Is it legal in Michigan to charge a late fee month after month based solely on an unpaid HOA balance?

Paul, Did you receive any delinquency notices? If so, why didn't you pay (or prove payment) long ago? We provide these each month and do charge a late fee in accorance with the HOA's Rules and Regulations on delinquent accounts. Those rules for one HOA we manage state there is a $25/month late charge every month the account balance is greater than $50. I your HOA may have a similar policy the answer to your question may be yes? However, they should not ignore your phone calls and letters unless they have already provided answers to you questions.

Paul,

When the first past due notice was received and you stated you had made the payment, late fees should have been put on hold until info was received from the bank. It's possible this payment was lost in the mail. Did you ever receive the cancelled check? Did the check ever appear on your bank statement? Did you put a stop payment on the check? Surely you should know by now whether the check was lost. This has been going on for over a year; sorry but something smells fishy to me!

With regard to your question on assessing monthly late fees that should be explained in your CCRs. In many instances only one late fee can be assessed.

MaryA1,
Thank you for your response.
As the semi-new boyfriend, I just looked all this over this morning for the very first time and discovered that the late fees were not from separate monthly payments being late (which most people would have assumed) but rather from one missing payment from long ago. Thus, the data collection process is just beginning now that we know what is going on. Her bank is getting her the cancelled checks from that time period plus she is checking her bank statements (although she's certain that no check went uncashed during that time). I understand your "fishy" comment but I think that after frustration set in when they wouldn't respond to her, procrastination occurred. Human nature, unfortunately. Ability to pay was never an issue.
I'm not familiar with "CCR". Is that HOA-specific or law-related?
Having been on a HOA board several years ago, I was always amazed at the "brilliant ideas" that people latched on to even when told that they were blatantly illegal. So, while perhaps there is no law in this state against having a late fee on an unpaid balance, past experience tells me that her HOA board could have just made something up that is not neccesarily lawful and thus I need to find out whether or not they have done something wrong.

You asked: Is it legal in Michigan to charge a late fee month after month based solely on one alleged missed payment that caused an unpaid HOA balance?

We don't know if it's legal, but if it's in your documents, then it is their policy.

$25 each month seems like a lot; usually it's a percentage of the arrearage.

Paul,

I'm just always amazed that some people don't bother to balance thair checking account each month. You know banks do make mistakes! If I received a past due notice for an account I know I paid the first thing I would do is check my account to see if the check cleared. If it didn't then I might put a stop payment on it or just keep watching to see if it clears. And I would be on the phone with the PM or the assn Treas to let them know what is going on. I just can't imagine that a year would go by before a person would think to contact the bank to find out if the check cleared. If the check clears and past due notices keep coming then the bank should be contacted to find out who cashed the check. The reason I said it smelled fishy is that I just cannot imagine letting something like this go on for over a year. It just seems like there should be more to the story,

Paul, I could not have said it better. I feel the same way sometimes when I ask a question. It you don't know the answer from what someone wrote then don't reply. If your deed restrictions and bylaws state they can charge interest or a late fee then it will be in those documents. It will spell out what the late fee is but even if they don't say a late fee they might be doing whatever they want and trying to fight them is murder on the nerves. Pay the bill now and when you get the proof that it was paid then there is no issue and then you will be a head of your payment. Good luck and hope this helps you.

Paul,

If you will take the time to reread the responses you will note that I answered your question in my first response on 9/23 @ 9:13 AM. You responded at 11:27 AM and gave further info about the payment in question. It's not uncommon for a thread to get off topic and the original question to be lost in the process. This doesn't mean no one wants to answer your question; only that it has been forgotten.

I'm sorry you feel the people who post here are just ". . . a bunch of biased and jaded HOA board members who take an anti-general member stance whenever possible". I can tell you that is a very unfair assessment of us. I, for one, like to look at both sides of the picture and take it from there. When an OP posts a question, from the info given in the message, sometimes there are other issues that should be dealt with besides the one he is asking for info about. That is what happened with your message. You were concerned with whether or not the board had the authority to levy late fees in the manner in which they did so. In explaining the situation you touched on another issue that, IMO, needed to be addressed. Why did the member take so long to start checking on the payment that the board claimed was never received which started the whole late fee problem? Have you thought to consider that one problem often leads to another! If the member had taken the time to research this supposedly "lost" check right away -- instead of waiting a whole year and $600 in late fees later, she may not be in the predicament that she's in now? Having said that, I'm not discounting any blame for the BOD. I believe they could have acted differently too.

You can make all the excuses in world about your girlfriend, but, IMO, anyone who can't take a few minutes to check on a payment that the payee says has not been received doesn't deserve excuses. Taking care of ones finances should be uppermost in a person's mind. It boggles me to know how many people don't balance their checkbook, don't write all the debit card transactions in their checkbook and check their account balance online to find out how much money they have available in their checking account. These are the same people who can't understand why their check bounced!

Bottom line: the BOD may have overstepped their authority in issuing all those late fees, but the member needs to accept some of the blame for waiting over one year to start checking on what happened to the initial payment that started the whole mess.

Well, Paul if you want to know what MI law says about a particular issue why don't you just look it up yourself? I'm sure you can find it the same way you probably found this forum -- google it. You come on this forum expecting us to know what MI says when the majority of us do not even live in that state. Then get get your pants in a tangle because we touch on another aspect of the problem that you feel doesn't apply. Well, I've got news for you. How your friend handled the situation compounded the problem. She wouldn't be faced with $600 in fines, whether legally applied or not, if she had looked into the problem sooner than one year later. And for the record, I did answer you question in my first response: it should be stated in your CCRs.

It always amazes me that so many people come on here and ask what their state law says about something. Some of us take the time to look up the statutes of that state to try to find the answer to their question. Do you know how I found out what the laws are in AZ? I looked them up myself! So don't come here and get all bent out of shape if you don't get an answer to your question. If you don't like how we respond to you just take the time to do your own homework next time.

Experts? LOL. You expect expert advice from a free forum? You need to "pay" for expert advice. Advice you get off the internet in a forum is just that... advice. It may be good advice or bad, but at the and of the day its just people talking. If people here were "experts" they would be charging for thier advice and not posting here for free.

My advice for your situation? No one knows. Seek expert advice.

Paul:

You can go here and click on links for Michigan statutes: http://www.associationtimes.com/stateInformation.htm

Goodbye Paul. I think the last thing this forum needs is a "former board member" who dosen't even know what CC&Rs means. Really? What kind of board were you on?

Sounds like Paul and his new friend are a match made in heaven.

She waits 20 months to get a copy of a check she claims was cashed or paid and he insults people because they offer their opinions when he comes to a public forum and posts a question. Sure makes sense to me.

Now Paul, trying to come to her rescue, wants to know if what the HOA has done is legal. Call a lawyer. Simple answer. Guess the girlfriend still is unable to resolve this on her own.

But the role his new squeeze has played in all of this is lost on him. Or lets not just bring that up because Paul doesn't want to hear that his friend had some major role in all of this and how dare you point that out you bad people you.

Love is certainly blind.......................