6D Certificate Notary in Massachusetts

A 6D certificate, formally a certificate or statement of unpaid common expenses, is the document in which the organization of unit owners states how much, if anything, the unit being sold, refinanced or transferred owes in common charges, special assessments, late fees, fines and attorney’s fees as of a specific date. It takes its name from section 6(d) of Chapter 183A, the Massachusetts condominium statute enacted in 1963.

The certificate exists because of the lien that the same statute creates. Under M.G.L. c.183A s.6(a), unpaid common expenses are a lien on the unit from the date they become due. Under s.6(c), up to six months of unpaid common expenses, plus the association’s collection costs, can take priority even over a recorded first mortgage. A buyer who takes a unit with unpaid charges, or a lender whose mortgage sits behind a priority lien, inherits a problem. Section 6(d) solves it by requiring the association to state the balance in a recordable document and by protecting the buyer against any amount not disclosed in it.

Three features of the statute drive everything else on this page:

• The association must furnish the certificate within ten business days of a request from a unit owner or purchaser, or a person with a lien on the unit.
• The certificate must be signed by the trustees or managing board, or by someone they have authorized, and acknowledged so that it is in recordable form.
• The certificate is conclusive against the association as to the amount stated. A purchaser or mortgagee who relies on it takes free of any unpaid expenses it does not disclose.

A 6D that says the balance is zero is as important as one that says the balance is four thousand dollars. Both are recorded with the deed to show, in the chain of title, that the lien was addressed at the transfer.

Because the 6D is recorded at the Registry of Deeds with the unit deed, and under M.G.L. c.183 s.29 the registry will not record an instrument that has not been acknowledged before a notary public. A signed but unacknowledged 6D is not in recordable form, is rejected at the registry and leaves the buyer without the statutory protection the certificate is meant to provide.

The acknowledgment adds what a bare signature cannot: a neutral public officer’s certificate that the trustee or agent appeared in person, proved identity through satisfactory evidence, and acknowledged signing voluntarily in the stated capacity. Massachusetts prescribes the elements of the certificate in M.G.L. c.222 s.15: venue, date, the signer’s name and capacity, the identification relied on, the notary’s signature as commissioned, printed name, commission expiration and seal. Registries check every element.

Lenders and title insurers add a second reason. A refinance lender wants the 6D because of the six-month priority lien under s.6(c); if the unit owes charges, the lender’s new first mortgage can be primed by them. The insurer will not insure the lender’s priority without a current, recordable 6D in the file.

Request the 6D as soon as the purchase and sale agreement is signed or the refinance is approved, have it signed and notarized one to three weeks before closing, and plan to re-issue it if the closing slips more than 30 days past the certificate’s “as of” date. The statute gives the association ten business days to furnish it; the practical window is set by the lender and the closing attorney.

Most closing attorneys and title insurers want the certificate dated within 30 days of closing, and some lenders accept one up to 60 days old. The statute itself does not set an expiry; the limit comes from the lender’s and insurer’s requirements, and the attorney will tell you which applies. Because trustees are hard to gather on short notice, we often book the 6D signing for the week after the P&S and a second visit only if the date moves.

The closing attorney, management company or trustee books the appointment, the certificate is prepared by the association, the signer meets us with photo ID at the location they choose, and the notarized 6D is scanned to the attorney the same day with the original delivered as instructed. A single 6D takes about ten minutes once the signer sits down.

1. Booking. Call (978) 424-4629 or book online with the signer’s name, the location, the closing date and how many certificates and related documents need notarization. Attorneys and management companies may book on behalf of the trustee.
2. Pre-check. Send us the certificate in advance if you can. We confirm it carries a Massachusetts acknowledgment with a capacity line and is otherwise ready to sign. We do not draft or edit the certificate.
3. The visit. We meet the trustee or manager at the management office in Quincy, Woburn or Boston, at the attorney’s conference room, at the trustee’s kitchen table in Andover after work, or at our office at 1215 Main St, Suite 115, Tewksbury. We verify a current government-issued photo ID, watch the signature, complete the acknowledgment, apply the seal and record the act in our journal.
4. Multiple signers. When a majority of trustees must sign, we schedule one meeting (often a board meeting night) or separate visits, acknowledging each trustee individually. Each acknowledgment is a separate notarial act.
5. Related documents. While on site we notarize the trustee’s certificate under M.G.L. c.184 s.35, master deed or trust amendments, certificates of vote and any trustee affidavit the attorney included, in the same visit. Our real estate document notary page lists the full set.
6. Delivery. The signed 6D is scanned to the closing attorney immediately. The original goes by courier, by FedEx or UPS with tracking, by hand to attorneys in the Merrimack Valley and Greater Boston, or stays with the trustee for the seller’s attorney to collect, as instructed.

An absent trustee who has given a power of attorney to a co-trustee or spouse raises authority questions the attorney must resolve first; where the attorney approves it, we notarize the power of attorney and then the agent’s signature. If any document requires witnesses, the signers arrange them. We do not provide, supply, bring, coordinate or serve as witnesses.

Details are generalized; each pattern repeats every month.

Self-managed six-unit building in Somerville

Three trustees, three work schedules, a closing in nine days. The seller’s attorney sent the certificate and the trustee’s certificate; we met the trustees at the building on a Tuesday at 7 p.m., verified three IDs, took three acknowledgments on the 6D and one on the trustee’s certificate, and scanned both to the attorney from the car. Recorded at Middlesex South with the deed the following week.

Management company in Quincy, two units closing the same week

A property manager with written authority from two different associations signed two 6D certificates and a master deed amendment in one visit to her office. Each certificate was acknowledged in the capacity for its own trust. One certificate had an empty amount line; the manager completed it as “none, as of” the date before signing, and we noted the correction to the attorney.

Refinance in Lowell with a stale certificate

A borrower’s refinance was delayed by an appraisal and the 6D in the file was 47 days old on the new closing date. The lender wanted 30 days. The trustee, a retired neighbor, signed a fresh certificate at his home the next morning and the attorney recorded the mortgage at Middlesex North on schedule after the rescission period.

We serve condominium associations, management companies, closing attorneys and unit owners in 177 Massachusetts cities and towns across Greater Boston, the Merrimack Valley, Central Massachusetts and the North Shore, seven days a week with same-day and evening appointments by confirmation. Condominium-heavy towns we visit most: Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, Newton, Quincy, Medford, Malden, Waltham, Watertown, Arlington, Lexington, Burlington, Woburn, Reading, Wakefield, Peabody, Salem, Beverly, Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, Andover, North Andover, Tewksbury, Wilmington, Billerica, Chelmsford, Worcester, Framingham and Natick. For Boston buildings see notary in Boston; for the South Shore see mobile notary in Quincy.

Hanson Webb is a Massachusetts Notary Public commissioned since 2007, an NNA Certified Loan Signing Agent, background screened, bonded and E&O insured, BBB A+ accredited and fluent in English, Arabic and French. Hire Mobile Notary is a service of Neighborhood Parcel, operating from a staffed office at 1215 Main St, Suite 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876, which matters when a closing attorney needs to reach a person at 4:30 on a Friday before a Monday recording.

We are not a law firm. A notary cannot interpret or explain the 6D certificate, advise on who has authority to sign it or on the association’s lien rights, or draft the certificate. For questions about M.G.L. c.183A or your condominium documents, consult a licensed Massachusetts attorney.