Any recourse on a Chapter 13?

Our HOA like many have had issues with back dues, losses, bankruptcies, forclosures.. thank goodness it appears as though things are a bit better lately.

One of our homeowners filed a chapter 13. They owed about 4 months in dues and this was part of the debts as viewed by the court.

The homeowner was very upfront and stated that the CHP 13 would allow payments on all past debts including the past HOA dues. vs a chapter 7 where the money would be lost. They instructed our management company an our board of this and were waiting for the courts instructions on how to file etc.

The courts on this case sent out court instructions and our management company did nothing with this document. THey also did not respond, file or initiate interaction with the provided attorney.

Our management company mailed this homeowner a past due statement for the 4 months back due. The homeowner is up to monthly payments wiht the exception of this amount. They stated because our management company drug their heels they have no official claim and according to the courts this debt needs to be written off due to lack of our response! We can't bill them as its viewed as harassement according to the courts.

Is there any recourse??

It sounds like you have a pretty strong case against your management company and a pretty weak or non-existent case against the homeowner. Your management company sat on its butt when it had a duty to you to act. The management company is not a substitute for legal counsel, but they should have informed your association of the legal notices it had received and passed them along to the association for further action. The management company breached its duty to your association if it just sat on the notices from the bankruptcy court.