Voting Rights NOT Automatically Suspended Due to Non-Payment of Assessments

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief states the following regarding a Member's Right to Vote: "Any member whose right to vote has not been suspended as the result of a formal disciplinary process has the right to vote, even if his or her dues have not been paid."

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (10th Edition) states under Section 45. Voting Procedure, Rights and Obligations in Voting, Voting Rights of a Member in Arrears: "A member of a society who is in arrears in payment of his dues, but who has not been formally dropped from the membership rolls and is not under a disciplinary suspension, retains the full rights of a voting member and is legally entitled to vote except as the bylaws may otherwise provide."

Can anyone clarify for me if these passages are referring only to Board members who are voting in/at a board meeting? Or am I correct that it is referring to all members of the Association (i.e., all homeowners)?

We have a situation where a previous homeowner did not pay dues for nearly two years. A lien was recorded and perfected, but the property was foreclosed and sold at auction on the courthouse steps. When the new owners went to settlement, they were not required to pay the back dues associated with the lien by the settlement attorney. The Board may proceed with litigation to collect on the lien, but that has not been decided yet. All this aside, the new owners have never been late in paying their assessment obligations since buying the foreclosed property.

However, there are some folks who are saying the new owners should not be allowed to vote on member referendums and/or in annual elections due to the outstanding lien.

Our Bylaws state, "The Board shall also have the power to suspend the voting rights for the nonpayment of assessments... which are more than sixty (60) days past due... after notice and an opportunity for a hearing have been provided to the Owner pursuant to state law."

Therefore, this seems clear that if the Board chooses to exercise the power to suspend a member's voting rights, it must first provide the member with notice of intent to suspend and conduct a hearing.

So would I be correct in asserting that -- until such time as a formal process is employed by the Board which results in actual suspension of voting rights -- the new owners are allowed to vote?

The lien is NOT on the new owners. Once that property went into the hands of the new owners that lien is finished on that property. So the HOA can NOT make the new owner responsible for paying the past owner's debts. This is a clean slate. The lien money was most likely lost during the foreclosure process. The banks typically get paid FIRST before any money is given to any other debtors. So if there was no money leftover after the bank got their money, then your lien is a wash. It's just the nature of the game.

These new owners have to be treated like new owners and not owners of old debts. Sorry but you can't force them to pay anything they don't owe. The best that happened is you got rid of some people who weren't paying and weren't going to pay. Basically, stopping the bleeding. The only remedy if any would be with the bank who did the foreclosure. They would have had to recognize the lien when they foreclosed.

ooops, i didn't catch the part about the new owners...

I was more focused on the RRO and by law portion.

So, follow your by-laws, as advised, but Melissa is right, unless the NEW owners are late in assessments, you have no legal reason to put them into the process to remove voting rights.