Can you send a homeowner to collections for not paying fines?

Started by TraciR • 6 replies • 1851 views

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TraciR (California)
Posts: 1

Posted:

I'm the VP of our HOA here in the County of Riverside, California. My question is can we send homeowners to collections for not paying fines? These fines range from 100 to 300 per violation and can add up. There are a few homeowners that refuse to do what is asked from doing simple things of weeding, RV parking etc. Their fines are into the thousands of dollars. They have been asked to appear at our board meetings in private session to discuss the violations, they are no shows. They have refused to have any contact with our property management company as well. Please advise.

Thank you

JosephW (Michigan)
Posts: 882

Posted:

There's no point in having fines or assessing them if you're not prepared to collect them. That means letting the owners know you will be hiring an attorney, who's cost will be added to the fines. The attorney will need to advise you on the legality and appropriateness of the specific fines and the chances of collecting.

Joe

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RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Traci, this depends on your Declaration and California statutes. If you can not determine this yourself and your MC should. Otherwise a good HOA attorney should be employed. In Colorado DARCO would follow the Rules and Regulations on Delinquent Assessments (which includes fines and all other charges). This would include proper notifications; placing a lien on their property; then if they don't pay an attorney would be employed to go to court for personal garnishment on all owners and finally if necessary foreclosure and sale of their property.

MichaelA1 (North Carolina)
Posts: 11

Posted:

The last person who refused to pay their fines, dues and assessments, just had his condo sold on the court house steps. We invited him to the private session to discuss the matter. We even made an agreement with him on what we would accept and on what payment terms. He decided not to honor that either. End result: The HOA received their money, he lost his condo.

Best regards,
Michael

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Michael, whenever I read about an HOA foreclosure I see this as a failure on the part of the HOA Board and their MC. It is easy to blame the owner and yes I know there are difficult owners. However, I would ask what did I do wrong and how can I learn for this case. I recommend your Board do some soul searching and establish procedures to do a better job in the future.

I find that if I am considerate; try to put myself in the shoes of the delinquent owner; and always take actions and make decisions using the Golden Rule then such actions are rarely necessary. In fact we have never been to litigation, much less foreclosure, by using these procedures.

JohnM3 (Florida)
Posts: 288

Posted:

Sorry Roger I totally disagree with your logic entirely. In my 15+ plus years of being on the board I would say we have foreclosed on at least 20 houses out of our 305 homes. Some have been sent to the collection atty over 3 times. They just prefer to make there HOA dues #10 on there to pay list.
Well my friend I have a responsibility to he other 304 members to keep the street lights on, to keep the streets clear of pot holes, and a multitude of other financial responsibilities.
I have the fiduciary responsibility and I choose to live by the rule of I am not my brothers keeper if he/she chooses to be living with their head in the sand.
I wish to tell you a story about ladership of a community. Remember you are elected to run the business of a HOA. Yes you must treat it like a business otherwise you have anarchy.
Story goes I was once the pres of a Vol Fire Dept and Ambulance Corp on a small island of 1500 families.
We operated on a budget of 20,000 dollars a year. Anyway we built a new fire house with a second floor for the overnight crew to sleep in. We opened up a few kegs of SCHAFFER and we did all the work ourselves. the next day we came back to put the roof on but everybody was too sober to go up there. After 3 years of fighting over what to put on the plywood floor. I the president took matters into my hands.I went to a local hardware store and bought 200 different tiles carpets and hardwood floor tiles. The day ofthe monthly meeting I covered the entire floor with the tiles. I called the meeting to order and offered up a motion to allow a comm of 1 me to choose the floor covering or what they thought I glued down would stay as is.
Theu overwhelmingly chose to make me a comm of 1 to choose and get it installed.

The point being take charge or get out of the way. You are the leader be one.......................................

Media and people want rules to be optional so they dont have to obey them. Who do they think they are anyway?

Good Luck

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

John:

While I agree somewhat with what you said I think foreclosing on 20 homes in 15 years is an alarmingly high number. I don't know all the particulars of your cases, maybe your owners are just that apathetic towards the association. I think foreclosure should be a last ditch thing after all means are exhausted to work with and get the homeowner to pay. I understand you have an obligation to the association, but I also try to look at it if I was in that situation, I would want the HOA to work with me. We are all one accident away from being in money trouble. Maybe I will get myself into trouble some day by doing that, but I believe some flexibility is necessary depending on circumstances. Just my two cents.

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