List

Yes, it legal, but people hate these lists.

Hi BB5:

Let’s see … many HOA statutes allow a board to go into executive session in order to protect personal privacy matters protected by other State and Federal laws. Therefore, why put out information that potentially can fall into this category and in some states an HOA can maybe end up in litigation. Just not good ethical business practice … and some states do monitor consumer protection on one website I looked at stated: “Right to review of Maryland Condominium Act violations by the Division of Consumer Protection”. Unless your association has thoroughly reviewed both your state’s consumer protection and privacy protection laws I would not recommend this practice.

I agree with Tim the assessment information should be in your Declaration of CCR’s. Some associations will have everything in one document; however, if you have both bylaws and declaration then beware as the HOA attorney may not be the sharpest crayon in the box.

You can go to your town hall and get a list of tax payers and who owes what, who is late, etc. You can buy these lists from banks to see who is late on mortgage payments. These lists are not illegal.

Some people think because they dont think something should exist, or they feel strongly against it, it must be illegal. Its not.

I believe your are missing details of this special assesment in your post. How was it voted in? A special assessment can't just be a board vote. It requires a majority vote of the actual homeowner's to pass. That majority of vote can be 51% to 75% depending on what your documentation says is the requirement. (Ours is 75%). If the special assessment was passed by the board alone then the lawyer is correct the homeowner's can't be forced to pay the special assessment. If it was by majority vote of membership, then they can be liened against for the assessment plus legal expenses.

The revealing of the names of those who owed isn't a HOA rule violation or illegal. It's just poor meeting ettiquette. Our HOA ONLY the board members had access to the Collections reports. The general membership and board had the expense report available for ALL members. We would discuss both at our meetings. However, when it came to the collections report we did NOT discuss names of the owners. We used their LOT numbers instead. The situation would be discussed openly but we wouldn't reveal personal identification of the person.

I would suggest this kind of system for your HOA. That collections can be discussed but not using an individual's name. It can cause some kind of vigilantism in some cases. I've seen many owner's angered over someone not paying their dues to a point where they may do something about it. So it's best to be open about the issue but not overly revealing.

Hi Melissa,

I am responding to your mention that "a special assessment can't just be a board vote. It requires a majority vote of the actual homeowner's to pass. etc. etc."

The above is not correct for ALL associations and an assumption that the above is fact, needs to be clarified for readers of these posts that "take and run" with the info they read on our forum.

My association and the last association I lived in, specifically state that the BOD has powers to levy a special assessment up to a certain amount in a given fiscal year. In my current association, that amount is $50,000. Any amount that exceeds $50,000, the BOD must obtain approval by of 66.67% of the owners at a meeting at which a quorum is obtained. Theoretically, because our quorum is only 25%, 66.67% of 25% would not be difficult to obtain here.

My point... The OP needs to carefully read their association documents as the special assessment criteria can vary from association to association and we should not assume that our situation is indeed definitive for all.

Thanks for reading....

Ann