pre-lien notice on late maintenance fee

I was about 10 days late on a monthly maintenance fee..BOD who have it in for me because of another issue, sent me a pre-lien notice , with pre lien fees etc and noted my acct is 'substantially late'....can they do this? Does the letter fall under fair debt collection rules? Is it possible to retain records of all residents monthly fee payments to see if a board member has ever been late and received this letter?

LF,

If your assn is under the FL 720 statutes this is what applies:

720.30854:
A homeowners' association may not file a record 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 following the date the notice is deposited in the mail 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.

This means the BOD cannot file a lien unless they have informed you by written notification of the delinquency and given you 45 days to make payment.

I would also take a good look at the CCRs to see what the collections procedures are for delinquent assessments and also check out when the assessment is deemed delinquent. Most assn docs state assessments are late if not paid w/i 15 days of the due date. To want to record a lien after being late only 10 days is extremely unusual.

Forget about wanting to view all the residents records to determine if anyone else has been threatened with a lien. Frankly, that is none of your concern; you need only be concerned with your account. If the board has issued you this warning in violation of the gov docs and/or state law I would write them a letter stating this. In the future I would be careful to pay the assessments on time!

HOAs are not bound by the rules of the FDCPA.

Well put Peter.

Imagine, a Board taking action to collect on unpaid fees. How dare they!

Recall that Board for sure folks!

And if YOUR house is in order then there would be no reason to ask about looking into the details of your neighbors payments. Worry about YOUR own payment history.

Whys everybody always pickin on me...................................

Sorry, guys, but I do not agree. Whereas I do believe the board should send delinquent notices to anyone who is late paying their assessment, in this case sending a notice stating a lien will be filed on an account that is only 10 days past due is certainly a bit of overkill. In fact, IMO, if this assn is under the FL 720 statutes it's also a violation of state law. Perhaps we're not getting the whole story, but I've formed my opinion based on what the OP posted.

Ann,

Agreed! I have posted the applicable state law and it says a written notice is required and the h/o has 45 days to make payment. The statute does not speak to when assessments are considered delinquent, however, I would say the CCRs do. Like you say we really don't know what the exact wording of the letter was. My reply was based only upon what the OP said.

Well in 16 years I have alwasy been advised by association counsel that we must comply with the Act and I think it is just good business judgment to do so. that is new information that the management acting as a third party agent to collect the debt is not obligated under the Act. Very intersting.

They are signed by the association. We as management have no contract with individual owners to collect against them personally or against the lot. We are identified in the notices as the acting agent for the association on their behalf and in accordance with their policies. it is written on association letterhead as well.

I honestly don't know if I am right or you are right regarding being subject to the Act. I do know that I have been in front of a judge/Magistrate and had my butt handed to me in a collection case for not following the 30 day provisions of the Act. Had the whole thing tossed out case and all with an admonishment to the owner that they should not feel good they do owe the money and the association can collect it, just the association, through us had to give the owner 30 days notice for repsonse and an opportunity to contest before we could move forward. the docs did not provide for a 30-day notice provision.

After that I decided that for the ability to move forward sooner than the 30 days required it was not worth it. In addtional 30 days is not going to make or break the ability to collect in a very real and practical sense. With the tightenness of our process in our office it does not hamper the collections in any way. it is just another level of contact with the owner and an opportunity for them to correct the error before we have to go further and they have to pay more.

I have also found it is a way to keep renegade board members under some control that want to simply foreclose the first day after an owner goes delinquent especially if they are a trouble maker, the delinquent owner that is. Keeps everyone honest and calm and provides some sense of fairness to the onwers.

Exactly! And judges/magistrates frequently will err on the side of the owner versus the big bad association, so dotting not only every "I" and crossing every "T" but adding a few never hurts to make sure the association is protected from any accusation true or false of being the "big meany". LOL

Pat,

I don't know about FL law, but in AZ that info is regarded as confidential. According to state law it can be discussed in a closed session and cannot be released to members. This info would only become public knowledge if an when legal action is taken against the member.

The Freedom of Info Act in FL (and I would think any other state) applies to public bodies. HOAs are private orgs and not subject to laws pertaining to pubic bodies, such as the FL sunshine laws, which is where the FOIA comes into play.

In CO the state laws require "transparency" in all documents including dues payable/receivable. We routinely recommend to boards that they follow the letter of the law which also requires that a homeowner provide a justifiable reason for release of documents that could be sensitive in nature, namely financial reocrds of individuals. There is no really good reason to request the documents in this case. The matter is about the individual not the board or any other group of people. Rather than ask for individual financial information, it would be more useful to ask for proof that the associaiton has not acted discriminately against this individual or any other individual. Asking for the board's personal financial information smacks of vendetta