Board sent list of delinquent owners to entire HOA email list

In the HOA in NC where I own a rental property, a board member emailed the entire HOA community (using an email list that goes to all owners), attaching a schedule of overdue accounts receivable from owners. I pay in full every month so I wasn't shown as delinquent, but I thought that HOAs shouldn't do that:

1. Wouldn't the state law equivalent of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act prohibit this, as it's effectively using shaming to get people to pay?
2. Wouldn't the HOA be potentially liable for a defamation lawsuit if the info is incorrect?

I believe that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act wouldn't apply because it's the HOA doing this, not a separate debt collector. I find this to be pretty poor form, though.

Has this happened in your HOA?

(The bylaws have nothing to do with this.)

There are posters her who believe public shaming is a good thing. I'm NOT one of them. With John77--not illegal.

Not sure why the "HOA" would be r esosibile for a potential defamation lawsuit, when just a lone board member sent list. Did the director say it was sent "on behalf of the Board" of some such?

If the statements about Owners who are delinquent are fact, then this is not defamation.

Here's some discussion of when HOAs may face a charge of a violation of Fair Debt Collections laws:

https://barrowhoffman.com/homeowners-association/should-hoas-publish-a-list-of-delinquent-owners/

Attorneys on the net appear to generally advise against publicizing the names of delinquent owners, for numerous reasons. ChrisE8's NC HOA Board sounds not so bright.

You're correct - sorry John, but this IS a violation of the fair debt collections act (a federal law). It's one thing if your neighbor is contacted because the creditor is looking for you, but they CANNOT say They're trying to find you regarding a debt, how much you owe, or that they represent X collection agency unless your neighbor asks for identification. They can't contact a third party (neighbir, former employer or otherwise ) more than once, unless the contact information the party provided was incomplete or inaccurate.

If any of this happens, the homeowners can file a complaint with their state Consumer protection agency (usually part of the attorney general's office), and they should also notify the Federal trade commission. The TTC doesn't handle individual complaints, but if a company shows a pattern of violating the law, it can be in for A LOT of trouble.

when I was on my board, this question came up, as some assumed the only applied to debt collection agencies. Our attorney (whose family ran a debt collection agency) good us otherwise. His background in the area was a big reason we hired him because we were getting more aggressive in action against delinquent homeowners, but we didn't want that to bite us in the behind.

Your board member has put the entire community at risk and I don't care if all those people owe the money. This issue has been discussed in this website before and I've yet to see any example of the HOA getting its money after someone appeared on some sort of deadbeat list. Some argue that homeowners have a right to know whose not paying their fair share, and considering the five years I spent as treasurer wrestling with this stuff, I was tempted to agree. However, lawsuits by the state and the feds is not my idea of fun, especially since we were already spending thousands of dollars in attorney's fees, court costs, liens and all that.

Your previous posts, including this one, indicate your community has done serious problems. I don't know if the issue is one board member or the entire bunch, but what is like to know is what's YOUR next mive? Sure, you aren't delinwuent, but if those homeowners decide to take legal action against the association, the results won't be pretty and You will also be affevted, even if you don't live there. You really need to stop with what appears to be indifference on your (hey, I get my rent on time, so what's the problem)?

Most people hate living in chaos, owner of tenter, and mess among the homeowners may prompt the renters to get the Hellboy - why should they pay to live in this And the landlord seems clueless or just doesn't care. Consider your involvement a great way to keep a coder eye on your investment. Maybe you'll learn more about your neighbors in the process.

Start with going to a board meeting and asking the board, point blank if they were aware this was illegal. Go to the TTC website and gather information on the law and show it to them. Then ask that board member what was his or her purpose in doing this.

I am not convinced. By my reading, if the HOA hired a debt collector (like a specialized law firm or a company that does debt collection), and the debt collector publicized the names of delinquent owners, then a violation of the federal fair debt collections statute occurs. It looks like generally, a HOA pursuing, on its own without a hired gun, a debt owed is not subject to the federal statute.

Ug, thunder thumbs on the tablet strike again, but I think everyone understands what I was getting at. If not - homeowners will scream, holler and cuss each other and the board out over this, recalls will ensue (and I think this board member should be recalled and issue a public apology), along with lawsuits or threats thereof and no one wants to come home from a hard days work to see police next door because an argument over all this got out of hand.

Reports on the net indicate likewise: Public shaming is largely ineffective in getting folks to pay up.

I thought the OP said he is aiming to sell this unit.

I figure the OP is rightly looking for even more reasons to sell.

If some of these NC HOA Owners are not able to pay on account of, say, losing their jobs during the pandemic, I hope I would be among the first in the community to raise my hand on their behalf and offer help. Why? The OP had me at "dead-beats."

As treasurer I would stress over and over that if people had legitimate reasons they'd fallen behind like job loss, please come to the board so we could work something out. Usually they'd give the details to our property manager is rather they come to the board so we could work something out. We knew it could be scary and embarrassing to call behind so We would consider the person's situation and payment history. Usually we could come to an agreement as long as the person made a good faith effort to pay.

There was a time people HATED to be in debt and they were scared others would find out, especially if the sheriff showed up and out your things on the street. There isn't a lot of that today - instead, people come with a thousand excuses and get away with it. That's why I really do understand the idea behind a deadbeat list, but you're correct that If you're wrong, God help you.

The delinquency list was dated September 30, 2020 so I doubt it's current.

Brilliant move by the board member.

In one of my HOAs we discuss how many in arrears each board meeting. At times we vote to refer accounts to counsel for collection by address - addresses easy to cross with county records - and, we always note the amount.

As some others have noted, it's not particularly effective and we never did it in my community (we treated collection activities as confidential). If people got curious, I referred them to our county's web site where info about liens is published.

However, I am sympathetic to a board that is trying to pay the bills with limited funds that are often grudgingly supplied, and the deadbeats don't seem to have any problems with letting their neighbors make up the difference.

It costs the association money to go after the non-payers. Publishing a list is free. Paying the lawyer to file liens and do other collection activities is not free, and the neighbors who are already having to shoulder a disproportionate share of the costs are getting to pay even more for the privilege. I can see why a board would want to try all of the free options first on the chance that it may shake a few dollars loose.

I'm also of two minds about keeping delinquency details confidential, assuming state law or CC&Rs are silent about it. On one hand, you don't want to cause problems for a community if you can avoid it. On the other hand, it isn't the board that's creating the problems, it's the deadbeats themselves. They aren't just neighbors, they are financial partners. I personally don't care about my neighbors' social obligations and who is or isn't doing what. I do very much care if my neighbors are stiffing me, and that's what's happening if they don't pay their assessments.

You can make a case that owners are actually entitled to this information. Even more so if the CC&Rs allow individual owners to take legal action against those who are violating the CC&Rs - because failing to pay assessments is a violation.