Homeowner not willing to take action on violations

Started by JohnT13 • 7 replies • 1348 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

JohnT13 (Georgia)
Posts: 3

Posted:

We have a homeowner who is adamant that he will not take care of some repairs or correct some HOA /ARC violations…We have sent several letters and approached the owners in person…It is a very volatile environment when dealing with the homeowners; has anyone dealt with this before and can give advice that will help

John Townsend Chaucer Place HOA

EllenS1 (Florida)
Posts: 1,148

Posted:

We have gone through this type of thing. An owner in our townhome community had a unit that was in terrible shape (even used tape to keep part of her vinyl siding from falling off). She adamantly refused to do anything. We went to mediation and she missed several meetings The Association had repairs made (about $6,000) then we hired an attorney and a final judgment was filed against her for aprox $20,000 with interest running until paid.

Our old board hired the attorney and believe me it was one long, costly mess. We have since found out if we had reported her to Code Enforcement that might have avoided using an attorney. We did use Code Enforcement but too late and the City was charging her $100 per day for every day the property remained in the bad condition.

I would say go the city or county way first.

DwightT (Idaho)
Posts: 664

Posted:

Our process is to send a "Reminder" letter to inform the homeowner of the violation, then if the problem is not corrected after about 2 weeks we send (by certified mail) a "Demand" letter requiring that the violation be corrected. This demand letter also carries with it a $20 administrative fee that is charged by the management company to the HOA and becomes a limited assessment against the property to recover costs. If this still doesn't get the violation corrected then it gets turned over to the HOA attorney who sends his own version of a demand letter informing the homeowner that if the violation is not corrected within 15 days a lawsuit will be filed against the homeowner. This attorney letter incurs a $200 fee which also becomes a limited assessment against the property.

Most violations are corrected after the first Reminder letter, occasionally we have to go to the Demand stage, and so far all violations have been corrected if the attorney sends a letter.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

John,
How old is your association? Many of the newer ones, including the one that I just left, have a paragraph or so in the protective covenants, stateing that the HOA has the right to correct exterior issues after reasonably all steps to have the owner correct any deficiencies, landscape and architectural problems after the HOA has exhausted all means as stated in the ARC guideline manual.( It states letters, fining and mediation) The HOA will notify the owner that they have failed to correct the problems and the HOA now has the right to fix, repair or replace whatever items that have been previously itemized and will bill the owner for such repairs. Failure to reimburse the HOA will result in a lein being placed on the property.

Luckily, this association is newer and there have been no major issues where these drastic steps were needeed to get the owners attention. We had 1 landscape issue and after the 3rd letter from the attorney, the guy complied AND can you believe???--he is now chair of the ARC and doing a fabulous job.

EllenS1 (Florida)
Posts: 1,148

Posted:

Donna,

We hae a lien and final judgment and now the attorneys who handled this tell lus we can't foreclose since it is homstead property. They clearly knew our intent if the lien was not paid was to foreclose. We have 101 units and not enough of a budget to keep this $20,000 lien until the owner dies or sells. A second attorney may have some sort of solution (I don't know the details yet). He also indicated we may be able to recoup part of his almost $13,000 in fees. Ever hear of anything like this while you were in Florida?

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Ellen,
You can lein but not forclose on a Homestead property. I am not a lawyer so I would be very interested in what the 2nd attorney is referring to as for recouping his and the association money. As for attorney fees, I always refer back to our $65,000 Escallade EXT case which we ended up with a special assessment against all of the owners except the 2 who were the defendants. Lucky for the HOA that the Judge did not award the defendants damages. It was all attorney fees.

EllenS1 (Florida)
Posts: 1,148

Posted:

Donna,

I'm very anxious to hear what this second attorney suggests. Won't know until after our next board meeting 6/27 but will let you know. Wow..sounds like your hoa had a hit.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

John,

If the h/o refuses to cure the CCR violations after receiving repeated notices from the board, the the board can have a court issue a mandatory injunction which is an order for a party to carry out a particular act. Donna mentioned some assn docs allow the assn to step in and cure the violation and bill the h/o the costs. I know many assns do have this provision in their docs; however, from what I've been told this usually relates to maint. of the property i.e., tall weeds, uncut grass, etc. But, even if your assn docs have the provision and it relates to any type violation I would be very careful to set foot on private property to make any repairs, etc. especially w/o first communicating with the h/o.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here