Restarting a Lien ?

Started by CarlosB3 • 3 replies • 103 views

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CarlosB3 (Florida)
Posts: 47

Posted:

Hi Everyone,

HOA-Florida
We have a home who we previously sent a 45-day Notice of a Lien if payment is not received in full by due date.

The home has made a partial payment, but fast forward to today the home is back to a past due balance of 90 Days +

Question
1) At this point do we need to restart and resend another 45-day lien notice?
*They partial payment they previous made brought the balances back to a past due balance of 60 days
* Now that a few months have passed they are back to a balance past due of 90 days

2) If the unit would have not made a payment and ignored the 45-day lien notice, can we file a lien or does another communication need to be sent?
* If anyone has gone through this process, please can you provide some detail/knowledge

Thank you in Advance

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

These are questions that should have been asked BEFORE you obtained the lien- from now on, have a chat with the association attorney so you can plan a strategy if you don't get your money. There may be some information at the agency where the lien is filed, so look for that as well.

Anyway, how much money are we talking about? If you want to pull the trigger and enforce the lien, you'll need to consider if the amount, late fees and legal expenses to date to file the will be worth more expenses you'll need to dish out to file another one. In my area, I believe you can pay a fee to renew a lien, but you may need to consider something longer than 45 days.

This partial payment didn't settle the entire amount owed - has anyone talked to the owner about the rest? You need to know exactly when to expect payment and if the owner wants to negotiate a payment plan, you shoukd request written verification of financial hardship. The payments should be structured in a way that the current AND late assessments are being paid, otherwise,the owner will never get out of the hole,

You may also need to check if bankruptcy may be on the horizon. If so you might need to file the lien now - once the bankruptcy gets going, all collections from everybody stops until the court establishes a payment plan. You'll want to file of claim with tge court to get in line, but 8n tgecmeantime, the lien could protect tge association's interests. With a lien, tge house might be sold, but your lien would have to be addressed before the house changes hands

That stops current collections until the court sorts it out attplus what you'll spend in more legal expenses. If nothing has happened yet, I'd file another lien and add the latest legal expenses so you'll get your money back (maybe).

There are lots of older conversations on this website about liens, bankruptcy, foreclosure and other fun topic related to HOA collections - read a few draft your questions and take them to your attorney, because things often change from the time the conversation was originally posted.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By CarlosB3 on 05/15/2025 9:17 AM
Hi Everyone,

HOA-Florida
We have a home who we previously sent a 45-day Notice of a Lien if payment is not received in full by due date.

The home has made a partial payment, but fast forward to today the home is back to a past due balance of 90 Days +

Question
1) At this point do we need to restart and resend another 45-day lien notice?
*They partial payment they previous made brought the balances back to a past due balance of 60 days
* Now that a few months have passed they are back to a balance past due of 90 days

2) If the unit would have not made a payment and ignored the 45-day lien notice, can we file a lien or does another communication need to be sent?
* If anyone has gone through this process, please can you provide some detail/knowledge

Thank you in Advance

Sounds like your owner isn’t taking the HOA seriously and the reason is your warning letter had no teeth. When the warning letter is sent, a fee to prepare the warning letter, in addition to late fees, have been added to the owners account.

Minimally, your HOA should have a collection policy that was prepared by the HOA’s attorney, adopted by the board and distributed to all the owners. The board simply follows the policy.

Ideally, the policy established a dollar limit and once the owner’s past due balance exceeds that limit, all communications between the HOA and the owner on the matter ends and the attorney handles the issue. The law firm will have set fees for issuing the warning letter and placing liens. Those fees are billed the owners account.

The order any payments are credited is attorney fees first, late fees second, and over due assessments 3rd. When the issue passes a second threshold, the law firm begins foreclosure.

JackieB4 (California)
Posts: 398

Posted:

This needs your LEGAL's advice. Good luck.

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