SFR Invs. Pool 1, LLC v. U.S. Bank, N.A.

• Decision Date: 18 September 2014
• Docket Number: No. 63078.,63078.
• Citation: 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 75,334 P.3d 408
• Parties: SFR INVESTMENTS POOL 1, LLC, A Nevada Limited Liability Company, Appellant, v. U.S. BANK, N.A., A National Banking Association as Trustee for the Certificate Holders of the Banc of America Mortgage Pass-through Certificates, Series 2008–A, Respondent.
• Court: Nevada Supreme Court

334 P.3d 408

130 Nev. Adv. Op. 75

SFR INVESTMENTS POOL 1, LLC, A Nevada Limited Liability Company, Appellant

v.U.S. BANK, N.A., A National Banking Association as Trustee for the Certificate Holders of the Banc of America Mortgage Pass-through Certificates, Series 2008–A, Respondent.

No. 63078.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

Sept. 18, 2014.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 16, 2014.

Howard Kim & Associates and Jacqueline A. Gilbert, Howard C. Kim, and Diana S. Cline, Henderson, for Appellant.

Akerman LLP and Ariel E. Stern and Natalie L. Winslow, Las Vegas. for Respondent.

BEFORE THE COURT EN BANC.

OPINION

By the Court, PICKERING, J.:

NRS 116.3116 gives a homeowners' association (HOA) a superpriority lien on an individual homeowner's property for up to nine months of unpaid HOA dues. With limited exceptions, this lien is “prior to all other liens and encumbrances” on the homeowner's property, even a first deed of trust recorded before the dues became delinquent. NRS 116.3116(2). We must decide whether this is a true priority lien such that its foreclosure extinguishes a first deed of trust on the property and, if so, whether it can be foreclosed nonjudicially. We answer both questions in the affirmative and therefore reverse.

I.

This dispute involves a residence located in a common-interest community known as Southern Highlands. The property was subject to Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC & Rs) recorded in 2000. In 2007 it was further encumbered by a note and deed of trust in favor of, via assignment, respondent U.S. Bank, N.A. By 2010, the former homeowners, who are not parties to this case, had fallen delinquent on their Southern Highlands Community Association (SHHOA) dues and also defaulted on their obligations to U.S. Bank. Separately, SHHOA and U.S. Bank each initiated nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings.

Appellant SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC (SFR) purchased the property at the SHHOA's trustee's sale, which took place on September 5, 2012. SFR received and recorded a trustee's deed reciting compliance with all applicable notice requirements. In the meantime, the trustee's sale on U.S. Bank's deed of trust had been postponed to December 19, 2012. Days before then, SFR filed an action to quiet title and enjoin the sale. SFR alleged that the SHHOA trustee's deed extinguished U.S. Bank's deed of trust and vested clear title in SFR, leaving U.S. Bank nothing to foreclose.

The district court temporarily enjoined the U.S. Bank trustee's sale pending briefing and argument on SFR's motion for a preliminary injunction. Ultimately, the district court denied SFR's motion for a preliminary injunction and granted U.S. Bank's countermotion to dismiss. It held that an HOA must proceed judicially to validly foreclose its superpriority lien. Since SHHOA foreclosed nonjudicially, the district court reasoned, U.S. Bank's first deed of trust survived the SHHOA trustee's sale and was senior to the trustee's deed SFR received.

SFR appealed. The district court stayed U.S. Bank's trustee's sale pending decision of this appeal.

II.

A.

The HOA lien statute, NRS 116.3116, is a creature of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act of 1982, § 3–116, 7 U.L.A., part II 121–24 (2009) (amended 1994, 2008) (UCIOA), which Nevada adopted in 1991, 1991 Nev. Stat., ch. 245, § 1–128, at 535–79, and codified as NRS Chapter 116. See NRS 116.001. One purpose of adopting a Uniform Act like the UCIOA is “to make uniform the law with respect to [its] subject [matter] among states enacting it.” NRS 116.1109(2). Thus, in addition to the usual tools of statutory construction, we have available the comments of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, national commentary, and other states' cases to explicate NRS Chapter 116. 2A Norman J. Singer & Shambie Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 48:11, at 603–08 (7th ed.2014) ; see Casey v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 128 Nev. ––––, ––––, 290 P.3d 265, 268 (2012).

NRS 116.3116(1) gives an HOA a lien on its homeowners' residences—the UCIOA calls them “units,” see NRS 116.093 —“for any construction penalty that is imposed against the unit's owner ..., any assessment levied against that unit or any fines imposed against the unit's owner from the time the construction penalty, assessment or fine becomes due.” NRS 116.3116(2) elevates the priority of the HOA lien over other liens. It states that the HOA's lien is “prior to all other liens and encumbrances on a unit” except for:

(a) Liens and encumbrances recorded before the recordation of the declaration [creating the common-interest community] ...;

(b) A first security interest on the unit recorded before the date on which the assessment sought to be enforced became delinquent ...; and

(c) Liens for real estate taxes and other governmental assessments or charges against the unit or cooperative.

NRS 116.3116(2) (emphasis added). If subsection 2 ended there, a first deed of trust would have complete priority over an HOA lien. But it goes on to carve out a partial exception to subparagraph (2)(b)'s exception for first security interests:

The [HOA] lien is also prior to all security interests described in paragraph (b) to the extent of any [maintenance and nuisance-abatement] charges incurred by the association on a unit pursuant to NRS 116.310312 and to the extent of the assessments for common expenses [i.e., HOA dues] based on the periodic budget adopted by the association pursuant to NRS 116.3115 which would have become due in the absence of acceleration during the 9 months immediately preceding institution of an action to enforce the lien, unless federal regulations adopted by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the Federal National Mortgage Association require a shorter period of priority for the lien.... This subsection does not affect the priority of mechanics' or materialmen's liens, or the priority of liens for other assessments made by the association.

NRS 116.3116(2) (emphases added).¹

As to first deeds of trust, NRS 116.3116(2) thus splits an HOA lien into two pieces, a superpriority piece and a subpriority piece. The superpriority piece, consisting of the last nine months of unpaid HOA dues and maintenance and nuisance-abatement charges, is “prior to” a first deed of trust. The subpriority piece, consisting of all other HOA fees or assessments, is subordinate to a first deed of trust.

NRS 116.3116 largely tracks section 3–116(a)–(i) of the 1982 UCIOA.² But it does not use the language in subsections (j) and (k) of UCIOA § 3–116, which offer alternative HOA lien foreclosure provisions for adaptation to local law. See 1982 UCIOA § 3–116(j)(1) (“In a condominium or planned community, the association's lien must be foreclosed in like manner as a mortgage on real estate [or by power of sale under [insert appropriate state statute]].”); id. § 3–116(k) (offering an optional fast-track foreclosure method for cooperatives, which often carry substantial debt service obligations). Instead, the Nevada Legislature handcrafted a series of provisions to govern HOA lien foreclosures, NRS 116.31162 through NRS 116.31168, and refashioned 1982 UCIOA §§ 3–116(j)(2) and (3), concerning cooperatives, as NRS 116.3116(10).

To initiate foreclosure under NRS 116.31162 through NRS 116.31168, a Nevada HOA must notify the owner of the delinquent assessments. NRS 116.31162(1)(a). If the owner does not pay within 30 days, the HOA may record a notice of default and election to sell. NRS 116.31162(l )(b). Where the UCIOA states general third-party notice requirements, see 1982 UCIOA § 3–116(j)(4) (“In the case of foreclosure under [insert reference to state power of sale statute], the association shall give reasonable notice of its action to all lien holders of the unit whose interest would be affected.”), NRS 116.31168 imposes specific timing and notice requirements.

“The provisions of NRS 107.090,” governing notice to junior lienholders and others in deed-of-trust foreclosure sales, “apply to the foreclosure of an association's lien as if a deed of trust were being foreclosed.” NRS 116.31168(1). The HOA must provide the homeowner notice of default and election to sell; it also must notify “[e]ach person who has requested notice pursuant to NRS 107.090 or 116.31168 ” and “[a]ny holder of a recorded security interest encumbering the unit's owner's interest who has notified the association, 30 days before the recordation of the notice of default, of the existence of the security interest.”NRS 116.31163(1), (2). The homeowner must be given at least 90 days to pay off the lien. NRS 116.31162. If the lien is not paid off, then the HOA may proceed to foreclosure sale. Id. Before doing so, the HOA must give notice of the sale to the owner and to the holder of a recorded security interest if the security interest holder “has notified the association, before the mailing of the notice of sale of the existence of the security interest.” NRS 116.311635(1)(b)(2) ; see NRS 107.090(3)(b), (4) (requiring notice of default and notice of sale to “[e]ach other person with an interest whose interest or claimed interest is subordinate to the deed of trust”).

NRS 116.31164 addresses the procedure for sale upon foreclosure of an HOA lien and specifies the distribution order for the proceeds of sale. A trustee's deed reciting compliance with the notice provisions of NRS 116.31162 through NRS 116.31168 “is conclusive” as to the recitals “against the unit's former owner, his or her heirs and assigns, and all other persons.” NRS 116:31166(2). And, “[t]he sale of a unit pursuant to NRS 116.31162, 116.31163 and 116.31164 vests in the purchaser the title of the unit's owner without equity or right of redemption.” NRS 116.31166(3).

B.

U.S. Bank maintains that NRS 116.3116(2) merely creates a payment priority as between the HOA and the beneficiary of the first deed of trust. If so, then the dues and maintenance and nuisance-abatement piece of the HOA lien does not acquire superpriority status until the beneficiary...