Can a HoA bill a member for attorney fees without a judgment?

Started by SnakeP • 7 replies • 2053 views

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SnakeP (Washington)
Posts: 41

Posted:

This is a Washington State HoA.

We have our HoA billing its members for legal fees without receiving a court judgment.

The Board members and the office manager has a practice of asking the HoA attorney questions (sometimes not even legal questions) and then bills a member for it.

I am wondering if this is even legal to do without getting a court judgment authorizing the HoA compensation for attorney fees?

JeffP6 (Florida)
Posts: 91

Posted:

depends on your state and your documents. We are ammending ours right now so taht when we have to send a demand letter from an attorney we have the right to bill the homeowner for it without getting a judgement

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Snake,

A judgment is not required to bill a member for attorney fees; however, those attorney fees should be for sending a demand letter or taking some other legal action against the member. The assn should not bill a member for attorney fees that are charged to ask a legal question even if it pertains to a particular member.

SnakeP (Washington)
Posts: 41

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MaryA1 on 09/20/2010 2:40 PM
Snake,

A judgment is not required to bill a member for attorney fees; however, those attorney fees should be for sending a demand letter or taking some other legal action against the member. The assn should not bill a member for attorney fees that are charged to ask a legal question even if it pertains to a particular member.

That was what I was thinking.

The recent example was not even a legal question. The question was to ask the attorney who the mortgage holder was for a particular member. This really bothers me as anyone can easily look up such information themselves online at the County records website. Going to an attorney to ask such a question just boggles my mind. What a waste of money.

RZ (Arizona)
Posts: 51

Posted:

HOA's use this tactic to discourage residents from demanding answers to frivolous time consuming questions.

What they (the board) sometimes forget is serving on a board is a voluntary position- it includes answering frivolous time consuming from residents. That is part of the job.

This opens up a can of worms. If the board bills the resident for consulting an attorney, then who is the client? Who does the attorney represent in their answer, the interest of the board or the interest of the resident? Who owns the response, the board or the individual resident? If the attorney’s response benefits the whole community, why should the resident who asked the question have to pay? What if an individual board member asks a question to he attorney, should that board member be personally responsible?

This is a bad practice, in my opinion. At the very least, the resident should be given notice that the board will need to consult an attorney to answer the question, and does the resident want the answer bad enough to pay for it?

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Snake,

Some associations have an attorney on retainer and recieve monthly bills for just having the guy "on call". If they have a great attorney, it is worth the cost to have them, thus the Board can ask advice more freely and keep their decisions within the best advice of that attorney. You don't need a judgement to warrant billing the association. My HOA has a yearly legal line item. With foreclosures and fining, this comes in handy often.

SnakeP (Washington)
Posts: 41

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DonnaS on 09/21/2010 11:21 AM

Snake,

Some associations have an attorney on retainer and recieve monthly bills for just having the guy "on call". If they have a great attorney, it is worth the cost to have them, thus the Board can ask advice more freely and keep their decisions within the best advice of that attorney. You don't need a judgement to warrant billing the association. My HOA has a yearly legal line item. With foreclosures and fining, this comes in handy often.

The question is can the HoA warrant billing residents attorney fees without a judgment. Not billing the association.

Our attorney is not on retainer. We are billed hourly.

In one case, the office manager went to the attorney to ask him who the mortgage holder was for one resident. That information is freely available online at the County record's website. No need to go to an attorney for info like that. To make matters worse they billed the resident for something that is not even a legal question!

In another case we had one unelected Board member remaining on the Board and refused to step down. When one member contested this, the Board went straight to the attorney and then billed the member for it!

How can anyone condone such practices?

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Snake,

Whether the assn attorney is on retainer or not, a member should not be billed for attorney fees resulting from the board seeking legal advice from the attorney. This is a cost of doing business. The only way to stop this may be to have the board recalled or make certain they are not re-elected. They apparently do not know what they're doing. It would be very costly for a member to take this to court; I'm sure they would end up paying quite a bit more than the legal fees they were billed. And, even if the h/o wins the case there is no guarantee he will be awarded cost costs and legal fees.

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