The assessments provided for herein shall be used for the general purposes of promoting the recreation, health, safety, welfare, common benefit, and enjoyment of the Owners and occupants of Lots, including the maintenance of real and personal property, all as may be more specifically authorized from time to time by the Board of Directors.

 

 

Each Owner of any Lot, by acceptance of a deed therefor, whether or not it shall be so expressed in such deed, covenants and agrees to pay to the Association: (i) annual assessments or charges; (ii) special assessments, such assessments to be established and collected as hereinafter provided; and (iii) specific assessments established pursuant to the terms of this Declaration, including, but not limited to, reasonable fines imposed in accordance with the terms of this Declaration.

 

4.2.1 All such assessments, together with (i) late charges, (ii) interest set by the Board, not to exceed the maximum rate permitted by law (but not to exceed eighteen percent (18%) per annum), and (iii) costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees actually incurred, shall be a charge on the land and shall be a continuing lien upon the Lot against which each assessment is made.

 

4.2.2 Each such assessment, together with late charges, interest, costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees actually incurred, shall also be the personal obligation of the person who was the Owner of such Lot at the time the assessment fell due. Each Owner shall be personally liable for the portion of each assessment coming due while the Owner of a Lot, and each grantee of an Owner shall be jointly and severally liable for such portion thereof as may be due and payable at the time of conveyance; provided, however, the liability of a grantee for the unpaid assessments of its grantor shall not apply to any first Mortgagee taking title through foreclosure proceedings or deed in lieu of foreclosure.

 

4.2.3 The Association shall, within five (5) days after receiving a written request therefor and for a reasonable charge, furnish a certificate signed by an officer of the Association setting forth whether the assessments on a specified Lot have been paid. Such certificate shall be binding upon the Association as of the date of issuance.

 

4.2.4 Annual assessments shall be levied equally on all Lots. Assessments shall be paid in such manner and on such dates as may be fixed by the Board. Unless otherwise provided by the Board, the assessment shall be paid in annual installments.

 

 

It shall be the duty of the Board to prepare and adopt a budget covering the estimated costs of operating the Association during the coming year and the assessments to be levied against each Lot, which may include an amount for capital reserves in accordance with a capital budget separately prepared. The Board shall cause a summary of the proposed operating and capital budgets and the proposed assessments against each Lot for the following year to be mailed to each Owner. The Board shall set a date for a special meeting of the Owners to consider ratification of the budget within thirty (30) days after adoption by the Board and not less that fourteen (14) nor more than sixty (60) days after the mailing of the proposed budgets and assessments. Unless at such meeting the budget is rejected by at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the Total Association Vote, in person or by proxy, the budget shall be ratified, whether or not a quorum is present. In the event the proposed budget is rejected or the required notice is not given, the budget in effect for the then current year shall continue in effect until the Owners ratify a subsequent budget.

 

 

If the financial circumstances or needs of the Association materially change during any year, the Board may prepare and adopt a revised budget and assessments for the balance of the year. The Board shall cause a summary of the proposed revised budget and assessments to be mailed to each Owner and shall set a date for a meeting of the Owners to consider ratification of the revised budget and assessments in the same manner as the regular annual budget as set forth in Section 4.3 above.

 

 

In addition to the other assessments authorized herein, the Association may levy special assessments for expenses such as, but not limited to, capital improvements from time to time if approved at a meeting by two-thirds (2/3) of the Total Association Vote. Special assessments shall be paid as determined by the Board, and the Board may permit special assessments to be paid in installments extending beyond the fiscal year in which the special assessment is imposed.

 

 

All sums assessed against any Lot pursuant to this Declaration, together with late charges, interest, costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees actually incurred, as provided herein, shall be secured by a lien on such Lot in favor of the Association. Such lien shall be superior to all other liens and encumbrances on such Lot, except for (a) liens for ad valorem taxes; or (b) liens for all sums unpaid on a first Mortgage or on any Mortgage to Declarant duly recorded in the records of King County and all amounts advanced pursuant to such Mortgage and secured thereby in accordance with the terms of such instrument. All other Persons acquiring liens or encumbrances on any Lot after the recording of this Declaration shall be deemed to consent that such liens or encumbrances shall be inferior to future liens for assessments, as provided herein, whether or not prior consent is specifically set forth in the instruments creating such liens or encumbrances.

 

 

Any assessment or installment thereof delinquent for a period of more than ten (10) days shall incur a late charge in an amount as the Board may from time to time determine. The Association shall cause a notice of delinquency to be given to any member who has not paid within ten (10) days following the due date. If the assessment is not paid within thirty (30) days, a lien, as herein provided, shall attach and in addition, the lien shall include interest set by the Board from time to time, on the principal amount due, late charges, costs of collection, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees actually incurred, and any other amounts provided or permitted by law.

 

4.7.1 In the event that the assessment remains unpaid after sixty (60) days, the Association may, as the Board shall determine, institute suit to collect such amounts and/or to foreclose its lien. Each Owner, by acceptance of a deed or as a party to any other type of conveyance, vests in the Association or its agents the right and power to bring all actions against such Owner personally, for the collection of such charges as a debt or to foreclose the aforesaid lien in the same manner as other liens for the improvement of real property.

 

4.7.2 The lien provided for in this Article shall be in favor of the Association and shall be for the benefit of all other Owners. The Association, acting on behalf of the Owners, shall have the power to bid on the Lot at any foreclosure sale or to acquire, hold, lease, mortgage, or convey the same.

 

4.7.3 No Owner may waive or otherwise exempt himself from liability for the assessments provided for herein, including, by way of illustration, but not limitation, abandonment of the Lot.

 

4.7.4 All payments shall be applied first to costs, then to late charges, then to interest and then to delinquent assessments.

 

 

If an Owner shall be in arrears in the payment of any assessment due, or shall otherwise be in default of the performance of any terms of the Governing Documents of the Association for a period of thirty (30) days, said Owner's voting rights shall, without the necessity of any further action by the Association, be suspended (except as against foreclosing secured parties) and shall remain suspended until all payments, including interest thereon, are brought current and any other default is remedied. No Owner is relieved of liability for assessments by non-use of the Common Areas or by abandonment of a Lot

 

 

The assessments provided for herein shall commence as to a Lot subject to this Declaration on the first day of the month following conveyance of such Lot to a Person other than Declarant. The first annual assessment shall be adjusted according to the number of months then remaining in that fiscal year.

 

 

In addition to the general and special assessments outlined above, the Board shall have the power to levy such specific assessments pursuant to this Section 4.10 as, in its discretion, it shall deem appropriate. All other terms and conditions of this Article 4 relating to general and special assessments shall apply to the levy and collection of the specific assessments covered hereby and the Association shall have all powers and remedies for collection and enforcement of such assessments as are applicable to the general and special assessments set forth above. Fines levied pursuant to Section 11.1 of this Declaration and the costs of maintenance performed by the Association for which the Owner is responsible under Sections 5.3 and 5.4 of this Declaration shall be specific assessments.

 

 

The Common Areas shall be exempt from assessments by the Association.