Management company failed to send out a coupon books

A HOA does not have to send you a coupon or bill to be required to pay. That is just a courtesy not a requirement. Youare bound to pay per the terms of your CC&Rs or bylaws. You are on the hook to pay sorry. They can lien for non payment.

The HOA has to pay for printing those coupon books, so I can see that it would want to eliminate the expense.

We provide owners with several options for electronic payment in my community. As a homeowner I think this is much more convenient and reliable than messing around with coupon books and snail mail. You only need to fiddle with it if the assessment amount changes or if the HOA changes banks.

Maxx,

What the others said.

If coupons are required, if a reminder is required - by your governing documents, then the fees should be removed.

If not, then you have, through your righteousness, managed to screw up and build a much larger payment.

OK - now deep breath - you need to approach the Board and ask for some consideration - that you were following past process and simply forgot - and, that you would be glad to pay the original fee. My sense is that you have become irate, obnoxious and have made overarching statements - as you have in your original post. And, likely everyone now thinks you a jerk - i.e. positions are being fortified.

I would have given you a chance is you were nice and apologetic - as a function of what the common processes were. But, if you had approached me the way you wrote your initial note for this forum, I might have given you one shot to be cooperative, then told the MC to simply keep the fees coming, then lien your property.

Dude - go mend your fences.

The sending of coupon books is not a board decision, it is a decision the management company makes, in my experience, because they are lazy and despective. Why, because per the terms of their contract with the HOA, they are the ones collecting the late fees, not the association. Now, some will have a provision where the HOA collects the late fee but the MC will tack on a additional collection fee, which to me is unethical. So, the HOA assessment is $250.00 monthly, a 10% late fee and then a $15.00 collection fee. The MC doesn't send a collection letter, thus shouldn't be charging a collection fee.

All the associations I have ever managed had monthly assessments. I would never dream of sending a coupon book. I have always sent out monthly statements for two reasons, one so the homeowner see a proper accounting of their account and second, if any correspondence needs to be mailed to homeowners I can include it with the statement at no charge.

Homeowners pay their assessments in a variety of ways, ACH, bill pay, credit card or personal check. If done with ACH, the payment reflects on their checking account the day every month that funds are withdrawn by the HOA. A credit card the day the order is process. A personal check the day it is presented. Online banking or billpay, different beast. The funds are withdrawn the day you have the bank pay the bill. The bank cut another check and mails to the payee. What if the check never reaches the payee or HOA? The homeowner has already had the funds taken of their account.

HOA's are required to review their finances and bank statements which are/should be provided by the MC, if any. Why shouldn't the homeowner be provided the same courtesy. My role as the MC of the Association is to collect owed assessments. I don't get rich on late fees. Actually, in my case, I don't collect until the homeowner actually pays them. I have an understanding with every Board that I have the authority to waive late fees, since it is coming out of my pocket, not the HOA.

So, in the case of the OP, I would waive all late fees once the late assessments are paid and strongly suggest they go on ACH.

In my community, late fees go to the association, not the PM, and is recorded on our books as "Income - Late Fees".

Mark

In the associations we manage, the decision to use coupon books is made by the Board, not the MC. The Association pays for the books if they are ordered.

In one association, some owners requested coupon books. The Board ignored the requests and did not authorize us to order them, so we did not.

Finally, late payment charges and past due interest are credited to the association and are identified as such on the financial reports. We do charge the association for preparation of hard copy late payment letters when that point is reached in the collections process. However, that preparation charge, which includes the expenses for supplies and postage, is no different than the charge for any other hard copy letter.

Not saying the Board wouldn't make the decision. When we make our presentations, we got over all of this upfront, how we do the billings and it is in our contract, spelled out to the tee. No board has ever made the decision to use coupon books.

I have to assume you don't collect late fees. When I started my company, I looked at lots and lots of management contracts and agreements for comparison purposes. All but one either collected late fees or a separate collection fee. The one company that didn't was one I last worked for. It wasn't in their contract and they supposedly were proud they didn't. One day he decided he needed extra revenue and started charging his clients late fees without notice and without revising his contracts. I left two days later.

This is a good situation for “accord and satisfaction”.

Notify the HOA that you dispute the amount; pay only the original amount due; and mark the check with your account number and “Paid in Full”. Then after 90 days the debt is extinguished. The HOA will likely keep trying to make you pay penalties but you will have a good defense.

I would pay the original amount due, at least.