Delinquencies and Harassment

Started by MaggieM1 • 6 replies • 1605 views

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MaggieM1 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 9

Posted:

One of the HOAs that we manage has a Board member who believes that we cannot call delinquent homeowners and that everything must be in writing. We often have better results with a phone call when the homeowner is not too far behind. Is an occasional call considered harassment?

Maggie
SBC

Maggie McLaughlin
Official HOATalk.com Sponsor
SBC Property Management Group
(Pennsylvania Community Management)
Phone: 215-443-5252
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BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Maggie:

An occassional call to remind someone that they are behind in dues is not harassment, it gives it more of a personal touch especially if the tone of the call is light and just a reminder.

However, that phone call does not take the place of providing notice in case of moving forward with collections. In that case everything should be in writing.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Maggie,
This is one of those issues that has 2 sides to it. Most association lawyers and property managers will tell you NEVER EVER talk to an owner who is in violation of anything. It has to be done with the written proceedure from your documents. If the Board member thinks that is the nice thing to do, he is right. But if the owner gets their shorts all in a bundle, things can and will get out of hand and then there is no proof of what was said between the 2. This starts the hard feelings which as we all know, can escalate into a bad situation.

One thing that can be done is to make sure that any letter to the owner is written in a cordial, non controversial manner. Being aggressive in the initial letter is unnescessary and again, it will create a defensive posture from the reciver of the letter. In a perfect world, we could just approach someone to remind them that they might have forgotten dues or something but this is not a perfect world.

hoatalk (California)
Posts: 599

Posted:

People may also take a phone call personally whereas a written reminder is very non-personal and non-threatening if written properly. On the phone people may feel defensive.

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RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Hello everyone,
The folks that owe money know they owe money, if they don't and maybe have forgotten, they should thank you for calling. If they take offense do you think this has anything to do about paying their bills? One phone call can serve to start the chain of events necessary to get paid.

My wife has a lot of Doctor and some hospiotal bills for outpatirnt tests and stuff. Our insurances normally pick up everything but the billing department is always coming up with bills for 10 to 15 $ they say I owe. I can't get through to billing office so I left a message and asked what the bill was for. They never respond so I go down and give them the money and tell them this is the last time. Recently, she had some tests that cost several thousand dollars and sure enough I get this $10..00 charge so I don't pay it and they send me notice it is being sent to collection agency. I go pay the bill and late in the evening I get a call from a collection agency wanting to know about when I will pay the bill. I told them I had paid the bill and they wanted to ask me a whole bunch of question about where, how, etc, etc, etc I paid the bill.
It appears they send out written notices then turn it over to a collection agency that don't give a damn if you are mad at them for calling, so I can't see where a rightful bill should not be cited in a phone call.

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

The thing to remember is it takes two people to get into a confrontation on the phone. Sure some people will be upset about it and may go off, but the person calling on behalf of the HOA should just let them vent and not fire back, that is how those things get started. I don't think a phone call is appropriate when someone is 6 months behind, but if they are a 30 - 60 days behind I see it is a nice step instead of an informal letter.

GloriaM (North Carolina)
Posts: 829

Posted:

Maggie:

Your 1st notice of delinquency can be a phone call, however you need to have documentation of notices and a phone call cannot be documented. In accordance to collection laws in your state better check with the law and find out how you are to proceed.

Here in NC the collection law says a 15-day notice before sending to collections however the NC Planned Communnity Act states 30-days, so therefore we follow the 30 day rule.

IMHO, I would only send notices that a paper trail can be followed.

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