If someone doesn’t pay their assessments, they will typically receive a few late notices from our office, including the imposition of late fees in accordance with your association’s governing documents. If they fall two or three full months behind and our late notices have not led to any communication or payment arrangements, the Board of Directors will likely vote to send their account to the association’s attorney for further collections efforts.

The attorney’s office will send what’s called a demand letter informing the homeowner the account has been turned over to their office, and it will add any attorney fees incurred to the balance. Either at that time or up to 30 to 45 days later, the attorney will record a lien against the property. If after another 30 to 45 days the balance still hasn’t been paid, the attorney will file a civil suit against the homeowner. Once a judgment is obtained, if the homeowner still doesn’t pay within 30 to 45 days from that point, the attorney will take actions to enforce the judgment.

The actions which the attorney will take to enforce the judgment vary depending on the unique circumstances of that homeowner and their property. Actions can include wage garnishments, bank levies, seizure of personal property such as vehicles, sheriff’s sale of the property or judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure.

In the end, all assessments and legal costs, usually including all late fees in accordance with the association’s governing documents, are able to be collected. If the homeowner files bankruptcy they may be personally relieved from obligation to pay pre-filing amounts owed, but those amounts remain owed by the property and can usually be collected in the future when the property sells. If a homeowner is foreclosed upon by their mortgage lender during this process, as often those not paying their assessments are also not paying their mortgage, the lender may not be required to pay the association in full, but the homeowner remains personally liable for the debt.

While not as secure as other types of debts like taxes, student loans or child support, it is very rare homeowners can permanently avoid paying the assessments they owe, even if they declare bankruptcy or at some point in the process no longer own the property.

There is a common belief that a lien can be filed against the property but then the association must wait for the homeowner to sell in order to collect what is owed, and there isn’t much else that can be done in the meantime. This is simply false.