How to revoke privileges to delinquent owners

Everyone talks about the first step when dealing with delinquent owners is to revoke their privileges, but i can't find how. We are a fairly new HOA, long story but we are just now putting together our collection policy and we have no management company or attorney. We are starting from scratch. We have decided to take legal action with two units that have been delinquent for more than four months now. We are trying to clean up the mess that the previous Board left so our first steps include, drafting our collection policy and sending in out to all owners. For the two units that are pass due we want to send a collection letter (from the HOA) stating the amount due, time frame to pay and we want to take their guest parking permit away, they have roommates/ tenants that use it so i think that would be a great incentive, the problem is that i don't know how to do it. I need help.

Thank you.

Welcome, Carolina. Go to the site Richard suggests, click on Main Index, click on Suspend Privileges. Note that you must follow due process, so click on that too.

You'll see quite a list of privileges that can be suspended. But you need to have things that are worth suspending. In our urban setting high rise, suspending Visitor Parking privileges in our underground garage has been very effective!

Usually this needs to spelled out in our docs. Parking & Pool has been effective for us. Parking (both reserved and visitor) are common area elements. Spaces are assigned, not deeded, and can be revoked. Our collection policy spells out the fact that after 90days, account is turned over to attorney, letter to owner revokes parking and vehicles may be towed. This do not mean that ingress/egress is restricted.

Thank you Mike. Our collection policy states that as well, but we never had to follow threw. Do you or anyone here, have a copy of the letter used to suspend privileges? I would like to take a look at a sample letter to have an idea on how to word it. It will be much appreciated.

Kerry, Our condominium has 10 units so we are pretty small. We have no real amenities other than a 8 space guest parking and we (HOA) supplies parking passes to be able to park there. Our CCNR's were last updated in the 80's, so i know we have a lot of work to do. We have an attorney that will be updating those for us but since we don't have money we can't pay the $1,500 he is asking for. Instead we would like to use our money to hire him to do a judgement and lien on one of the delinquent properties that is in a short sale. It is important that we get the lien in place before the short sale goes trough. On the other hand, for the other property that is delinquent, we are trying to find ways to get them to pay without having to hire outside help (due to cost). We created a collection policy that we didn't have before and now we would like to suspend the guest parking privilege, there has been meetings with the owner and their response is that they can't pay and that they will be selling soon, this has been going on for more than 4 months, and know with a special assessment added, for termite control, their dues total $4,000 +. We need to take action so the parking is a good start, something we should have done along time ago but we can't reverse time. I am researching management companies as we speak but i'm not sure we can afford them at least until we collect pass due fees.

Thank you Glen, That was exactly what i was looking for. An executive session is exactly what we need! Now we just finished our collection policy and i was wondering if anyone could look at it, any comments or suggestion are greatly appreciated. Note that is a very simple versions of some of the ones I've seen. We decided to go this route since every case is different and having a general policy will give us room to play with. Thank you in advance. (i had to attach as plain text, since the file was to big)

HOA Dues and Collection Policy
Your Board of Directors takes very seriously its obligation under the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) and the California Civil Code to enforce the members’ obligation to pay dues and assessments. Prompt payment of dues and assessments by all owners is critical to the financial health of the Association and to the enhancement of the property values of our homes.
• Home Owner Association dues are $225.00 per month.
• Home Owner Association (HOA) fees pay for exterior building maintenance, exterior lighting, exterior water and landscaping, parking and reserve funding. This charge is determined by the Board of Directors as part of the annual budget.
• Payment must be received at the following address:
Bubbling Springs Villas HOA
P.O. Box 523
Port Hueneme, CA 93044
• Checks must be made out to Bubbling Springs Villas HOA, please include unit address. Payment shall be received by the 15th of each month, all payments received after the 15th of each month are considered late.
The Association may invoice, but shall not be required to invoice, an owner as a condition to an owner’s obligation to pay assessments or other charges of the Association. Non-receipt of an invoice shall in no way relieve the owner of the obligation to pay the amount due by the due date.

Late Charges and Legal Fee Amounts

Please review the below listing of late charges and legal fees that will be applied to delinquent accounts:

• If payment is not received by the 15th of each month a late fee of 10% will be added to the amount due. Accounts that fall in debt may be subject to the loss of privileges and additional penalties.
• A charge of $35.00, in addition to late fees if applicable, will be assessed to any account whose payment has been returned or rejected for any reason.
• If legal action is approved by the board all reasonable legal fees will be added to the account. The following are estimates of the legal fees and are assessed by the Attorney during the legal collection process.
Demand letter for past due assessments $250.00.
Cost to file a property lien is $300.00.
Filing a complaint to collect $1,750.00.
Any additional expenses incurred by the Association during the collection process will be added to the account.

The legal costs above are estimates and may in fact be greater than those stated and are subject to change without notice.
This policy is not intended to punish homeowners, but to be fair to all homeowners who pay their dues and assessments on time. If late dues and assessments were allowed to accrue, homeowners who paid on time and in good faith would be forced to subsidize those who do not pay. Please contact the board immediately if the good standing of your account is in jeopardy.

This Collection Policy was approved by the Bubbling Springs Villas Association Board of Directors on June 26, 2014.