Problem Owner: Need Advice

Hello All: This is my first time posting here. I am writing to you cause I am very frustrated with the my fellow Board Members (I am a board member)& Management company for my building. Hopefully you all might have a solution to this problem. We have a unit that has been a problem for the last 3 years. The family that moved in has been nothing but problem (illegal activity, domestic fights at all hours of the day, pulling the fire alarm @ 1:00 in the morning, children not being watched after, etc.). In January of this year, they put their condo on the market. We all were happy to see this happening. Over the months, nothing happened with the unit. In May, then price started to fall. Still nothing happened. In late June, the family started to move out. We all though our problems were over since they moved out. The day after they moved out, a foreclosure notice was posted on the front door. The same day, 3 young men moved into their unit. Let’s just say, they are not the type of guys you would want over for dinner (clearly friends of the owner). I have to say that the guys that have moved in are much better than the family that lived there cause they are at least quiet, but a lot of us have seen illegal activity going on from them (that's why they are quiet cause they don't want us to call the Police on them). I tried to get the board & management working to try to fix this problem, but everyone just wants to put their head in the sand. At the same time, the unit is in a “short sale” since July (it was supposed to be auctioned). Since the owners moved out & the guys moved in, they have been living there for free as the homeowner is no longer paying their HOA fees. The management company said they were going to take the owner to Small Claims court, but now say they can’t find out where she works even though they have been in touch with her in the past.
Now that I have brought you up to date on the situation, here is my question: Does the HOA have the right to tell a homeowner that they can not have anyone living there unless they are up to date on their fees? If we do not, does anyone have anything else that I can bring to the management and board to try to make this problem go away? With the current economy, I don’t see this unit selling anytime soon. I see these guys living there for free for a long time while I have to pay each month my HOA dues.
Thanks in advance.
Karen

perfectly said. i agree with every word. Illegal activities are for LE. THe HOA needs to collect dues from the owner, no matter what. that's the board's job. If the owner is a bank, serve the bank.

Karen,
As a Board member you have the Board Fiduciary responsibility to protect the association. You mention unit in a Bldg. It is important to know if this is a HOA or condo. Laws are different. First and foremost you have to understnad your documents. You indicated the Board seemed a reasonable lot. Good. Try and get educated about your documents from another Board member and then see if you can't use these documents to build support on the Board.
You desription sounds somewhat disjointed. Doesn't your association have a step by step procedure about owners in arrears? They better, even if it is liberalized CA style. Whatever the case, the Board should insure by providing procedures that matters of this type have a standard set of procedures, and all are treated alike. Maybe you should be looking at procedures more than infraction, real and not real. I also find it strange that the Board would be content with a guiet bunch of sandbaggers and prefer them to some other tenant.

Thanks for the reply. These are condo's in a 120 unit building. Our President said that the Management company was working to serve the owner for back payment, but so far no one can give me a straight answer where we are at on this.

Looking around this site, I have found that this situation is not uncommon. Being that we do not have anything in writing that a unit can not be occupied when a owner is not paying their HOA dues, there is really nothing we can do to get the "squatters" out of the building until it is sold or the bank takes over.

I have been very aggressive with the other board members on this matter, but it seems to not go anywhere. The President & myself are really the only 2 people that are really that active on the board. The rest kind of just sit there with a blank stare!! The President is just kind of tired of me asking about it, but all I am really trying to do is look out for the rest of the homeowners.

Karen,
Your last two posts. I would suspect it would be best to make the filingof the lien. If it is denied, which I doubt, I would still think the record of attempting to file may help in the future....worth a shot.

You other post is a oft repeated story. No secret here, get trying, don't expect to win all the battles and over time you make progress. Patience is necessary and persistance is vital. Over time you will build a reputation, that will help considerably. Be fair and keep up your interest. Some say this is a thankless job and it a lot of ways that is right, but it has it's small victories and you can say, It is now better and I hand a hand in that.

Karen,

IMO, it's too late for the assn to foreclose, the bank has beat you to it! And, because of the bank foreclosure it may also be too late to file a lien. The assn may just have to eat those unpaid assessments but hope this is a wake-up call to not let it happen again. Delinquencies must be handled immediately not 1 year later!

As for the tenants; you can't continue to make assumptions on what MIGHT be going on in the unit and it's a wasted effort to become angered over their "rent-free" existence while you must pay your assessments each month. Everything isn't fair in this life -- get used to it. :-) Unless you have proof of illegal activity I'm sure the P.D. will not get involved.

We have had squatters before in our homes. I would call the utility companies and let them know. I would call the bank and let them know. Were there any phone numbers on the Foreclosure notice you could call? I would also alert the Authorities of the squatters. It may be illegal where you live. If their name is not on the deed to the home, and you can get proof that this house is in foreclosure then the PD may be able to make them leave.

Do you have a "renters" clause in your governing documents. We do, the homeowners who rent must provide us with a copy of the lease agreement and then the lease agreement. If you have this clause, or similar, you may be able to evict them - assuming no lease agreement was made.

Look on the internet for your courts public records. See if you can access the Sheriffs Sale (auction) website to see what they have on this property.

Robert,

I believe ALL liens are subordinate to the foreclosure. Even if the HOA had filed a lien b/4 the foreclosure by the bank they still may not be guaranteed to be paid anything. However, at this late date, it may be a lost cause.

BTW: I think this Wikipedia article has some decent info on the process.

I would say to file the lien. It really doesn't cost all that much and might get your money. If the bank goes for a "short sale" then the lien will have to be paid (or negotiated). The only method the bank can extinguish your lien is through foreclosure.

Since the idea of selling short it to avoid the cost (and time) of a foreclosure, I doubt the HOA debt would be a problem. Of course the bank might decide to try and negotiate your take. And I would certainly recommend you consider it since the alternative is the bank foreclosure. Then you only get money if the bank covers its loss.

Karen,
For when you get back from celebrating and enjoying your moment, give this a thought.

As far as I know all foreclosure will be done at the county level of you state. Most local newpapers publish advance foreclosures. I believe nearly all local papers or at least one local paper publishes them, and here lately more than once a week.
In the future, one of the first things any association should do and do it weekly is to go to county courthouse web site and look for property records and check the property of interest. In addition, go to the Court House section and plug in the name of the owner of the property in question. Any court action is most always listed.
I am sure there are computer folks on this site that can tell you better ways to use the county sites, but I do know in my county the above will open your eyes to what is on public record, all for free and all legal.

Karen,
I take it then this information is not on county site, you should be able to find it by plugging in their address. If this don't work, look at your property tax bill. Put the address in the same way yours is listed with their # street. As I said if this don't work, don't go to superior court, that is state go to county web site (county). You should see a space to plug in any name of any property owner or anyone one else that has a case it Civil court. See above, if it don't work, please say so, I am sure California is not all that different than other states. I think all this information is there to make lawyers job easier, but it is there and you can get it. If you are having foreclosure problems in you association I am sure a lawyers office will sell you a list of current foreclosures or there are companies all over the place will sell you this stuff.

We have contact with a neighbor/friend who passes along certain information about the homes that enter into foreclosure in our community through an MLS or is it MSL ?? , I don't know..... However, our Sheriff Sale website and Auditor websites update quicker than the source she has.

If the author of this post wants to give me the county they live in, I would be willing to help research the internet.

To TamaraW: I live in Los Angeles.

To RobertR1: I have been kept inform about this unit by someone that lives in the building (and also a owner) that is a realtor. I am on the board, so that is why I am finding out the information. I did find something on the LA County Superior Court website under Civil Party Name Search. They did charge a fee to search for anyone's name.

This is the first time in over 15 years that we have had this type of problem, so we are all learning from this. We have had a few foreclosures over the years, but I was not part of the board, so I don't know how the others one went down. I do know that our President & Management company have been very frustrated over this cause usually when someone goes into foreclosure, they just walk away from the property. This unit didn't do that. Hopefully the locks will be changed soon.

Should have said Karen and TamaraW.