Collections

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Association Academy.220325

Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team on March 25, 2022, for this informative virtual seminar. We’ll cover what is new with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), collections and the new mortgage underwriting requirements.

Topics

  • FDCPA Update – How Regulation F now affects managers
  • Collections – 5 things that help your associations actually get paid
  • The New Lender Questionnaire – What do we do with this? Navigating the new mortgage underwriting requirements

Continue Reading Association Academy: What’s New in 2022! Things You Need to Know

Association Academy.210917 2

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…

Association Academy.210917 2

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

  • Condominium legal document review
  • Collections from a debtor’s perspective
  • Handling disruptive unit owners and residents
  • Arbitration
  • Hoarders and foreclosures
  • Rentals and smoking
  • Construction issues]

Continue Reading Association Academy: If it Weren’t for the People, Association Living Would be Perfect

Priority
Facts

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

Sophisticated Woman

Does your condominium or homeowners association (HOA) have owners who don’t pay their assessments?  Owners are finding more excuses to avoid paying their assessments.  Filing multiple bankruptcies, submitting payments with conditional language, NSF payments, claiming they don’t owe since they don’t use the common elements. . .  The list goes on and on.

So how does your association handle these “Sophisticated Debtors”?  Does your Association have a strong written collection policy?  Are your governing documents updated and in compliance with current law?  If not, your association will spend more than you should be in trying to collect unpaid assessments.

To ease the pain and headache of collecting unpaid assessments, make sure your association has:
Continue Reading Dealing with Sophisticated Debtors

FDCPA
Facts

Plaintiff, O’Donnell, bought his condo in 2012 and sold it in 2019.  Beginning in 2013, O’Donnell missed various assessment payments.  In late 2013 the association filed a lien, and in 2018 the association commenced a foreclosure action.  To bring the lawsuit to an end, O’Donnell sold his unit.  The sale allowed O’Donnell to pay off the claimed past due assessments and attorney fees.  At the time of sale, he paid $23,342 to the association and $22,234.94 to the attorneys which brought the case to an end.  Plaintiff then filed suit against the association’s law firm alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) by filing a foreclosure suit without legal authority.  Specifically, O’Donnell alleged the law firm failed to satisfy several of the prerequisites to proceed with a foreclosure suit against him.  Both parties moved for summary judgment.
Continue Reading Attorney Fees – FDCPA Violation – Failure to Follow Association Document Procedures

Vacant Land
Summary

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.

Facts

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

10 Commandments of Association Management

Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team as we reveal the 10 commandments of what association management “Shalt Not” do while governing. Together, we’ll cover the basics of what homeowner associations (HOAs), condo boards and managers need to know. We’ll also dive into the nitty gritty of assessment collections.

Presenters
Lydia Chartre, Partner, CCAL
Dan Miske, Partner, CCAL
Ketajh Brown, Attorney
Sandra Chapman, Senior Paralegal
Billie Fatheree, Paralegal
Continue Reading Association Academy: The 10 Commandments of Association Management – September 25, 2020

Land Mines
Facts

Plaintiffs live in Ashbrooke Property Owners Association (“Association”) and missed their annual assessment payments of $115 for three straight years.  The Association hired Defendant, Equity Experts, to collect the past due amounts.  Under the Declaration the past due assessments accrued interest at the rate of 18% per annum, plus the Association could charge a late fee and the Owner was “liable to the Association for all costs and attorney’s fees…”  Equity Experts added fees for their constant contact package and their Pre-Foreclosure package in the amount of $750 and $1,495 respectively.  In December of 2013, Defendant advised Plaintiffs that their balance was $3,199.60, but that if they did not pay within 10 days the balance may be at least $6,644.60.  Plaintiffs filed suit seeking class certification because the interest rate charged exceeded the amount allowed under Georgia law and because the demands were in excess of sums allows under the Association documents.
Continue Reading Class Action Status Granted to Association Homeowners Alleging FDCPA Violations