Liens

Short story history: The developer filed a paper for it in 2016 but didn't assign an initial board. Since then, the homeowners had to take on the task of setting up and managing the HOA with no experience and little guidance. The CCRs are poorly written and only mention the filing of a lien. The past boards have done very little research and learning, leaving me as either the appointed manager or now a board member to do all the work and research.

Fast forward: We just discovered the liens expire after four years in Texas. The attorney said we could re-file the lien, but there is obviously a SOL defense to amounts due in the past four years. So I'm not sure that's worth doing, as we can not collect on amounts that fall into the SOL period legally.

In addition, I don't have any proof we followed the Texas Property Code 209 procedure, so pushing this into foreclosure probably won't work. We thought we could make a last-ditch effort to write another letter asking for payment or a payment plan and hope for the best.

My question is, has anyone succeeded in turning leins over to an attorney and actually getting paid, or filing foreclosure and still getting paid? OR do we save attorney fees and forgive the debt?

When I lived in VA, we collected through our attorney.

We would add the legal fees (collection effort), which the Association paid, back to the amount owed.

We did get paid once the issue started in court (woke the individual up that we were serious).

Honestly, we would break even or lose a little (but not a lot).

Keep in mind that liens and legal action (regarding assessments) are to stop the bleeding.
The individual may wake up and start paying after that.
Worst case you will have to start the entire process over again if the individual simply doesn't care until it goes to court.

Thanks, Tim84. I agree we have to stop the bleed and wake homeowners up.