Many homeowners are surprised to learn that a Homeowners Association (HOA) or a Condominium Association (COA) can foreclose on homes when the homeowner fails to pay the assessments as they come due. These can be the nastiest cases and the ones that can start to snowball out of control real quick. Just being a few days late on one payment can snowball into a foreclosure. For example, if your association requires a $25 late fee for a late payment and you fail to include that extra $25, that will be an issue.
If you pay the next month but did not include the previous month’s late fee, the money you send will first be applied to the $25 late fee from the previous month. So, the payment you just made for your monthly assessment is $25 short, so another $25 late fee will kick in, and this will compound and snowball to the point where you owe many thousands of dollars even though you sent a check each month.
The HOA lawyers are generally very aggressive. They only get paid when you pay them, so they are happy to fight you and run up a big legal bill because they know if you do not pay it, they will foreclose on you and they will get paid 100% f what they are owed when the house is sold at the auction. So, what is someone to do that now finds themselves tens of thousands of dollars in debt to an HOA?
There are generally 3 options assuming that the money the HOA is claiming to be due is legitimate (and by the way, it almost always is, even if it is unfair). Option #1 is to pay the debt in full, by when someone has a case that has snowballed out of control, that is usually not an option. Option #2 is to work out a payment plan to pay the debt off over time.
Option #3 would be a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you would given 5 years to catch up on the missed assessments as long as you keep up on the current assessments. Depending on the value of your house and the amount of money you owe on your mortgages, you may be able to even eliminate the HOA debt, or possibly pay it at pennies on the dollar is a process known as a lien strip.
If you find yourself behind on your Homeowner or Condo Association dues and simply cannot catch up, please reach out to us immediately to discuss your options. These situations can go from bad to worse real fast and in our experience, the sooner you start on the correct solution, the better things will ultimately work out. Remember, the Homeowner or Condo Association has lawyers and you can lose your house. Do not mess around, call Loan Lawyers today for your 100% free consultation so that we can discuss your options and what we may be able to do for you. Call us at 1-888-FIGHT-13 now to speak to an attorney about your specific situation.
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I have been living in South Florida for the past 40 years. I knew since I was a teenager that I wanted to be an undefined lawyer. When I graduated from law school, I started my own firm in 1999 and haven’t looked back since. In my career, I have helped people with a myriad of legal problems, but nothing has been as satisfying as helping those struggling to save their homes or fighting a creditor. When I go home at the end of a long day and we saved someone’s house or successfully sued a debt collector, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction and happiness like no other area of law ever has.
