Recently, Attorney Naomie Kweyu Husch Blackwell LLP, scored a huge bench trial win in a southeastern Wisconsin circuit court on a foreclosure and money judgment action.
If you want the best chance of collecting outstanding assessments, late fees, interest and attorney fees, you need to be organized, have a collection policy and follow your documents. Doing so can make a big difference to your association, as one of our clients recently learned – read more below:
Thank you to all who attended the Husch Blackwell Condominium & HOA Law Team virtual Association Academy on March 25, 2022. We covered what’s new with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), collections and the new mortgage underwriting requirements.. No need to worry if you missed it, we recorded it for you, and you
Association Board adopted a resolution that unit owners in the Association who self-rented but did not join the rental pool would need to pay 20% of their rental income to the Association because the self-renters “did not contribute financially for the extra expense of their leasing activity or for the beneficial services provided by the rental pool.” The resolution also 1) disallowed future self-rentals; and 2) grandfathered in the current self-renters.
The Association sued the self-renters seeking a declaration that its resolution disallowing future self-rentals and imposing a rental fee was enforceable. The self-renters counterclaimed alleging: a) breach of contract; b) injunctive relief; c) that the resolution was arbitrary and unenforceable; and d) that the Association was improperly allocating certain fees on the self-renters.
Continue Reading Fees for Self-Renters Who Don’t Enter the Rental Pool are Legal
Thank you to all who attended our virtual Association Academy on September 17 – If it Weren’t for the People, Association Living Would be Perfect. No need to worry if you missed it, we recorded it for you, and you can access at any time.
To access the recording click HERE. We outline some
Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team on September 17, 2021 as we outline some frequently encountered legal challenges and issues that can prove time-consuming and costly when mishandled.
Topics
A unit owner stopped paying assessments. The condominium association properly recorded and perfected a lien against the unit for those assessments. Under the applicable Oregon statute, the condo association lien is prior to all other liens, except tax liens and a first mortgage or deed of trust. An exception exists, such that the condominium association can gain priority over the first mortgage if (among other things) “the association gives the first lienholder formal notice of the unpaid assessments, and the lienholder ‘has not initiated judicial action to foreclose the mortgage * * * prior to the expiration of 90 days following the notice[.]’” In this case, five days after the association recorded its lien, the bank filed a judicial foreclosure action against the unit, but did not name the association as party, and therefore the foreclosure suit would not have terminated the lien rights of the association. To correct this issue, the bank filed an amended complaint naming the association as a party. Five months later the trial court issued a dismissal of the claim against the association, without prejudice, for failure to prosecute. Five months after that the association sent the bank notice of the unit owner’s default on assessments. The bank took no action in the next 90 days to reinstate the dismissal or file a new action against the association.
Continue Reading Lien Priority Statutes and Why They Make Sense
Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team for this informative seminar. We’ll review fine collection, common zoning regulations and practices, the importance of cyber insurance, and recent updates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development on emotional support animals.
Continue Reading Association Academy: Condo and HOA: Zoning, Cyber Crimes, Fine Collection, and Emotional Support Animals
Thank you to all who attended our FIRST EVER virtual Association Academy! We had record-breaking attendance by property managers and board members. If you missed it, don’t fret, we recorded it for you, and you can access at any time.
To view the recording click HERE. We reveal the 10 commandments of what association
The language and definitions in your governing documents reflect the intentions of the Association. You need to either follow them or amend them, but NOT ignore them.
Sunnyside Resort Condominiums is a private resort property located on Lake Gogebic in Gogebic County, Michigan, and governed by the Sunnyside Resort Condominium Association, Inc. (SRCA). In 2006, the Plaintiffs purchased vacant lots within SRCA with an individual value of $13,000. Unlike other lots, the Plaintiffs’ lots, among other things, lacked improvements to the property, utilities, and septic systems.
Assessments on Vacant Lots. Although the Plaintiffs’ lots were free from any structures, Plaintiffs were charged assessment fees despite the association documents essentially providing that the Plaintiffs were not required to pay association assessment fees until a structure was built on the lot. In part this was due to the fact that the percentages of value for the units were calculated based on several factors including, market value, size, and allocable expenses for maintenance. Plaintiffs stopped paying the monthly assessment fees for their two units in July 2015.
Continue Reading Vacant Land Units Can Have a 0% Percentage Interest
Facts
Plaintiffs were two owners (Maples and Brown) at Compass Harbor Village Condominium Association in Maine (the “Association”) who had purchased their respective units sometime in 2007. The Declarant was an LLC that held more than 50% of the votes (15 of the 24 units) and therefore controlled the board. For many years the Association common areas were not property maintained in many ways. In addition, the Association failed to hold meetings, take votes on Association matters, maintain banking or other records and refused to provide financial information to the owners. The Declarant’s position was that “because it holds a majority of the voting power in the Association and therefore any dispute between it and any of the unit owners would ultimately be decided in its favor.” Plaintiffs claimed to have lost about $53,000 in value in each of their units because of the actions of the Declarant.
Continue Reading Failing to Maintain and Properly Collect Assessments is a Breach of Fiduciary Duties