Commercial vs. Residential POA Dues

What do your CC&R's call for? All lots to be assessed equally, in which case it would be $200 or proportionally in which case you could charge a higher amount. You may need to amend the Declarations to charge a higher amount.

It sounds like the developer set up this commercial property to act as their office. Which is why it was never part of the assessments. The HOA was developer owned and thus the commercial property would represent them/corporation. This would then exclude them from paying the HOA assessments on that property as it would be paying themselves.

In other words, consider this property like the "clubhouse" of your HOA. No HOA charges assessments on property they already own like clubhouses or other type structures. Even though it is commercial and now owned by the bank. Which I suspect is why your asking this question. You want to charge the bank or any future owner (That is NOT the HOA) assessments/dues.

What may need to happen is that property should now be part of the "Common property" instead of isolated as commercial. Part of which can be changed in your Convenants (CC&R's) in referencing all the property as "common". The HOA will also need to check with the Tax assessor's office or their plat to see if the property is theirs. The building may be the bank's or future owner but NOT the property it sits on.

Once the ownership is sorted out. IT should shed light on the direction to go in. Either way, changes will need to be made to your documentation to reflect any changes.

The bank owns the property because they foreclosed it off the developer? How are they in possession? I ask because if the HOA is now owner controlled and NOT developer, then the owner's may be able to negotiate with the bank to purchase the 6000 ft of office space. Then the HOA can use it as a clubhouse or lease it out to other tenants.

It needs to be known if you are members or development controlled to help with the answer clarification. The HOA clearly owns the property the office space sits on. It pays the property taxes and is governed by the rules of the HOA. The space itself is almost an "island".

I'd suggest talking to a lawyer on this. I would almost almost say this is similar to what happens to a HOA when it has a regular bank foreclosed property. The HOA can't touch the property except if the CC&R's dictates providing lawn care etc... The HOA can't put a lien on it since it has already been foreclosed on by the bank. The best bet is for the bank to off load it, and make sure the new owner is recognized as a owner and thus member of the HOA. Once that is established, the HOA can then treat it like all the other property and charge assessments. They can't charge the new owner any back dues. It starts from scratch. The bank most likely wouldn't pay back the back dues at this point because of the confusion.

Either way, your HOA is going to need a lawyer familiar with contractual/business law. They can help guide you in changing your documentation of no longer being developer controlled and eliminating the commercial property exemption. A good time to review other changes as well.

CC&R's (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions) These are all of the documents, Declarations, By-Laws, Articles of Incorporation and Rules that govern an HOA. These also include any properly filed amendments to the documents. You will also need to follow any State law governing HOA's or if there is none the State law governing non-profit corporations.