association made in it. So questions about a wrong number go to the association.

Alaska has a second document that does a related job. Under AS 34.08.470, an owner can ask the association in writing for a statement of the unpaid assessments against the unit. The association has 10 business days to provide it, and the statement is binding on the association, the executive board and every unit owner. The resale certificate's clock is 10 days, while this statement's is 10 business days, so it helps to say which one you are asking for.

How long do you have to act after the certificate arrives?

Your purchase contract is where to look. It may set a review period for the association documents, and your agent or attorney can tell you how the contract counts days and what happens if the association is late. If the certificate arrives the same week as your closing, you have very little time to act on it.

That review period is for the association's paperwork, and your inspection is for the unit itself. What the seller knows about the home comes separately, because in Alaska the seller's disclosure statement arrives before you write the offer.

The certificate covers resales, so a new condo works differently

AS 34.08.590 applies except where the sale requires a public offering statement, which is the developer's disclosure document for units in a new or converted project. If you are buying from the developer, you receive that statement instead. Under AS 34.08.580, a purchaser who did not receive it more than 15 days before signing can cancel within 15 days of receiving it, as long as the closing has not happened.

AS 34.08.510(b) also excuses certain transfers from the resale certificate. They include a gratuitous transfer such as a gift, a transfer under a court order, a transfer by a governmental agency, and a foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure. If the unit you are buying is a foreclosure, please ask early what the association will provide, because the statute does not require the certificate.

Planning your offer and your loan around the ten days

This is how I would line it up with you, so the certificate arrives while there is still time to use it.

1. On the day your offer is accepted, your agent asks the seller to send the association a written request for the certificate and to pay its fee. The association's 10 days start there.
2. When the packet arrives, please provide every page of the resale certificate, the declaration, the bylaws and the rules the same day, even if a page is intentionally left blank. Your lender reviews the building, and the certificate answers many of its questions.
3. Inside your contract's review period, you and your agent read it for what owning this unit is going to cost you. The unpaid balance, the approved capital expenditures against the reserves, and the lawsuits and insurance tell you what the building may cost you next year.
4. Your decision goes in writing. You can go ahead, ask the seller for a credit or a payoff of the balance, or cancel if your contract allows it, before its review period ends.

The lender's review looks at the whole building. Freddie Mac's standard for an established condominium project, in Seller/Servicer Guide Section 5701.5 (revised 08/03/2026), says no more than 15% of the units in a project can be 60 or more days delinquent on their association assessments. The certificate tells you about the seller's balance, and the lender's questionnaire tells us about everyone else's. Why condos are harder to finance than detached homes explains the rest of that review.

The dues on the certificate also go into your monthly payment for qualifying. Your debt-to-income ratio is figured with the association's assessment included. If the certificate shows higher dues than the listing did, I want the corrected number in your file before your rate is locked. Whether your association dues are paid through your mortgage is a separate question, and that article walks through it.

Two mistakes I would rather you skip

The first is letting the request wait until the week before closing. The association's 10 days and your contract's review period only help you if they finish while you still have choices, so the seller should send the request the day your offer is accepted.

The second is reading the dues line and stopping there. The dues show what you pay now, and the approved capital expenditures, the reserve balance and the lawsuit statement show what could be coming.

An illustration, with made-up numbers

The numbers below are made up to show the mechanism, and they describe no real client, unit or association.

You go under contract on a unit with monthly dues of $385. The seller sends the written request and the fee on the Tuesday after acceptance, and the certificate arrives eight days later. It shows two months of unpaid dues and a $1,200 unpaid share of a roof assessment, for a total of $1,970 currently due from the seller. It also lists a board-approved $210,000 siding project for next fiscal year, against reserves of $95,000.

Your contract's review period is the time you have to act on it. The $1,970 is the most of the seller's old balance you could ever owe, and you can ask that it be paid off from the seller's proceeds at closing so it never reaches you. The siding project is the bigger question. With less than half of it in reserves, the association may need a special assessment or a loan to cover the rest. You and your agent can estimate your share and ask the seller for a credit, or decide this is not the unit, all before that review period ends.

When you are ready, run your Alaska numbers and you will see rates for your scenario, your debt ratio with the dues included, and closing costs priced for Alaska. You choose a rate option, and the selection can change later. The Alaska pre-approval page covers what to settle before you make an offer, and buying a home in Alaska with a mortgage covers the rest of closing here. You are also welcome to call me and talk the certificate through with me once it arrives. No pre-approval from anyone is a loan commitment, and final approval depends on the property, the project review, the appraisal and underwriting of the complete file.

Common questions

How long does an Alaska condo association have to provide a resale certificate?

Ten days. Under AS 34.08.590, the association has to provide the certificate within 10 days after the unit owner makes a written request and pays a reasonable fee. The clock runs from the seller's written request and payment, so the earlier the seller asks, the earlier the certificate reaches you.

What does a resale certificate include in Alaska?

The certificate states any right of first refusal or other restraint on selling the unit, the monthly assessment, and any unpaid assessment due from the seller. It also lists other owner fees, approved capital expenditures, reserves, the latest financial statements and budget, and judgments and pending suits. It covers insurance for owners, known violations of the declaration or of building and safety codes, and any leasehold term. The seller also gives you the declaration, bylaws and rules.

Am I responsible for the previous owner's unpaid HOA dues in Alaska?

Only up to the amount on the certificate. AS 34.08.590 says a purchaser is not liable for an unpaid assessment or fee greater than the amount set out in the certificate the association prepared. If the certificate shows a balance, you can ask that it be paid from the seller's proceeds at closing.

Who pays for the resale certificate in Alaska?

The statute has the unit owner, who is the seller, make the written request, and the association's 10 days run from that request and payment of its fee. AS 34.08.320 lets the association charge a reasonable fee for preparing it, and the association sets the amount. Your purchase contract says who bears the cost.

Can I back out of an Alaska condo purchase after reading the resale certificate?

That depends on your purchase contract. Check whether it gives you a review period for the association documents and how it counts the days, and decide before that period ends. A new condo sold with a public offering statement has its own 15-day cancellation rule under AS 34.08.580.

Estimates and educational information are not a loan approval or commitment to lend. Nothing here is a credit decision.