Letters from Management Company

KathyS, I would suggest that you gather up the owners who have not received the notifications/newsletters, and draft a letter to the board with all signatures. Present the letter at the next board meeting, and ask that the board address with the MC. Surely the MC has been invoicing for either their in-house services (drafting letters, stuffing envelopes, postage, etc) or using an outside source (printer) for the newsletters/notifications.

As a general matter, for any correspondence to owners alerting of escalations (fines, corrective actions) it would be expected that since notice is often dictated in either governing documents, or by state/local code; that certified mail (signature) would be used.

No, they can't prove they sent it. The letters aren't sent certified unless the Board plans to file a lien against a homeowners property. Even then, those letters don't come from the management company but from a foreclosure company.

I want to bring it up at the next Board meeting, stating the management company/Board did not follow the procedure required by California law. What the Board President will say, as he always does, is the management company will investigate it. This will give the management company the opportunity to come up with the "backdated" letter. I know their software allows them to backdate letters, bills, etc. because of some prior problems we and others have had with our assessment accounts.

As of right now, the management company changed our assessment bill. We paid our August assessments in July and as of July 30th, by their records, we were paid up until September. The September bill came and now we owe our August assessments again because they applied our assessment money to the fine and then charged us a late charge because we didn't pay our assessments.

Kathy, I suggest you mail a letter to the MC explaining you have paid. Send a copy of your proof of payment (cancelled check or whatever) and a copy of their July record showing you paid. Ask them to correct their records and advise you of any amount owed with an explaination of each charge.

Do not assume they falsify their records without proof. Perhaps their bookkeeper made a mistake, or perhaps you did. Who knows? You received the September bill so perhaps something happened in the mail during August. We often receive complaints from homeowners not receiving mail we know we mailed -usually for delinquent statements

You know the payment is due so pay it regardless of when you receive a statement. The following is part of our HOA's Rules and Regs:

Statements may be provided by mail, e-mail, or coupons as a reminder to homeowners of the amount and due date of a quarterly assessment. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the homeowner to remember to pay by the due date even if a statement is not received.

RogerB - You wrote "You know the payment is due so pay it regardless of when you receive a statement."

You are correct regarding monthly maintenance fees. However if an owner does not receive a fine notice your response doesn't apply. In this case there are multiple owners with the same complaint and the receivables being applied to pay off the aged fines rather than the monthly maintenance fee. That is shady practice.

KathyS: This should not be a case of defending yourself with 'she said, he said'. Your Board needs to step in and confirm or deny what the MC is being accused of. The Board needs to take an active role in this situation.

Ask to see a copy of the 'supposed' letter/s, newsletters which were mailed. If the MC is being suspected of various wrong doing, why are they still under contract and why is the Board being quiet about their actions?

All,

Thank you for your responses. I know when my assessment payments are due and I always pay them early so I don't worry about it.

Due to the management complaints about taking homeowners payments at their office, we once again decided to mail them to the bank as requested. We aren't able to get receipts from the bank but have to rely on the management company to provide them. This is the third month we have sent our payments by mail and almost immediately, we are having problems.

But, this has nothing to do with the management company not sending a notice of the fine and then applying our assessment money to the fine. THAT is on the management company.

Yes, Joe, it is shady on the part of the management company. I sincerely believe, much of the flack CAI takes is on the hands of the management companies. We have a bad management company. To our misfortune, there aren't very many management companies in this area and the other one we had was worse than this one. CAI is trying to improve their image. Perhaps one way to start is to reign in this kind of behavior by the management companies as many of the management companies claim to be CAI affliated with CAI attorneys and ECHO preferred vendors. Just because a management company has a license and their managers have CACM after their name, doesn't mean a thing if they act in a way that hurts ALL of you.

Roger and the other managers on this forum, this is meant as no offense to any of you. Our association has had six managers in six years. They have all used the excuse they didn't know what the last one said or did or can't find something, etc. It leaves the Board and the homeowners in a bad situation.

Again, thank you for all your answers.

Kathy

To have problems with a few checks going to a lock box the first few months is not uncommon. The bar code or coupon have to be properly setup for it to work. Some do stray. The bank very rarely has a name on an account. They have at lot number or a bar code feature which they rely on.

Kathy, no matter if you have a good management co or not, it is ultimately the BOD who answer to the HO, not the management co. The BOD oversees everything that encompasses the HOA including the MC. I am not justifing what your MC has or has not done, but your board is not doing their job either..

The MC can NOT apply your dues to the fines. Fines are NOT allowed to be the basis of liens or foreclosures in most states. So applying your dues money sets you up to be behind in dues which IS eligible for liens or foreclosure. This is illegal. I would definetely bring this up.

How big is your HOA? I am curious because ours is 107 patio homes and we ran ourselves with NO MC at all. We just had a bookkeeper who collected the payments and did what the BOD told them to do. (Sending out notices etc...) It may be possible that the HOA could run itself without a MC until another one can be hired or someone wants to volunteer to do the job. Just an option to think about.

I would demand that the MC does NOT apply any more of your dues money to any fines. I would mark "DUES for XX month" on the memo line of my checks from now on. That way you have proof in court that your money was strictly FOR DUES ONLY and NOT a fine payment.

Although suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors on one level. I do believe you have a case here if you want to pursue it. I wouldn't do it alone if possible. Find other homeowner's in a similar situation and class action the suit. You'll save money that way and have a better chance of winning. What's going on is NOT right.

What do you do when the Board is in cahoots with the MC? It’s not uncommon
AND I’ve seen backdated letters!! There are more than a few poor management companies out there and many boards believe the management company is correct and complying with the law. After all, I’ve been told, that’s their job. Their job is to make money.

Applying assessment payments is illegal. I wonder is where is the MC’s lawyer telling they are going to get sued?
Jane