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:
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
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
Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team on February 5, 2021, as we outline the NEW 2020 Robert’s Rules, how parliamentary procedure should be used to run meetings more efficiently, some case examples of fine issues that arise and how to solve them, some basic collection reminders relating to death, trusts and mortgages and why your Rules matter more than you think. We hope this will be both interactive and fun while we share the latest information that homeowner associations (HOAs), condo boards and managers need to know. Looking forward to 2021 and making things as straightforward as possible.
Continue Reading Association Academy: Your Rules, Robert’s NEW Rules and Court Rules Relating to Fines
If your Association excessively fines an owner, expect a court to find a way to penalize the association.
In 2004 Mr. and Mrs. Mills (“Mills”) bought a home in the subdivision called Galyn Manor. In 2007 Galyn Manor began fining Mills for a commercial work vehicle parked in their driveway in violation of the association rules. Galyn Manor advised Mills that the fines would be $50 for each day that the commercial vehicle was parked on their property. By the end of 2007, the fines amounted to $645. In January of 2008, the association hired the Andrews Law Firm (“Law Firm”) to collect the fines. Between 2008 and May of 2015 many demands for payment were made, and many payments were made.
Continue Reading Excessive Fines Cause Courts to Find Liability – A Lesson in Fair Debt Collection Practices
Can our condominium association or HOA fine that resident that just won’t follow our rules? YES, just follow a few simple procedures. Learn how in less than a minute.
Want to learn more about Wisconsin condominium and HOA law from experienced condo and HOA attorneys? Read all about condo and HOA law at Association
Frequently we are asked about either inconsistent association documents or advised that although our documents say X we have always done Y so won’t our past precedent control? The answer is NO. Your documents control. You must follow what your documents say, unless there is something in them that is illegal or against public policy. This same point is continually stressed by the courts around the country.
Continue Reading YES – Wisconsin Condos and HOAs Have to Follow Their Association Documents
Harbour Island Condominium Owners Association, Inc. v. Alexander, No. B285755 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 24, 2019)
Summary
In Harbour Island, the Court of Appeals of California held that tenants renting a unit that was part of a condominium association did not have standing before the board concerning meeting attendance and fines imposed for violations. The association did not have to give the tenants an opportunity to be heard, unlike the rights of actual unit owners.
Continue Reading Tenants Due Process Rights are NOT the same as Owners Rights
Some states have statutes that require that Associations provide a notice and opportunity to be heard to a resident before the Association can fine them for a violation of the governing documents. Even though Wisconsin does not have such a statute, providing residents a notice of the alleged violation and opportunity to give their side of the story is an important component of providing due process—which will help make your fines ultimately enforceable.
Continue Reading The Importance of Due Process—What is a “Notice and Opportunity to be Heard?”
An owner violates the rules. The Board assesses fines to the unit owner. Will the fines hold up in a court of law? In this case, they did—and your Association can take note of what this Court says the HOA did right.
Facts. In a 2017 case, an owner who lived in a subdivision with an HOA planted bamboo in their yard, which then spread and infested a neighboring owner’s yard and some common areas. When the owner failed to remove the offending plants after notice, the HOA Board started to fine the owner, rather than to exercise “self-help” and take care of the bamboo infestation for the owner.
Continue Reading A Board of Directors’ Right to Fine for Violations