genreal question, do HOA's have to notify member of a balance?

Started by DanP8 • 7 replies • 3930 views

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DanP8 (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

OK, I can get into specifics if need be, but generally speaking, do HOA's (in Florida specifically) have to send a bill for when regular assessments are due, and beyond that, are they required to notify that a payment of a regular assessment is late before charging any late fees or other related charges?

SteveM9 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 3,699

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DanP8 on 05/06/2014 6:02 AM
OK, I can get into specifics if need be, but generally speaking, do HOA's (in Florida specifically) have to send a bill for when regular assessments are due, and beyond that, are they required to notify that a payment of a regular assessment is late before charging any late fees or other related charges?

When your late, you already owe. Its done. You owe the late fee.

How do you suppose an HOA would pre-notify you if you were going to be late, before its late? LOL.

RwT (Florida)
Posts: 154

Posted:

The statutes are silent on the matter of notification.

That, if specific, would be in your docs. Likely in the Bylaws.

It could be anyway it was setup depending, such as annually, semi-annually, quartery, montly.

There should be a procedure or protocols established for the definition of 'late' such as 1 week, 10 days, 15 days, etc. as well as interest penalties or the 'late fee' established, published, and distributed.

In our case, 'noitification' is established by 12 monthly invoices and return envelopes sent each year after budget ratification.
Automatic bill-pay or EFT plans are also available.

Once a member becomes 90 days late then they receive a letter from the assn's. 'legal team'.

* Non-Lawyer spokesperson.

DanP8 (Florida)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I guess I wasn't clear about this. Our assessments are due annually, they're $120. The HOA doesn't do anything, they maintain a private road (which doesn't require much if anything) and common areas/easements. They basically spend a few hundred bucks a couple times a year to have the drainage/retention area cleared out. Anyhow, that's not important. Due to us moving in mid-year and not owing for the full year, we overpaid one year and ended up underpaying the following year, or maybe even the year after that (2011 or 2012). I should add that at no time does the HOA send out notices for anything other than the annual "board meeting", which I went to a couple of times back in 2010 and 2011, and I don't think since. It was basically 4-5 people from the neighborhood sitting in a guys living room debating really meaningless issues, like whether or not someone should be given a notice because their garbage can remains in view from the street. In 5 years, I don't recall getting any correspondence from the HOA, for anything other than annual meeting. Anyhow, my wife and I are selling because she's going to grad school in another city. I called the HOA president to ask what I owed on dues, and he sand that I owe late fees for a balance carried over from 2012, $10 a month, so up to $300 maybe. He didn't even give me a number, he said he's have to "look it up on the spreadsheet". My question is, can the HOA charge late fees without notifying the member that there is an overdue balance? I mean, it's not like I ever meant to be late or wanted to, or couldn't afford it, etc. Not to shirk any responsibilities, but when they're only due once a year, and it's only $120, I don't exactly set a calendar reminder. I have never lived under an HOA before, but I guess I would have assumed that they would at least send a bill saying "hey, you assessment is due next month", or at the very least, something to say "hey, you didn't may your assessment, you owe $10 more now". For the record, there is nothing in the HOA declaration that a specific late fee, just "interest", up the maximum allowed by state law. How convenient is that? There's nothing in the declaration that states that a member has x number of days after assessments are due, or x number of days after being notified of an overdue balance. It's very vague and open to interpretation I guess. What I'm curious about is, aren't there state laws that regulate how HOA's operate that would keep them from being able to take a small overdue balance, never notify the member, and just tack on late fees indefinitely? What if I owned the house for 20 years? Would I owe $2500 for a $20 underpayment? I hope this makes more sense.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DanP8 on 05/06/2014 6:56 AM
I guess I wasn't clear about this. Our assessments are due annually, they're $120. The HOA doesn't do anything, they maintain a private road (which doesn't require much if anything) and common areas/easements. They basically spend a few hundred bucks a couple times a year to have the drainage/retention area cleared out. Anyhow, that's not important. Due to us moving in mid-year and not owing for the full year, we overpaid one year and ended up underpaying the following year, or maybe even the year after that (2011 or 2012). I should add that at no time does the HOA send out notices for anything other than the annual "board meeting", which I went to a couple of times back in 2010 and 2011, and I don't think since. It was basically 4-5 people from the neighborhood sitting in a guys living room debating really meaningless issues, like whether or not someone should be given a notice because their garbage can remains in view from the street. In 5 years, I don't recall getting any correspondence from the HOA, for anything other than annual meeting. Anyhow, my wife and I are selling because she's going to grad school in another city. I called the HOA president to ask what I owed on dues, and he sand that I owe late fees for a balance carried over from 2012, $10 a month, so up to $300 maybe. He didn't even give me a number, he said he's have to "look it up on the spreadsheet". My question is, can the HOA charge late fees without notifying the member that there is an overdue balance? I mean, it's not like I ever meant to be late or wanted to, or couldn't afford it, etc. Not to shirk any responsibilities, but when they're only due once a year, and it's only $120, I don't exactly set a calendar reminder. I have never lived under an HOA before, but I guess I would have assumed that they would at least send a bill saying "hey, you assessment is due next month", or at the very least, something to say "hey, you didn't may your assessment, you owe $10 more now". For the record, there is nothing in the HOA declaration that a specific late fee, just "interest", up the maximum allowed by state law. How convenient is that? There's nothing in the declaration that states that a member has x number of days after assessments are due, or x number of days after being notified of an overdue balance. It's very vague and open to interpretation I guess. What I'm curious about is, aren't there state laws that regulate how HOA's operate that would keep them from being able to take a small overdue balance, never notify the member, and just tack on late fees indefinitely? What if I owned the house for 20 years? Would I owe $2500 for a $20 underpayment? I hope this makes more sense.

Your posts illustrate one of the problems with self managed HOAs as compared to using professional management. Our Company provides HOA Boards' with suggested guidelines to establish as Policies and Procedures on Delinquent Accounts. For example:

Assessments are delinquent when payment has not been received by the due date. A 10 day grace period is provided for receipt of payment after which the property is assessed a late charge of $10.00 per month when the account balance is over $10.00. Payments shall be applied to the oldest outstanding assessment. When a check is returned the account is charged $35.00; and when this occurs, if the account becomes delinquent it is assessed a late charge.

Delinquent accounts will be provided a billing statement each month.

An account delinquent over 90 days may be provided a lien warning notice. The notice will include a warning that a filing charge of $100 would be assessed against the property for filing a lien.

An account delinquent over 150 days may be provided a warning that the account will be referred to an attorney for collection if not paid within 30 days. The notice will advise the owner that the cost of all legal fees will be assessed against the property.

The Association shall make a good faith effort to resolve disputes with the owner. If resolution is not reached the Association is willing to go to arbitration prior to considering Court action. If court proceedings are necessary to resolve a dispute, the Association will advise the owner that the court can award to the prevailing party reasonable collection costs, attorney fees, and other costs. No account shall be foreclosed prior to 180 days.

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

We never sent out statements or "coupons" for payments. It was just established in our rules that dues were due monthly and considered "late" after the 15th. There was a $20 late charge added. We later adopted a "6 month behind we placed a lien" policy. The lien of course included back dues, late fees, legal costs, and interest.

I am a firm believer that we don't have to spoon feed anyone to know if they are in a HOA to pay their dues or face the consequences. We have a payment box at the mailboxes everyone has to stop at to get their mail. It is clearly posted on it the policy of when it is due and the late charges. Anything beyond that, your at fault.

We had a collections report printed every meeting but it was just for board member's eyes only. The expenditure report was for everybody. If you needed to know how much you owed you could ask a board member who had the list or contact the bookkeeper. We would negotiate if the charges seemed strange or out of place. Which often happened as sometimes we didn't know the property had changed hands for a time period. Other times charges may be for renting the clubhouse or not paying past late fees. We made mistakes and often swept the ones less the dues owed "under the rug" if they were chump change kind of charges.

Your HOA may negotiate with you on some items. Some charges are "on paper" only. That's why if I ever saw an old late charge from years ago keep accumulating on an account of someone who I knew was rarely late, I'd have that dismissed or not counted. It's an accounting method type of accumulation and we often would waive the "late fee" portion off of a lien anyways as long as one agreed to pay the back dues.

So don't hit the anger button just yet. Charges on some old late fees may not be subject to a lien or further action. The board can vote to not charge for those. In my opinion they shouldn't if you have otherwise always been up to date. However, I can see them prorated the last of the time you have left as dues owed. You still owe the dues for the time you still are a member and should be prorated as such.

Former HOA President

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

IMO Melissa's post illustrates another problem with self management. The Board should be aware or make aware of proper procedures. Also, the Board needs to be aware of state statutes, such as Colorado's, which requires having written policies and procedures which are provided to all homeowners.

AnnH6 (Florida)
Posts: 27

Posted:

1) The OP is an excellent example of why every Association should create and adopt a uniform collection policy. If someone is late on their fees, they should be notified via certified letter that they are late, there will be late fees/interest, and the account is at risk to be turned over to collections.

2) Another excellent thing this points out is how homeowner education needs to be provided about reserve accounts. That "private road" is going to cost a lot more when it needs to be repaved at the homeowners expense.

3) As far as the original reason for this thread, my advice is to pay the late fees and consider yourself lucky that your Board isn't savvy enough to properly manage the accounts. You are probably getting off much cheaper than if they had tacked on not only late fees and interest but also an attorney bill had it gone for collection. Best wishes with grad school!

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