Liens

What does it cost to place a lien on someone's property? I live in Texas. Also, would you or your HOA put a lien against someone's property for not paying $200 annual dues? This to me seems strange. My HOA does not have any "common areas" for all members.

Donna is correct.

However, if you multiply that one $200 annual lack-of-payment by, say 20 people, you now have $4,000 less revenue coming in.

How is an HOA supposed to budget with that sort of nonsense?

To me there is no "common sense" in not paying a mere $200 a year bill! Especially when you consider it works out to less than $17.00 a month!

For one thing, once the penalties and lien fees are added (remember, the organization only pays the lien filing up front, but collects the filing and release fee at payoff), that $200 bill could double, triple, or even quadruple by the time the person pays it off.

So wonder who is not using common sense in that scenario?

Just sayin' . . . .

Yup, having a HOA just for a nice looking entrance is silly. There is too much expense just for that one item. If I lived in an HOA and that is all we had, I would petition all the home owners to start the long process of shutting down the HOA.

In N.C. the cost to file a lien is less than $10. It's a very simple process.

Rebecca,

I second Michele's suggestion.

Can you tell us what rules/restrictions are being violated? Perhaps it's time to review all the CCR restrictions and propose an amendment to rescind or change some of them. If the majority of members are violating one particular restriction, perhaps that restrictions should be removed. Why have a restriction that no one believes in? This is something for the whole membership to have a say in. As for delinquencies, they have to be dealt with in a timely manner. A collection policy, outlining all the steps to be taken to collect delinquencies and the consequences for not paying on time, should be adopted by the BOD and followed. This policy should be mailed to each member so they know exactly what to expect. The members should be aware that any attorney's fees or collection costs will be added to the delinquency.

Rebecca,
I am on a board in Texas and we have recently written and adopted a policy on what you are talking about. Now we have specifics written so everyone, board and members, know when things will happen. Ours, for example, states 30 days after due date - expect 18% interest and a certified letter notifying owner of intent to suspend voting rights and right to use common area, and 12 months after due date we will file lien, foreclose, or send to collections. The liens I have filed were $20 each. Currently we charge the members the same it costs us, $20 for filing, $5.32 for certified letter return receipt, and what ever it will cost to release the lien, (I'm an optimist), once it is paid. Our neighbor subdivision has a flat rate which starts at $125.00 for any collections required. The fee goes up depending on how far they have to go.
We would lien for $200 if our dues were only $200 per year, as that is part of our written policy to lien if dues are not paid within 12 months.

Lynette,

Not placing a lien until the delinquency is 12 months past due is quite generous. AZ state law allows the HOA to FORECLOSE if the delinquency is 12 months past due or amounts to $1,200, whichever comes first. IMO, a lien should be placed when the delinquency is 3 months past due, which would be after receiving 3 past due notices. The notice at 3 months states if not paid by (include date) a lien will be placed on your property.

Yes but you can't give everybody a pass on paying their dues either because it's not fair on those that do pay and will have to pay more. Very few homes in Florida are not upside down.

Rock and a hard place?

Anyway, our by-laws state that it is the duty of the BOD to take action and to collect so by not taking action our BOD is not doing their duty.

MaryA1,
I agree that 12 months is a long time before taking action. We have issues with board members who don't want to adopt 'any' rules or procedures. I felt lucky getting this far. Baby steps!

On the subject of liens, does anyone know if the HOA board can take responsibility for filing a lien, rather than paying an attorney to do so, against a homeowner for HOA dues in Florida?

MicheleS3,
We file our own liens. While our developer was running things here, he had his lawyer file a lien that we have on file, and we made a template out of it. We checked to make sure it included all of the information that is currently required in Texas. We showed it to our current lawyer, who said it looked fine.
Lynette

Michele,

Why not call an attorney and ask? Several years ago the AZ Supreme Court issued an administrative ruling stating only attorneys or legal document preparers can perform this service.