is it legal for hoa to release names and addresses

What I would like to know is, Can a HOA legally release the names and addresses of homeowners that have not paid their dues to the entire community? This is scary because of all the sex offenders in the world.

Kimo,
Well, you stumped me.
Please explain how you rationalize that because some folks are not paying their dues, therefore, this has something to do with the number of sex offenders in the world.

Use the search feature of the Topics discussion page. There are multiple entries about releasing names of deliquent homeowners and I think there may be some comments about sex offenders also.

Personal advice: When faced with any public release of anything by the Board and you don't know, don't do it. See if you can find the reason for the deliquency, if possible, work out a plan to get dues paid. If not inform the person privately by mail of the expected actions by the Board as written out in your documents. If you don't have rules for the procedure make some and get them adopted.

Kim,
Don't forget about phone books, internet sites and every other possibility for finding people on the web. Your worry about sexual preditors in relation to the Board posting delinquest dues is rather far fetched or better than that, bizzare.

NL,
It would be nice to know in detail what your documents say.

Making the associations records available is a big step to releasing names of deliquent members of your organization. I would suspect that unless your records are available to the general public and/or your association is in the habit of posting your association business to the public domain, you better be very careful about this, like don't do it.
It is not worth the risk legally and your board should not have some kind of vendetta to embarass folks. It won't get you any more money.
Even if you have a lien against them and the court records show this, I wouldn't do it. You may have to prove your intent and if there was any personal contact between the parties, you may be hard pressed to prove your motives are pure.

Last week I mailed out to all the membership the status of current-year assessments.

The list contained each address and a column next to it marked either PAID or NOT PAID.

We USED to just send out a list with all the addresses of the people who paid and instructed homeowners that if their address were not on the list, then we did not have their payment recorded.

This caused great confusion and people called because their address was on the list and they KNOW they paid, because they got the canceled check back.

Yes. We know. The list showed everyone who had PAID - it had a huge heading that said that's what the list was. A homeowner would only need to send in a check if their address were NOT on the list. We did it that way because the president at the time thought it was too harsh to either just list those who didn't pay, or list everyone with the payment status. He was wrong! LOL

So now we don't separate it.

Before we ever started sending out any list at all, we simply sent individual second notices to the non-payers. We would get maybe a handful of checks out of that effort. But most just threw the notices away.

NOW they see that their neighbors see their address and KNOW whether they paid or not.

Everyone gets the list of all addresses and the list indicates the assessment status.

We get a slew of checks immediately after the list goes out.

It seems to work.

Robert opening the records of the HOA would include all bank statements and copies of letters sent to members, which would include late notices, bills, correspondance, grievances, contracts, and attorney notes.
The only people who have the "right" to view these documents are registered owners as stated in the documents. Also potential purchasers have the right to know what the financial status of an HOA is, and this would include late dues, lawsuits etc. We are not talking about posting a sign at the mail box for all to see.
Nothing is ever discussed one on one with any homeowner regarding another homeowners delinquencies or failure to follow rules and regulations unless all are told at the same time, and we do this via a quartely newsletter.
The purpose of the HOA is to protect everyones investment, so why would it not be responsible to let a homeowner(s) who pays on time, follows his obligations that he signed on to be made aware they they are subsidizing a homeowner, which impacts on future increases and assessments, and resales.
It is not like you are telling something that isn't true and can not be supported with the proper paperwork.
People who with no good cause ignore their obligations are penalized all the time, as stated in another post, by displaying bad checks, by list that are given out to businesses to not accept checks from them, check approval companies, denial of a purchase because of a problem with your bank card, the list is endless.
We have an opinion from our Attorney that it is ok to publish the names of delinquent homeowners and those involved in lawsuits. In fact the builder of our community periodically put out a notice listing the names of people who were in arrears and how much.
Boards are usually volunteers who are elected to represent the best for all homeowners and the community - so not keeping everyone informed of financial problems, lawsuits etc is not following the fiducary responsibility that the Board should be committed to.
So if the argument is don't let other homeowners know who is delinquent because they could sue you, - what is to keep a homeowner who is in good shape not sueing you for not keeping them abreast of situations that can impact them?
Most of these posting are based on peoples opinions and gut feelings. We follow our Documents to the T, nothing more or nothing less - everyone is expected to abide by what they agreed to when they purchased the property - the rules and regulations didn't just appear after they moved in.

Just one more thing about this, I don't know about the rest of you but why should a volunteer board have to be calling people on the phone and begging them to pay what they committed to. Our due dates are the same ever year it hasn't changed in 10 yrs. We send bills out way in advance of due date, send out an email reminding them that payment is due and than give them 10 days beyond before a late penalty is assessed. In fact in our Quarterly newsletters we put a reminder of upcoming dates for payments to be made.
You don't do this with your bank, your credit card, your car loan, or any other obligations. If you do you are immediatly reported to credit bureaus as late - which in turn has an adverse affect on all of your other credit obligations.
Boards need to take a stand and not tolerate this - yes you will get one who is going to challenge you - but ulitmately you will win they signed a legal binding document to following the rules and regulations, which include paying their HOA Dues and they are aware of what the consequences can be.

Besides, my comment about them being embarrassed, or YOUR comment about them being embarrassed, is all speculation anyway. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't.

I don't really know why they send in their required annual assessment payment after a full listing goes out, almost a month after the initial due date, and almost 3 months after their first notice. My best guess would be because they realize their neighbors now know whether they paid or not. But that may not be the reason at all. It probably is, but that's not my concern.

The report itself doesn't have that kind of power. If it does embarrass them, well, the report is just providing a factual statement of the status of the membership assessments at a given point in time.

On the other hand, if they were paid up by the time the report came out, then they wouldn't have to be concerned about what their status showed. That's all under THEIR control, not the board's. It really shouldn't be a surprise from one year to the next that by December 31 they need to have sent $150 in to the HOA.

NL and Michele,
I have already asked Michele to come and live at my Condo. She is indeed a sharp knife.

One of the facts about posting advice to other people is to not lead them down the wrong path. As I said we have been up and down the road about this more than a few times. There is no doubt in my mind that some will be convinced to publish these debtors lists and as with any advice you take it or leave it and that is true here also. Being able to understand the problem is only part of the equation when you post advice. I personally feel exactly as you both feel but I am not the one that has to make the decision. So owners have to understand that boards will act when they are comfortable with the action. I am not saying, it should not be considered, just take the smart road. You all are convinced, all well and good, and I was for years also until the time came when some of our board was uncomfortable publishing one of these lists. Then it becomes can I expect someone else to stick their neck out for me if the possibility exists they could be harmed personally. I hear you say the lawyer says this and the lawyers says that, but these CC&R's we talk about are all written by lawyers and ewven though they state you can lawfully lien a mans house for non payment of dues, I have never seen any documents that say the legal procedure is to publish a debtors list with the admitted intention to embarass them or for any reason.

So do and say what you are comfortable with. I would be comfortable publishing a list, but I know my reason is not pure, but I would dtill do it, but then, that is not giving advice. Also some states have different laws for this kind of thing, California comes to mind.

there's a fine line in this situation. as a homeowner, i have the RIGHT (and responsibility) to oversee and monitor the association books/accounts. THe HOA is a business, and every HO is a shareholder. As shareholders, it is our right to view the inner workings of how our money/investments are spent. To me, the line is whether the owner ASKED to see the accounts, or the board/MC simply went out and provided the information to a limited number of HO's. If asked, the HOA has no choice but to open their books to owners. If information is given to ALL HO's, that may be okay too. But to give account information selectively to certain owners without their inquiry seems bad.

That's why i always answered my HO's requests to publish a list of delinquent owners with the response: AS a homeowner and member of this association, it is your right to view ALL the accounts and operations of this business. All you have to do is make the arrangements with our bookkeeper to get the information you want.

To all,
In view of what has been posted would we all agree that if an owner wants to know who is deliquent he can justify looking at books to fine out. What he does with this information is beyond the scope of the association.

Then is it proper to print the debtors list in the public domain. Some feel it is justified because it aids in collecting fees. Other don't think it is such a good idea.

Posting a bad check in a public business seems to be done all the time. Do we then want to say the associations are just a public business?

Do we agree that if this owner tacks up a bad check that he then is solely responsible for his action. I would think so.

In an association if an action is taken by the Board, then all the owners have legal responsibility, unless the action itself is illegal.

Is that where we are at this point?

I would not tell your board how to do their business. If they decide to post it in the evening paper, I would only say it is not a very smart move and I suggest not doing it. If they were gooing to put in on their open website, I would say the same, and if they were going to put it on a password protected site I would still say the same. If an owner whats to know who is delinqent, he has the right to know. Our particular Board would probably not allow you to see what they would probably call privledged or personal sensitive information. I imagine that to challenge this in court would be time consuming and expensive to all parties. All the above just considerations, nothing more. I dop not believe the action or inaction of the board makes it all well and proper.
As an owner I have to decide how I want to consider the matter in my association. I have enough doubt about the issue to be cautious.
Who's to say?

KimO - no worries about your name & address posted anywhere - that's not where you need to worry with most sex offenders. That's public info - your info and sex offender info.

If you're seriously worried about sex offenders, keep that separate and seek advice from your Neighborhood Watch or local police department. They also offer security measures to help you out. A sex offender will not be tracking you based upon your name or address, but based upon your actions and what you do NOT do to protect yourself.