Late fee assessment

Our HOA dues are due on the 1st of the month with a 15 day grace period. Because of my pay schedule I have paid my dues on the 15th for over 15 years. When the 15th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the property manager gives me a late fee because the payment isn’t processed until Monday, even though I have provided proof that I paid on the 15th. All of my credit cards, utilities and mortgage company do not assess a late fee in these circumstances. Is there any case law prohibiting the HOA/Management from assessing late fees? I have to pay the late fees to get our pool passes. This is robbery.

Hi I am in the opposite situation. I have one unit always pays two weeks late. I am the treasurer.

Here is a thread from 2019

https://www.hoatalk.com/Search/ForumSearch/tabid/87/forumid/1/postid/258590/view/topic/Default.aspx

To the person who posted above me thanks and is asking the pertinent questions. Is there a way to get this out of a paycheck to paycheck situation and get this done earlier. North Carolina has some tough laws on missed payments which then can lead to foreclosure. I don't live in NC but my docs also have fines for being late but also leading up to a lien and foreclosure. The timing issue needs to be solved. Another choice is to take a look into another place to live where the monthly dues are reasonable and you can get out of the paycheck to paycheck situation.

to Answer the question is when the payment is made. So that means when HOA gets it. The actual cashing time is on the HOA. that is my opinion.

I get paid on the 15th so I can’t pay HOA fees until I get paid. If I set up auto withdraw, there would not be funds in the account to cover it.

I go to the Payment history area of the website and it shows that I have paid on the 15th every month for several years that we have used this website to pay online.

Our fees are not applied like yours. Our late fees do not generate late fees if unpaid.

My mortgage is due on the 1st. I get paid on 1st & 15th.

I just want to know if this is legal to assess late fees if paid on a weekend. If a credit card company or mortgage compant can’t do it, i doubt an HOA cam do it.

I get paid on the 15th so I can’t pay HOA fees until I get paid. If I set up auto withdraw, there would not be funds in the account to cover it.

Even the banks see any transactions made after banking hours are posted the next business day.
So transactions made on a Friday after business hours will post or show a Monday date.
The PM should take that into consideration and just waive the late fee. If you're like me I would fret
too that if I would make a payment before the close of the business day it would immediately post
leaving me with a negative balance and a NSF fee. Discuss this with your board members and have them bring it
to the PM. It's better to have more in your cheering section than going solo against the PM.

It doesn't matter how you did the job - you don't work for the association. Yyou also know tge manager works at the board's direction,, so you need to take this up with them..

You've known your payday schedule for 28 years and should have figured out how to set your budget so the bills are paid on time. If you're also paid on the first, can't you pay at that time? If you're flat busted after you get your check, it's time to look at your expenses and see what may need to be trimmed or cut so the essentials are covered.

Personally, I would give you the waiver in light of your payment history, but it's your responsibility to figure this out because it appears waiting until the 15th is cutting it too close these days.

It will be hard to give advice without adding the judgement of why you pay on the very last day prior to late fees. For me that is the risk you take by taking that approach. I have learned to budget my money to cover those later in the month payments. There is a period of time of a few days before money is taken out. You are writing a check so they can't get that till Monday if put in box on Friday. This will always set you up for late payment penalty. That is the whole purpose of why 15th half way through the month is considered "late" deadline. Half the month's gone by without a payment. How would you feel if someone kept paying you on the 15th even though the bill was due on 1-5th? It doesn't leave a good taste or opinion for some. So explain your paycheck situation in writing so that there is more likelyhood of understanding. Arguing out of the late fees goes over like vinegar but telling someone "Hey my check doesn't come in till the 15th" sounds much better.

You are rude and obviously cannot read. I pay on the 15th because of my pay schedule.

We have direct deposit. The money is deposited on the 15th regardless of the day of the week. I cannot pay until the money is on my account because as soon as I pay online, the money is debited from my account.

It appears Leslie left the forum - apparently she didn't like what was said. Oh well, I do hope it works out for her....

This is outside the scope of this forum and frankly none of the HOA's business, but this sounds like a homeowner who is living paycheck to paycheck or who can't manage money. None of which is not the HOA's problem, and going right for case law and wanting to litigate isn't likely to elicit sympathy. It's also unlikely to have an acceptable resolution if someone won't accept ownership of the problem.

Leslie was also confusing the due date (the 1st of the month, after which the payment is late) with the end of the grace period (the 15th, after which the HOA assesses a late fee). Companies often don't charge interest or late fees if the **due date** falls on a weekend or holiday. That's not the same thing as extending the grace period.

(There was a homeowner in my community who insisted on driving a paper check to the management company's office on the last day of the grace period - which of course was closed on weekends, so the check was marked late. Why? Who knows. The person spent more on gasoline than any interest earned during the grace period. He was also most emphatically not living paycheck to paycheck. Sure enough, several times a year he was OUTRAGED at being charged a late fee because that check was not late!!! After the fourth time he bent my ear - I was the board president at the time - I told him that I'd explained three ways to avoid this problem, he refused to do any of them, and I couldn't help him. The problem finally went away when we changed management companies to one whose physical office was in another state. I boldly predict this will happen again because we changing management companies back to the one in this little story. Fortunately I won't have to listen to the complaints.)

I spent a good chunk of my career getting paid at the end of the month. Sometimes we'd receive our December paycheck before Christmas, and it was a l-o-n-g stretch until the end of January, especially since the holiday bills started arriving.

My new HOA just had a rash of members being fined for not paying yearly assessment. The option was 1 pay with credit card on this date with a small $6 fee. The other choice was to write a check by another date that would be post dated the month due. Which think was September? I paid by card in August.

Fast forward 3 months. Those who chose not to pay by card must not send check in time either. They got served a $200 fee. Now they are all I hate the HOA over it.

It is not rocket science to figure out you pay a bill when it is due.