Wash. Rev. Code » Title 64 · Chapter 64.38
Revised Code of Washington

Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of May 2026
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For purposes of this chapter:
(1) "Assessment" means all sums chargeable to an owner by an association in accordance with RCW 64.38.020.
(2) "Baseline funding plan" means establishing a reserve funding goal of maintaining a reserve account balance above $0 throughout the 30-year study period described under RCW 64.38.065.
(3) "Board of directors" or "board" means the body, regardless of name, with primary authority to manage the affairs of the association.
(4) "Common areas" means property owned, or otherwise maintained, repaired or administered by the association.
(5) "Common expense" means the costs incurred by the association to exercise any of the powers provided for in this chapter.
(6) "Contribution rate" means, in a reserve study as described in RCW 64.38.065, the amount contributed to the reserve account so that the association will have cash reserves to pay major maintenance, repair, or replacement costs without the need of a special assessment.
(7) "Effective age" means the difference between the estimated useful life and remaining useful life.
(8) "Electronic transmission" or "electronically transmitted" means any electronic communication not directly involving the physical transfer of a writing in a tangible medium, but that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by the sender and the recipient of the communication, and that may be directly reproduced in a tangible medium by a sender and recipient.
(9) "Full funding plan" means setting a reserve funding goal of achieving one hundred percent fully funded reserves by the end of the 30-year study period described under RCW 64.38.065, in which the reserve account balance equals the sum of the deteriorated portion of all reserve components.
(10) "Fully funded balance" means the current value of the deteriorated portion, not the total replacement value, of all the reserve components. The fully funded balance for each reserve component is calculated by multiplying the current replacement cost of the reserve component by its effective age, then dividing the result by the reserve component's useful life. The sum total of all reserve components' fully funded balances is the association's fully funded balance.
(11) "Governing documents" means the articles of incorporation, bylaws, plat, declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, rules and regulations of the association, or other written instrument by which the association has the authority to exercise any of the powers provided for in this chapter or to manage, maintain, or otherwise affect the property under its jurisdiction.
(12) "Homeowners' association" or "association" means a corporation, unincorporated association, or other legal entity, each member of which is an owner of residential real property located within the association's jurisdiction, as described in the governing documents, and by virtue of membership or ownership of property is obligated to pay real property taxes, insurance premiums, maintenance costs, or for improvement of real property other than that which is owned by the member. "Homeowners' association" does not mean an association created under chapter 64.32, 64.34, or 64.90 RCW.
(13) "Lot" means a physical portion of the real property located within an association's jurisdiction designated for separate ownership.
(14) "Owner" means the owner of a lot, but does not include a person who has an interest in a lot solely as security for an obligation. "Owner" also means the vendee, not the vendor, of a lot under a real estate contract.
(15) "Remaining useful life" means the estimated time, in years, before a reserve component will require major maintenance, repair, or replacement to perform its intended function.
(16) "Replacement cost" means the current cost of replacing, repairing, or restoring a reserve component to its original functional condition.
(17) "Reserve component" means a common element whose cost of maintenance, repair, or replacement is infrequent, significant, and impractical to include in an annual budget.
(18) "Reserve study professional" means an independent person who is suitably qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to prepare a reserve study in accordance with RCW 64.38.065 and 64.38.070.
(19) "Residential real property" means any real property, the use of which is limited by law, covenant or otherwise to primarily residential or recreational purposes.
(20) "Significant assets" means that the current replacement value of the major reserve components is 75 percent or more of the gross budget of the association, excluding the association's reserve account funds.
(21) "Tangible medium" means a writing, copy of a writing, facsimile, or a physical reproduction, each on paper or on other tangible material.
(22) "Useful life" means the estimated time, between years, that major maintenance, repair, or replacement is estimated to occur.
[ 2023 c 337 s 2. Prior: 2021 c 227 s 9; prior: 2011 c 189 s 7; 1995 c 283 s 2.]

Notes:

Effective date—2011 c 189: See note following RCW 64.38.065.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 2014–2025 · leading case: James & Laura Walsh, V Ronald Halme, 370 P.3d 42 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
James & Laura Walsh, V Ronald Halme, 370 P.3d 42 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 9× “¶4 We hold that (1) based on the language of the RMA, Nosko Tract-Phase Two does not meet the definition of a homeowners’ association under RCW 64.38.010(11); and (2) the RMA did not authorize a majority of lot owners in Nosko Tract-Phase Two to amend the RMA to adopt governing…”
Kiona Park Estates, V. Avera Lee Dehls, 491 P.3d 247 (Wash. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 2× “Here, the materials facts are undisputed. 2. Governing Documents A HOA’s governing documents are interpreted in accordance with accepted rules of contract interpretation.”
Lynn Brewer, et ux v. Lake Easton Homeowners Ass'n, 413 P.3d 16 (Wash. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 3× “Under RCW 64.38.010(11), a valid homeowners’ association must meet three elements.”
Casey v. Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, 329 P.3d 919 (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 2× “” RCW 64.38.010(1). RCW 64.38.020(2) empowers the Association to “[a]dopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and impose and collect assessments for common expenses from owners’’ (Emphasis added.”
Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, App v. Curt Casey, Dave Scott, Barbara Volkov, Resps (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 2× “We decline to read into this plainly written clause a meaning the legislature never intended.”
William G. Pardee, Apps v. Evergreen Shores Beach Club, Resps (Wash. Ct. App. 2020). “levy reasonable fines in accordance with a previously established schedule adopted by the board of directors and furnished to the owners for violation of the bylaws, rules, and regulations of the association.”
Kyle J. Branchick, V Melrose Station Homeowners Assoc. (Wash. Ct. App. 2023). “RCW 64.38.010. First, RCW 64.38.020 provides default powers of a homeowners’ association and are superseded by the association’s governing documents, which here are the Declaration and Rules and Regulations.”
Carol Tilley v. Edelweiss Maint. Comm'n (Wash. Ct. App. 2024). “The HOA act grants broad powers to a homeowner association. The powers include regulating “the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common areas.”
Eagle Springs Prop. Owners Ass'n v. Jeremy C. Meyer, et ux (Wash. Ct. App. 2025). “38 RCW, titled “Homeowners’ Associations,” specifically RCW 64.38.010(12), which provides the definition for “[h]omeowners’ association” or “association.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(1) — 3 cases
Casey v. Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, 329 P.3d 919 (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). “” RCW 64.38.010(1). RCW 64.38.020(2) empowers the Association to “[a]dopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and impose and collect assessments for common expenses from owners’’ (Emphasis added.”
William G. Pardee, Apps v. Evergreen Shores Beach Club, Resps (Wash. Ct. App. 2020). “levy reasonable fines in accordance with a previously established schedule adopted by the board of directors and furnished to the owners for violation of the bylaws, rules, and regulations of the association.”
Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, App v. Curt Casey, Dave Scott, Barbara Volkov, Resps (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). “We decline to read into this plainly written clause a meaning the legislature never intended.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(10) — 3 cases
Kiona Park Estates, V. Avera Lee Dehls, 491 P.3d 247 (Wash. Ct. App. 2021). “Here, the materials facts are undisputed. 2. Governing Documents A HOA’s governing documents are interpreted in accordance with accepted rules of contract interpretation.”
Casey v. Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, 329 P.3d 919 (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). “” RCW 64.38.010(1). RCW 64.38.020(2) empowers the Association to “[a]dopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves, and impose and collect assessments for common expenses from owners’’ (Emphasis added.”
Sudden Valley Cmty. Ass'n, App v. Curt Casey, Dave Scott, Barbara Volkov, Resps (Wash. Ct. App. 2014). “We decline to read into this plainly written clause a meaning the legislature never intended.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(11) — 2 cases
James & Laura Walsh, V Ronald Halme, 370 P.3d 42 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016). “¶4 We hold that (1) based on the language of the RMA, Nosko Tract-Phase Two does not meet the definition of a homeowners’ association under RCW 64.38.010(11); and (2) the RMA did not authorize a majority of lot owners in Nosko Tract-Phase Two to amend the RMA to adopt governing…”
Lynn Brewer, et ux v. Lake Easton Homeowners Ass'n, 413 P.3d 16 (Wash. Ct. App. 2018). “Under RCW 64.38.010(11), a valid homeowners’ association must meet three elements.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(12) — 1 case
Eagle Springs Prop. Owners Ass'n v. Jeremy C. Meyer, et ux (Wash. Ct. App. 2025). “38 RCW, titled “Homeowners’ Associations,” specifically RCW 64.38.010(12), which provides the definition for “[h]omeowners’ association” or “association.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(4) — 1 case
Carol Tilley v. Edelweiss Maint. Comm'n (Wash. Ct. App. 2024). “The HOA act grants broad powers to a homeowner association. The powers include regulating “the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, and modification of common areas.”
— Wash. Rev. Code § 64.38.010(H) — 1 case
James & Laura Walsh, V Ronald Halme, 370 P.3d 42 (Wash. Ct. App. 2016). “¶4 We hold that (1) based on the language of the RMA, Nosko Tract-Phase Two does not meet the definition of a homeowners’ association under RCW 64.38.010(11); and (2) the RMA did not authorize a majority of lot owners in Nosko Tract-Phase Two to amend the RMA to adopt governing…”
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