Incorrectly Billed Homeowners Dues

I would never sue for this amount. However, if they did receive the lawncare services, then they should pay their portion. If they did not receive the service, then it is void. The HOA has a right to collect because it should be known in the CC&R's or By-laws what your dues goes toward.

Let them know the court may see it as they received a service and did not pay for it. It may have been an error but it also was an expense they enjoyed.

$1170 per homeowner? You could take them to small claims court. You could claim that they were "unjustly enriched", I guess.

I'd just take it as a lesson learned, and move on. Be grateful for the one homeowner who paid despite not being obligated to.

Sounds like a letter to the owners in question, noting that a mistake was made, and showing the derivation of the accurate amount.

Give them time to accept the the data.

Any that don’t pay the amount noted get a certified letter summarizing the situation, with a date certain for payment, noting the usual fees and interest fir non payment.

If these are little numbers, just let it ride until it increases in amount due to interest etc and then a final letter resummarizing and noting the date certain the property will be liened.

And, to add, I have been in this situation.

The HOA tried all sorts of nonsense threats, etc. to get me to pay a bill that, by the documents that the HOA gave me, was not owed.

I would have paid it had the HOA been niece, but they were total *#(#s, and stupid to add; they did all sorts of stupid things.

Result? Litigation, an outcome that I was thrilled with, and removal of the board from office.

First, it sounds to me like the Owners had proper notice of what was owed, but somewhere along the way, the ball was dropped. Given that HOAs are nonprofits, I'd cut the HOA some slack, the same way I would expect the HOA to refund (or credit) me an amount it incorrectly accepted from me due to, say, putting the wrong amount on a check I wrote. Second, I think the Board has a fiduciary obligation to collect money owed it. Third, doing what you suggest forces the other members to make up the difference. I call this being a bad neighbor. Fourth, your response sounds like that of someone up against for-profit corporate America. One can often expect a lot of generosity from well-off, for-profit corporate America. I do not think the expectation should be the same for a non-profit.

I think you must bill the homeowners involved. To not do so essentially increases the assessments for the other members of the Association. While the Association may have funds in accounts to make up for the shortfall, those funds were the result of assessments paid by the other owners.

The entire situation must be explained to the owners involved, and must be discussed in a regular meeting of the Board, where decisions will be made regarding how to proceed. There must be complete transparency on this matter so the other owners understand what has occurred and what is being done to rectify the situation. If I were one of the other owners and learned two owners were excused from paying @ $1,200 each which should have been billed, I would be exceedingly upset.

I recommend you devise and offer a reasonable payment plan, with no past due interest or late payment charges unless the owners involved fail to meet the terms and conditions of the payment plan.

It is my opinion the Association must attempt to collect the funds which were not properly billed and may exercise any legal means at its disposal to collect the funds after attempting a reasonable approach such as I suggested above.

This was a billing error pure and simple. The fact the error occurred does not excuse responsibility for payment of assessments to which the Association is legally entitled.

I also recommend the Board develop an audit process with the management company to ensure billing errors are discovered far earlier than 18 months later going forward. The audit process should be described in detail to the Association as a whole.

Chris,

I can’t find any logic or fairness in your answer.

GeorgeS21 and AugustinD, I have been through litigation about this issue.

The HOA thought that it could threaten and lien me. Oh, they tried. They thought that they could do anything, being a homeowners' association board.

They learned the hard way: don't pick a fight unless you're on really solid ground. The HOA is not on really solid ground here. It may well lose.

I think there is a difference between your situation, described here:



and the OP's situation, where there are documents saying these Owners owe the money.

But you do talk tough. It's easy to do when one has never served on a HOA board and does not intend to do so.

Some chatter about what to do when a bank makes an error in a borrower's favor on a mortgage payment but then turns around and says it wants its (the bank's) money owed:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/real-estate/sns-201411281800--tms--realestmctnig-c20141204-20141204-column.html

Bottom line: The advice indicates a settlement between bank and borrower is possible. The borrower's fighting this is not advised.

Quotation from the article:

"The lender may have made a mistake and released the mortgage on your home and canceled the note, but the lender may have other equitable rights to get repaid."

I have litigated against a HOA board.

I have not been a HOA board member but I have been an officer of a HOA.

The level of sophistication of HOA board can be lacking.

All I’m saying is that if you pick a fight, particularly on behalf of an organization, you’d better be 100% certain to win. A HOA in this situation is on shaky ground, legally, and a sharp owner can beat it.

Chris,

NYC, yes?

This situation was not in NYC (for me or the HOA).

Good move. I'm the first to say that AugustinD and GeorgeS21 are very well-respected so if you do choose to be more aggressive about it, based on their feedback, that is also reasonable.