HOA with Lagoon and members not paying Due!!

Either you have a huge population of deadbeats or your board is doing something wrong.

When I was on the board of my association we fired the management company mostly over the subject of billing. We paid our assessments annually and the management company would bill the current amount due but not show that there was a past-due balance from a previous year. The result was mass confusion among the owners, especially those who received a letter from our attorney demanding payment of a past-due amount that was not shown on their invoice.

Our management company also had a problem with posting payments. When I ran for election to the board, most of the candidates (including me) were told that we were not eligible due to unpaid assessments. It turned out that all of us were paid up but that the management company had posted our payments to the wrong accounts.

Start by sending each delinquent owner a complete statement of their account showing each charge that was made, each payment posted, and the balance due. Demand that small balances be paid immediately and offer to work with owners to pay off the larger balances. When all else fails, file a lawsuit to recover the amounts owed.

We just took the board and revamped it. The neighborhood is a slightly below average income neighborhood. Now we are trying to fix all the things they haven't been taking place, of making sure people are paying. We can't seem to get some of the ones that owe over $1000 to pay, and we have no way outside of liens to get the money and right now everyones homes going to a foreclosure out this way.

It is the only reason outside of mowing that we have the dues. If they don't pay they should have to put in their own septic system I suppose.

We are looking for some ideas to motivate to pay. I do like the letters and sending it to people, I do appreciate that. Any other suggestions?

Stef

We believe that after a few letters for the HOA, homeowners ignore them especially if there are no amenities to be taken away so we went searching for a better way.

We have had discussions with a law/collection firm that has a division that specializes homeoowner associations and unpaid dues. They use a multi step process to collect. To the best of my recollection it will go like this:

1. After 90 days late and in the next quarterly bill, the HOA sends notice reminding the owner they are 90 days late and asks for back and present dues or a payment schedule acceptable to the HOA within 30 days. No threat. Polite notice.

2. HOA writes a letter saying if back dues not paid or a payment schedule reached within 30 days, it will be turned over to a law/collection firm.

3. Law/collection firm sends a letter informing the homeowner that they have received the case and are prepared to file a lien and commence to foreclose unless owed dues are paid or a payment schedule is arranged with the HOA within 30 days. The firm charges the HOA $65.00 for this letter.

4. Law/collection firm sends a letter saying a lien has been filed and foreclosure has commenced. It will now cost the homeowner $495.00 (to the law firm) plus owed dues to the HOA to stop the process. No charge to the HOA.

5. Law/collection firm files some paperwork with the court about foreclosure and notifies the homeowner that foreclosure has begun and it will cost $995.00 (to the law firm) plus back dues to the HOA to stop the process.

The next step would be the HOA pays the law firm $400.00 and foreclosure commences. The process is completely stoppable at this point by the HOA and the HOA would still have a lien.

Hope this helps.

We took a different method.
For those members that were over 4-5 months late (some were 9+) we offered to waive all late charges provide they paid all past and the entire current year within x time frame (we gave them 60 days).

Failure to agree to the issue would result in all charges staying in place and the issue turned over to the attorney for additional collection actions. We reminded them that if this happened they would be responsible for the legal fees in addition to the late fees and assessment. Everyone we offered this to paid.

Stefanie from the way your post is written, I have to ask are you a mandatory HOA, meaning every owner is automatically a member and must pay their assessments. Or are you a voluntary HOA where each member can choose whether or not to join and pay.

You might look into hiring an attorney who specializes in collections, that's what we do. All of his fees are added to what the HOA is owed, which means no out of pocket expenses for us.