HOA to make public a list of the names of its members owing HOA dues

By "public," do you mean a notice to other property owners or do mean a billboard or newspaper ad for the world to see?

I am not familiar with Florida law, but I see nothing wrong with identifying non-paying owners to the rest of the owners. When they purchased their properties, the owners entered into a contract with the association and all its members. I see no reason why those who fail to perform their obligations should expect that they may do so in secret. If it were up to me, I would erect a 10-foot tall day-glo orange sign on each delinquent property.

We have discussed this numerous times and the consensus is that it is a bad idea. Not only may it be forbidden in the CC&R's, in some states (CA) it may be illegal so at the very least check with your HOA attorney before doing so. We tell interested people to check the county court website to see who the HOA has filed liens on.

Consensus? No. Some feel its a good idea including myself.

We list properties by address on a website list of dues not paid. Membership needs to be informed if money is not being received along with expenses of the HOA. Transparency is the key to a functional HOA, not hiding payables or receivables.

I have to agree with Brad on this one but it would be interesting to hear from someone who has tried this to know if it is effective and any consequences.
Since money not collected from delinquent owners eventually comes out of the pocket of the other owners, I would think that they have a right to know this information.
Not sure what good it would do since only the board can do anything about it anyway and usually people not paying can't pay and/ or probably don't care what others might think.
Obviously, if you have served on a board you know how complex collecting delinquent dues can be, so be prepared to explain it to the angry owners who may not understand why they are paying extra because the board is unable to collect what is owed. You know the old saying "opening up a can of worms".

For transparence ...
There should be a proposed budget for the coming year showing all expected expenses reflecting potential increases. Also, there should be an end of year profit and loss statement showing all of last years expenses on which the new budget is based.
Owners are legally entitled to that information.
In addition there should be a reserve projection showing future expected major capital expenses with an accounting of past, present and future reserve contributions.
I would think your CC&R's cover this and state law as well.

We ONLY let the board members have a copy of the COLLECTIONS report. We ONLY talked in Lot #'s and NOT personal names/addresses. This way we could address the issue in the OPEN meeting in front of ALL the members without revealing one's personal identification. This way the membership knew what actions we were taking to address the issue of non-payment but not necessarily the personal details. If they wanted to know who it was then they could access the neighborhood map with the lot #'s on it but they couldn't do anything about it.

I think this creates a "Vigilantism" situation in your HOA to reveal neighbors names or personal information. Would I want someone to know I owed money? It's a double edged sword. How would you feel if your name was posted? Especially if the reason you didn't pay was personal or a mistake?

My opinion is it is a BAAAAD idea to post this information. The board just needs have an action plan and to take action. Our HOA agreed that if you were 6 months behind in dues a lien was placed. A year or more of having a lien, we would investigate pursuing foreclosure procedures. It really depended on the circumstances. We had several members catch up or pay because they knew they were coming up on the 6 month mark or year. This type of system is what I would suggest. Imposing a time and/or money limit and follow through with legal action of lien/foreclosure. That's it.

Despite the fact that we do something similar as mentioned earlier...Florida HOA members have the right to inspect all assn. records with few exceptions of which this is not one of them.

Simply tell the membership if they want to know the info to go and review the records.

Those who wish to know will, those who don't... won't.

John:

I understand that, but how do you decide who is on the list? For example, if someone is in bankruptcy will you put them on the list? What is someone is going through a difficult financial time either through loss of job or death of a spouse and is scrambling to pay bills? What if someone's child or spouse has a serious illness that requires the use of their funds to pay hospital bills to keep them alive?

Do all these folks make your list?

BRAD

While not advocating such, it is a practice some use. The times I saw it used was when the member was more then a specific time behind (usually 90 days), their name(s) were posted on a board for all to see as they walked into the club.

FRED

I agree with this methodology but there may come a point when nothing can be collected, so I think the pressure has to be ratched up some. Politely, but ratched up.

I don't agree that someone in financial difficulty won't make the effort to make arrangements. That's just an ASSUMPTION...I found many people who I knew having financial difficulties to be the first to make arrangements to pay their bills. We had 1 member who we arranged that they could pay half their dues without late fees for a period of time as long as we didn't place a lien on her property in 6 months. She was able to catch up on her dues and didn't risk a lien doing so.

The ones who didn't pay in our HOA typically were more of the "Professional" type of owners who used the properties as investments. A LLC is very difficult to make pay up by the way...So each situation is different and should be handled as such...

It's the "golden rule" when you live in a HOA...Would putting your name in print help you pay? Then why should it make someone else pay? Treat people like you want to be treated not how you want to treat people...

Melissa,
Just to clarify. when I said SERIOUS finiancial difficulty, I was refering to owners who were at a stage where they had stopped paying property tax etc.
However, we give everyone the same opportunity to make a payment plan. Yes it is an assumption based on our experience.

Steve,
You are right. When you stop treating it like a business that is when you start getting into trouble. I wish owners realized it was a business. No matter how many times you try and explain it they still cry "your picking on me" when they want to be treated differently from other owners.

Steve...you can be transparent without naming names. Every meeting we give an update on dues collections, we inform how many homes are delinquent, steps being taken to collect and ramifications of them not paying. I guess it is personal preference, I don't think it is a good collection technique, if I have already dug my heels in and won't pay the HOA publishing my name will only tick me off more, but that is just me.

There is no law against this, its perfectly legal. The laws most people cite are laws regarding companies in the business of debt collecting. A HOA is not a debt collection company. It is an HOA. It has nothing to do with shame, money is owed, this is who owes it. Very simple.

At the town hall if you dont pay your property tax they post your name, adress, in a public area for everyone to see. If you still dont pay, they publish it in the town report. If you dont pay a bank, they file foreclosure paperwork, which is very public and searchable to anyone with an internet connection. Anyone can see this information.
Still want more examples?

Does the membership have a right to know how many lots are delinquent and/or what the total amount of delinquencies are? Yes.

Is it permissible to post the names of delinquent members to the membership? Depends on the governing documents and State laws. I believe the typical answer is yes. This is because most States allow members to review the financial documents of the Association (note: some States do limit this and prevent members from looking at other members records, so check first).

Is it permissible to post the names of delinquent members to non-members? - depends on privacy laws. I believe that the typical answer is no.
This is because although the membership has the right to review association records, non-members do not have those same rights. Therefore, you can't list the names in a newsletter and distribute the newsletter to non-members (renters) or post that newsletter on a website or portion of a website that is available to non-members.

Does it do any good? Depends on your point of view. For those who can't pay, it probably won't make any difference. For those who are concerned about public image, it might get them to pay quicker. For those who just had something in their life requiring more attention than paying bills (illness, death, etc.), they probably would have paid anyway without the public humiliation.

Should the Association publish the names of delinquent members to the membership? That's the real question and the answer is one that an individual has to make on their personal belief.

Who decides? If State law and governing documents are silent, The Association's Board of Directors makes the decision based on a majority vote.

We were considering this at one time and were advised against it in AZ because of some state laws. Be careful!

In Texas , the Association's Attorney always say NO.

John

check your state statutues, my guess is you could go to small claims court by representing yourself.

Okay, this was an exciting batch of comments! Allow me to add my measley two cents. As much as a proponent I am of public shame, I start to twitch just thinking of the consequences of that within the HOA paradigm. As SOOOOOOOO tempting as it is to release the conversations in my head to the homeowners at which they are directed, calmness is the order of the day. Heading into my sixth year as President, there has been but one time only when delinquent dues were a result of "hard times." In a neighborhood where houses are in the $300,000 and up range, where residents are doctors, lawyers, business owners, professionals of all sorts, where spouses don't have to work, where maid and yard services dot the 'hood -- you get the picture -- the $200 a year assessments are simply not prohibitive. So, when a homeowner, after receiving three reminder notices, and one final phone call, still does not pay even a half year payment of $137.50, which they are permitted to do, yeah, public shame seems like a great idea. BUT! We would never do it, because it is seriously bad form, and is unnecessary. We very simply follow protocol of late fees, liens and collection process. Luckily, we have never had our budget affected by the absence of assessments. We have received all assessments within the calendar year, with very few late fees.

IF, however, we could not meet our expenses because of delinquent dues we would first find out from our attorney what information we are legally allowed to provide to all homeowners about other homeowners. If we could provide names of the dead-beat homeowners, we would approach them first and let them know of our legal obligation to provide the other homeowners access to association records, especially since, due to the delinquent dues, they will have to be paying more, and try to appeal to their ever and over self-important image, if they know their names will be released. I would imagine a homeowner being forced to pay, in essence, someone elses share, could sue that person for breach of contract, which would also be an important piece of information for the dead-beat to have. The possibility of two legal actions, the HOA and an individual member, might do the trick -- all before a name is released.

But it might not, and in that case, ain't nothing pretty about the consequent unrest in the community. Names or no names. Bottom line is the HOA will need to sue to get the money owed. In the meantime, it will need to raise assessments to meet expenses. And again, the order of the day? Calm.

John,
I know it's chump change. And we always do get our total income in from assessments, so we've never had the inflow/outflow problem. But that piddly amount for this neighborhood is what makes the annual-reminder-fest so bone-cracking stupid. AND drives me to spend the $200 in the nearest pub, or make a dent in my own gin stash. P.S. what does LOL mean? Lots of love? Thank you! (Not a texter. . .)

my 2 cents: an HOA is a business, but these are also our neighbors. A cutthroat attitude towards delinquent accounts is a bad idea, unless you enjoy feeling self-righteous and don't mind bad blood in your neighborhood and at your meetings.

in any case, state laws vary as do CC+Rs and by-laws. Publication of delinquent accounts can easily open up Boards to legal action and liability. IMVHO, Boards should always take the high road even with difficult and non-responsive homeowners.

Hi Susan:

Here is statute info to review if needed:

UT HOA Statutes: http://le.utah.gov/UtahCode/chapter.jsp?code=57

Chapter 8 Condominium Ownership Act
Chapter 8a Community Association Act

This is just regarding the HOA info, for further items within other statutes such as privacy acts, collections, etc. then other statutes can apply. This is where the debate between individuals comes into play.

Can you tell me where I can find the Florida Statues on this ruling, if any?