Posted:
Hi Anna,
Statute 720;3085 is about placing liens
It says that a lien may not be filed until after 45 days from notification by registered mail. It also says that the association should provide the owner with 45 days to make payments, etc. The rest is down there for reading.
We have quarterly dues and when the 2nd quarter gets missed, we start the 45 day notification. We will give them 2 missing quarters and the start a lien.
(4) A homeowners' association may not file a claim of lien against a parcel for unpaid assessments unless a written notice or demand for past due assessments as well as any other amounts owed to the association pursuant to its governing documents has been made by the association. The written notice or demand must:
(a) Provide the owner with 45 days to make payment for all amounts due, including, but not limited to, any attorney's fees and actual costs associated with the preparation and delivery of the written demand.
(b) Be sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and by first-class United States mail to the parcel owner at his or her last address as reflected in the records of the association, if the address is within the United States, and to the parcel owner subject to the demand at the address of the parcel if the owner's address as reflected in the records of the association is not the parcel address. If the address reflected in the records is outside the United States, then sending the notice to that address and to the parcel address by first-class United States mail is sufficient.
(5) The association may bring an action in its name to foreclose a lien for unpaid assessments secured by a lien in the same manner that a mortgage of real property is foreclosed and may also bring an action to recover a money judgment for the unpaid assessments without waiving any claim of lien. Such action may not be brought until 45 days after the parcel owner has been provided notice of the association's intent to foreclose and collect the unpaid amount.
(a) The association may recover any reasonable attorney's fees incurred in a lien foreclosure action or in an action to recover a money judgment for the unpaid assessments.
(b) The association may purchase the parcel at the foreclosure sale and hold, lease, mortgage, or convey the parcel.
(6) If after service of a summons on a complaint to foreclose a lien the parcel is not the subject of a mortgage foreclosure or a notice of tax certificate sale, or the parcel owner is not a debtor in bankruptcy proceedings, the parcel owner may serve and file with the court a qualifying offer at any time before the entry of a foreclosure judgment. For purposes of this subsection, the term "qualifying offer" means a written offer to pay all amounts secured by the lien of the association plus interest accruing during the pendency of the offer at the rate of interest provided in this section. The parcel owner may make only one qualifying offer during the pendency of a foreclosure action.
(a) The parcel owner shall deliver a copy of the filed qualifying offer to the association's attorney by hand delivery or by certified mail, return receipt requested.
(b) The parcel owner's filing of the qualifying offer with the court stays the foreclosure action for the period stated in the qualifying offer, which may not exceed 60 days, to permit the parcel owner to pay the qualifying offer to the association plus any interest accruing during the pendency of the offer.
(c) The qualifying offer of the parcel owner must be in writing, be signed by the owner of the parcel and the spouse of the owner if the spouse holds a homestead interest in the parcel, be acknowledged by a notary public, state the total amount due the association, state that the total amount due the association is secured by the lien of the association, state that the association is entitled to foreclose the lien and obtain a foreclosure judgment for the total amount due if the parcel owner breaches the qualifying offer, state that the parcel owner will not endanger the priority of the lien of the association or the amounts secured by the lien, and state the actual date or dates the association will receive the total amount due from the parcel owner. If the parcel owner makes a qualifying offer under this subsection, the association may not add the cost of any legal fees incurred by the association within the period of the stay other than costs acquired in defense of a mortgage foreclosure action concerning the parcel, a bankruptcy proceeding in which the parcel owner is a debtor, or in response to filings by a party other than the association in the lien foreclosure action of the association.
(d) If the parcel owner breaches the qualifying offer, the stay shall be vacated and the association may proceed in its action to obtain a foreclosure judgment against the parcel and the parcel owners for the amount in the qualifying offer and any amounts accruing after the date of the qualifying offer.
History.--s. 1, ch. 2007-183.
720.3086 Financial report.--In a residential subdivision in which the owners of lots or parcels must pay mandatory maintenance or amenity fees to the subdivision developer or to the owners of the common areas, recreational facilities, and other properties serving the lots or parcels, the developer or owner of such areas, facilities, or properties shall make public, within 60 days following the end of each fiscal year, a complete financial report of the actual, total receipts of mandatory maintenance or amenity fees received by it, and an itemized listing of the expenditures made by it from such fees, for that year. Such report shall be made public by mailing it to each lot or parcel owner in the subdivision, by publishing it in a publication regularly distributed within the subdivision, or by posting