Condo Association Management Blog

The first thing I do is give the file to our HOA attorney, when collection letter fail. Then we do a 'litigation guarantee' search through a title company to see if the homeowner is in foreclosure?  
 
Then, if they are not in foreclosure we have them sign a 'confession of judgement'. To repay their back dues would take 2 1/2 years in this case, so I said "no" unless they signed over their Permanent Fund Dividend checks for next year to pay it off by next October. With the stipulation that in the meantime, they fail just once to pay their HOA dues on time, all deals are off and a lien to foreclose will go forward.  
 
They also have to pay the attorney's fees up front, which in this case was $1,000. They have consistently and always failed to pay in the past. This time when the attorney contacted them, they told him that one of them had lost their jobs and their Permanent Fund Dividend check was garnished by the state for child support. However the 'litigation guarantee' indicated only one outstanding parking ticket and nothing was garnished by the state of Alaska for back child support.  
 
In the event they were behind in payments, I may have taken a different approach. I would recommend that you take the advice of your attorney and he will stir you in the right direction.  
 
This one case I had was a hard one in that these people have been failing to pay since 2006. They would let the dues get behind up to 3 months, and they would receive collection letter from me every month. Finally, when I said I would forward it to the attorney, they would pay. But this last time they ignored the letters and I did send it to the attorney.  
 
The couple had been calling me regularly during this time saying they were going to pay in full, but had no intentions of paying and failed to do so. Finally, when they called to negotiate with me, I told them the matter was out of my hands at this point and they had to discuss it with the HOA attorney. It worked. 

Under what circumstances can a Condo Board assesses the membership?

I'm on the Board of a 240 unit condo. A lot of our units are not paying. 
 
WE have an aggressive collection policy that is starting to pay off. There is "some" sales activity going on, which seems to be the only way this will get resolved. 
 
We have liens on a lot of units. When one is being sold, we usually get some type of offer for settlement. Based on advise from our attorney, we will NOT accept less than 100% of the back fees. We will negotiate on attorney fees, interest, etc. Our though has been that a chunk of cash (dues) is better than nothing. Yeah, it hurts to pay attorney fees, but getting someone paying fees makes it feel better