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Find Blog Articles for Florida’s Condo, HOA and the Management Industry. 

Florida passed the statewide Condominium Safety Bill in Wake of the Surfside Building Collapse back in June of 2021. This is a major, positive change moving forward in the safety of the condominiums.

Florida passed the statewide Condominium Safety Bill in Wake of the Surfside Building Collapse back in June of 2021. This is a major, positive change moving forward in the safety of the condominiums.

  • Posted: May 27, 2022
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Florida passed the statewide Condominium Safety Bill in Wake of the Surfside Building Collapse back in June of 2021. This is a major, positive change moving forward in the safety of the condominiums.

What does this bill entail?

  • Recertification is now required after 30 years, or 25 years if the building is within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the coast, and every 10 years thereafter.
  • Condominium associations would be required to maintain sufficient reserves to cover major repairs, and to conduct a study of the reserves every 10 years. Inspection reports would be provided to owners by the condominium association, and if structural repairs are required, owners would be notified and work must start within a year of the report given.
  • If the building’s certificate of occupancy was issued on or before July 1, 1992, the building’s initial milestone inspection must be performed before December 31, 2024.

 

The structural integrity reserve study at a minimum, must include:

  • Roof.
  • Load-bearing walls or other primary structural members.
  • Floor.
  • Foundation.
  • Fireproofing and fire protection systems.
  • Plumbing.
  • Electrical systems.
  • Waterproofing and exterior painting.
  • Windows.
  • Any other item that has a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost that exceeds $10,000 and the failure to replace or maintain such item negatively affects the items listed in subparagraphs a.-i., as determined by the licensed engineer or architect performing the visual inspection portion of the structural integrity reserve study.

Looking ahead:

The State of Florida Property Management Association (sfpma.com) and the many members are offering their services.  On our members directory Condo & HOA’s all over the state can find the top rated companies to handle their buildings inspections, engineering, fire safety inspections, roofers, painting and waterproofing, plumbers and electricians for all of your Building Maintenance repairs.

On top of these are the Law Firms, that help with making sure your buildings are legaly ready for the changes.

We understand with all of these changes each condo and hoa will need help with funding the reserves into the future, so we did not forget this: Our industry members include the top financial companies, ie: Banks and Loan companies ready to help wth your investments. Act now start saving and growing your reserves, at times you will also need to get  your accounting and bookkeeping with the added help from our collections members to make sure you cn get the funding to perform the many needed repairs.

SFPMA MEMBERS DIRECTORY IN FLORIDA FIND MEMBER COMPANIES FROM TALLAHASSEE TO THE KEYS.

Largest Florida Directory of Companies working with Property Management, Condo and HOA properties.

If you are not listed become a member today!

3 Ways Outside Investors Could Hurt Your HOA (And 3 Simple Solutions) Mitch Drimmer

3 Ways Outside Investors Could Hurt Your HOA (And 3 Simple Solutions) Mitch Drimmer

  • Posted: May 24, 2022
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3 Ways Outside Investors Could Hurt Your HOA (And 3 Simple Solutions)

Mitch Drimmer

Anyone trying to buy a home right now knows that the market is a mess and that investors are their only real competition. The Washington Post determined that outside investors purchased a record share of sold homes across 40 major metropolitan areas in the US last year (1 in 7 homes sold!)  But this isn’t just hurting home buyers. That’s a huge number of absentee homeowners renting out space in condos and HOAs. A few long-term renters in your HOA or condo association aren’t a problem in the grand scheme of things, but rentals can get very out of hand very quickly if left unchecked.

Community Associations – It’s a Numbers Game

Keeping investors out isn’t a simple, or even always desired task. Because investors are not inherently bad. Especially in coveted vacation destinations, everyday people want to own a sweet little slice of heaven that they can use as they please and then rent out for the other half of the year. But too many investor-owned properties in your condo or HOA can alter the nature and even purpose of a community association.

The problem with investment properties becoming a significant percentage of your community association’s roster boils down to a potential lack of accountability. It’s kind of like one of those word problems you used to have in math class:

Let’s say you inherit a large garden space, and you are a watermelon lover. You share 500 garden plots with friends and neighbors so you can all grow watermelons to enjoy this summer. In the first year, you all grow delicious, beautiful watermelons, and life is good. But if the following year, 300 of the plot owners start letting people come in and use their soil however they like, the remaining 200 are stuck dealing with the potential consequences. One guy went and planted thistle, and the guy two plots away is planting lavender, and someone else planted cotton which would probably have been fine but now there’s a bull weevil infestation. Now the entire garden is suffering. If all 500 original gardeners were collectively responsible, it wouldn’t be such a challenge to face. But contacting absent gardeners to resolve the messes made by their amateur gardening buddies grows slimmer as the numbers climb– it’s just too much work for too few people.

In the story, your community is the garden, and the 200 who got stuck are the homeowners who are living in their own homes in the community. They are the ones left holding the bag when absentee investors do not respect the rules or engage with their community.

3 Ways Absentee Homeowners Can Hurt Your Condo or HOA

Making Quorum

Homeowner apathy has long been a thorn in the backside of HOAs and condo associations. From dismal meeting attendance to push-back on necessary assessment increases, condos and HOAs struggle when it comes to engaging with their residents. Now imagine half or more of your community’s homes aren’t owner-occupied or even human-owned if a business or conglomerate has bought them as an investment! Getting the votes to amend community documents, raising assessments, implementing special assessments–all of it becomes much harder, if not impossible, to accomplish. If homeowner delinquency reaches dangerous levels, coming back from those losses will be even more difficult to do successfully.

Community Comes Second

Especially when dealing with large, well-funded corporate investment entities, keeping your community, well, a community, becomes increasingly difficult. To a company, your community is a stream of revenue–it’s business! And that isn’t a bad thing on its own, but it can deeply impact everything that goes into creating a harmonious living space. Now it isn’t just about the maintenances that can’t get approved or the special assessments that are needed. Any changes to the community that help improve general camaraderie or success are likely to be shot down by those who are more concerned about their bottom lines than the welfare of families.

Investors Can Stage a Literal Coup

This is not a scare tactic or an “only in the right circumstances” situation we’re talking about–certain state laws, like Arizona’s Condo Act, include language that allows for Termination of Condominium in the event that a specified percentage of the units (80% in AZ) agree to terminate the community association. For investors, this means they could dissolve a community and force the remaining homeowners to sell their homes at “fair market value,” to be determined by an appraiser hired by the 80% calling for dissolution.

3 Ways HOAs and Condo Associations Can Push Back on Outside Investors

Keeping your community healthy is a necessity. Sometimes the best option is to stop potential nonsense before it has a chance to get out of hand. HOAs and condos have some options when it comes to weeding out the bad-faith investors and identifying the good ones that will contribute to your healthy community.

Set a floor.

Implementing rental minimums can be a huge help in staving off corporate investors. One popular option is imposing a minimum length for a lease. Dictating that leases must be over a certain number of days (30, for example) keeps away anyone trying to make a quick buck on pricey weekender rentals. You could also set a restriction on WHEN a tenant is allowed to begin leasing their units. Seven months is a common bar–it’s not so long that it turns away owners looking to have a winter or summer vacation property, but it’s longer than many corporate investors are willing to wait to begin renting a unit, especially when flips these days take so little time.

Set a ceiling.

Setting a bar on the maximum rental occupancy for the whole community is a brilliant way to stop investor encroachment. Limiting the rental percentage well below that 80% threshold we talked about is the simplest way to avoid investors taking over and dissolving your community out from underneath you and your homeowners. By setting a realistic, healthy rental percentage (which will vary by community size and location), boards can minimize the number of investors interested in buying property in the community.

Play to your strengths.

Your authority as the trustees of the community is likely the strongest asset you have when it comes to combatting absentee homeownership. Requiring board approval of all future tenants are one way of slowing short-term rentals. Requiring background checks on potential renters is another tool to utilize. They help protect the community, but also cost the landlord a nominal fee that really starts to add up the more tenants they bring in. And proper enforcement of your CC&Rs, like trash cans being left out too long or damages to community property, will make investors think twice about bringing in a high volume of unpredictable tenants.

Don’t Forget a Collections Plan

Outside investors are here to stay, for better or for worse. Sooner or later, they will have a space in your community, and when that happens, it’s important to consider what that means, and have plans in place to keep them in check. That includes a plan for community collections because even major corporate entities can fall behind on monthly assessments. Axela Technologies can help with any collections efforts your HOA or condo association has, including collecting from corporate investors. Call us today for your no-risk, no-cost consultation.

Collection Laws in Every State, How The State and Federal Government Regulates Collections

Collection Laws in Every State, How The State and Federal Government Regulates Collections

  • Posted: May 16, 2022
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Collection Laws By State

While each state must follow the FDCPA, most have additional laws that regulate how debt collectors interact with consumers. Use the map below to learn how your state regulates these laws.

Don’t see your state? Axela Technologies is licensed to do collections in every state. We are taking care to build out a comprehensive guide outlining collection laws for each state. Keep watching this space!

 

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

Axela Technologies provides no cost and no risk collections for community associations using best practice collections strategies, advanced proprietary technology, and highly trained customer service representatives. We are licensed in across the United States and compliant with the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA).

The FDCPA is a federal law that prevents debt collectors from harassing or misleading consumers. It covers debt collection for mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, medical debt and other types of debt for personal use. Many states have their own fair debt collection laws as well. Some of these laws mirror the FDCPA. However, some offer more protection to consumers by, for example, covering creditors as well as collectors, specifying additional types of behavior that violate state law, or providing for additional types of damages. Below you can learn about the fair debt collection laws in various states.

HOA and Condo Delinquency Collection For Community Associations.

We are a specialized collections service which means a great deal in the community association industry. Understanding the nuances of how people fall behind in their maintenance fee payments and how to resolve their issues is a science and an art. At Axela Technologies we have what it takes to “move the needle” and recover 100% of what is owed to the association and the best part is that we are totally merit based. IF WE DON’T RECOVER YOUR MONEY WE DON’T GET PAID. A pretty simple concept but a bold promise at the same time.

Our proprietary software is second to none and we have the ability to keep the management and board of directors informed in real time 24/7. Our system never sleeps. The technology is fantastic and is only equaled by the people who will service your delinquent members and work with them to resolve their delinquency issues.

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Delinquencies are starting to pick up so, Comply with Changing State Association Collections Laws Using Axela Technologies

Delinquencies are starting to pick up so, Comply with Changing State Association Collections Laws Using Axela Technologies

  • Posted: Apr 26, 2022
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Easily Comply with Changing State Association Collections Laws Using Axela Technologies

Are your community association’s collections in compliance with changing regulations?

Community association collections laws are changing. For many years, condominium associations and homeowners’ associations (HOAs) had a lot of freedom when it came to handling unpaid assessments. Community associations were able to pursue home and unit owners who fell behind in a variety of ways, because few state regulations interfered with the association’s right to collect overdue assessments. They were largely free to levy late fees, interest, collection costs, and legal fees against the delinquent home or condo owner. Condominium and HOA management firms, when acting as agents for their association clients, were similarly able to offer a collections process as part of their routine service offerings for their clients. This could include issuing warning letters, demand letters, and other collection notices, or even recording liens.

To say those days are over is an understatement. Although there are no federal regulations in place, many states now have condominium or HOA association collections laws that are designed to protect delinquent home and condo owners. While this type of consumer protection is really important, it’s created an unintentional side effect: community associations are more regulated and challenged than ever before when it comes to collecting the fees and assessments that are the lifeblood of their association.

Compliance 1

Community Association Collections Laws Vary by State

Make no mistake, these state laws must be obeyed and the consequences for violating them can be severe. Some states, like Florida, now require additional notices to be sent for certain types of collection activities, delaying the whole process. Other states, such as Texas, have such rigid requirements that many association management companies would rather pay a small fortune for an attorney than seek out cost-effective collections options, believing this is their best option to avoid risk.

Then you have states like Maryland where community association management firms are actually expected to acquire and maintain collection agency licenses in order to send out bills on behalf of their association clients. This is a huge burden being to place on management companies and creates yet another layer of risk. Maintaining a collection agency license requires extensive knowledge and practice of the current community association collection laws regarding the collection of delinquent fees from HOA and condominium unit owners–management companies should not be expected to shoulder that responsibility.

Compliance 2

Choose an Industry-Specific Collections Partner

Axela Technologies is licensed and insured in every state that we service.  Maintaining that knowledge of association collections law is a sacred duty that we take to heart so we can best serve the industry. We even offer indemnification to the associations and association management firms that retain our services to collect from their delinquent homeowners. This concept is so important, it merits serious consideration for any association management firm that wants to focus on delivering service excellence to its association clients without risking being sued for violating a state collection law.

Keeping up with the law changes in your state can be tedious and difficult. Let a specialized HOA and condo association collections agency handle that worry for you. Talk to one of our condominium and HOA delinquency collection experts to learn how best to collect those overdue fees and assessments while keeping your association management business and your association clients safe from the risk of handling collections without a license.

Compliance 3

 

Get your free collections analysis today and start working with one of our many HOA and condominium association collections experts.

Axela Technologies handles all collections on a merit-based system. We’ll help you make sure you aren’t putting your association at risk by violating federal or state consumer protection laws for your condominium or HOA.

 

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6 HOA Violations & How to Avoid Them

6 HOA Violations & How to Avoid Them

  • Posted: Apr 22, 2022
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6 HOA Violations & How to Avoid Them

by Holly Bunch on Apr 19, 2022 1:00:00 PM

A Homeowners Association (HOA) is a private body made up of members of society who own property within a common area, led by an elected board of volunteers. The association’s main objective is to grow and add value to the property by protecting communal regions and setting rules and regulations.

Different organizations have rules that members must adhere to regarding architectural amusements like fences, swimming pools, entrances, exterior home designs, and HOA.

The HOA makes homeowners and buyers appreciate their surroundings and ensures that lawns are cut and home exteriors remain attractive. Although some rules and regulations may seem challenging, members who comply with them reap significant rewards from the association.

 

HOA Violations and How to Avoid Them

HOA violations are practices that go contrary to the set covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) set by the association. They include:

  • Landscaping

Having unkempt, overgrown, and heavily weeded lawns would be a crime for any property owner. They also consider using trees taller than the recommended height and color for fencing an offense.

You can avoid landscaping violations by following the set rules, such as maintaining well-kept and clean lawns and ensuring the fence trees are within the required height, such as 5 feet maximum. In addition, use drip irrigation and controlled sprinklers on lawns and along sidewalks.

  • Noise

It is considered a crime for group members to play loud music between the evening and early morning. Additionally, it is against the HOA rules and regulations for members to hold social gatherings between the restricted hours or even have guests in parking areas, playing deafening music and making loud noises during odd hours.

Like many cities and counties, the HOA adheres to noise ordinances enacted for the benefit of its members. Property owners should constantly refer to the rules on noise pollution management to ensure that they give their neighbors and the general community peaceful nights and calm mornings.

  • Vehicles and Parking

Residents will break HOA rules by parking non-permitted vessels on the streets or driveways, such as boats or commercial autos. Driving outside of designated locations or exceeding the speed limit in congested regions is also deemed a crime.

Members must follow established area speed restrictions, parking rules in defined zones, and the types of vessels permitted to park on the land and along the streets.

  • Pets

Residents love pets, and some consider them family. Therefore, the HOA has rules on the types of pets and areas where pets can and can’t walk, leash dogs, or pick up pets. Every resident must not violate the pet restrictions and rules. Otherwise, the HOA and neighbors may not be remorseful for such offenses.

Members need to know the number of pets per homestead, the good breeds and weights, and the law on picking up after the pets.

  • Undisclosed Rentals

Renting or leasing out different places on the property to get extra money may violate the association’s bylaws. State, federal, and sometimes local regulations govern and supersede HOA operations. With this in mind, they establish regulatory standards with other organizations, such as housing insurance companies.

Insurance companies determine the occupant-to-rented property ratio. As a result, property owners need to acquire written permission from the HOA before subletting their properties.

  • Trash

Poor waste management and careless placement of trash and dust bins on the property are considered violations. It is an HOA offense to leave the receptacle bins outside during non-collection hours, in front of people’s homes, or inconspicuous spots. They detract from the value of a property. 

 

When home and unit owners don’t pay their association fees and dues, the Board is challenged with handling the collection of those delinquent funds.

When home and unit owners don’t pay their association fees and dues, the Board is challenged with handling the collection of those delinquent funds.

  • Posted: Mar 23, 2022
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Self-Managed condominium associations and HOAs are governed by well-meaning volunteer leaders who keep a close eye on the association’s finances. When home and unit owners don’t pay their association fees and dues, the Board is challenged with handling the collection of those delinquent funds. Running a tight ship often leads to no available cash for unforeseen problems. Hiring an attorney to handle a collection matter is expensive and just doesn’t make sense. Axela Technologies collection solution offers the self-managed association Board a collection solution at no cost or risk to the association. Licensed and insured collection services from Axela Technologies lets the self-managed association keep their budget intact while collecting the delinquent funds they are owed and need to run the association. That’s just smart!

Attorneys can be very useful to self-managed condominium associations and HOAs when they need legal assistance. However, using an attorney when a homeowner has fallen behind in their dues and assessments is not a frugal choice. Whether successful or not at resolving the problem, the attorney will require payment. After all, they are providing legal services at a billable hourly rate. Smart self-managed condominium and HOA Boards know that they have a collection problem, not a legal problem. Employing Axela Technologies to solve the collection problem makes sense. Unlike an attorney, there are no hourly fees and the low reasonable fees that are charged by the collection agency are passed through to the delinquent homeowner, where they belong. After all, it was their failure to produce timely payment of their fees and assessments that put the association in this predicament to begin with. It wouldn’t be fair to force the good-paying home and unit owners within the self-managed association to foot the bill for the association to collect the monies it is owed.

Using an outsourced collection agency like Axela Technologies is in the best interest of all involved. Forward thinking Board members of self-managed condominium associations and HOAs know that spending as little money as possible is in the best interests of all association members. That is one of the reasons they chose to self-manage in the first place. Axela Technologies provides a perfect solution to a potentially expensive problem. The collection fees passed through to homeowners from Axela are far less than those of an expensive attorney who charges by the hour. Not only does the self-managed association save money, their homeowners also benefit from a less expensive solution to correcting their indebtedness.

Axela Technologies handles all collections on a merit-based system. Visit our website at https://www.axela-tech.com today and ask to speak to one of our delinquency collection experts.

Fishy Legal Tactics HOA Attorneys Have Used for Collections by Mitch Drimmer

Fishy Legal Tactics HOA Attorneys Have Used for Collections by Mitch Drimmer

  • Posted: Feb 05, 2022
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Fishy Legal Tactics HOA Attorneys Have Used for Collections

Mitch Drimmer  / Axela Tech

 

Thinking outside the box can be great, especially in the homeowners association and condo association industry. It’s what makes our signature collections process here at Axela so successful.

But out-of-the-box thinking can be used against you, too. Attorneys are always looking for new ways to make the most money, even HOA attorneys. Time and again we’ve seen the tricks they use claiming to try to collect for your association, but really they’re just lining their own pockets. So often, using an HOA attorney ends with the association losing the money owed to them, and having to pay on top of that to cover lengthy legal efforts that didn’t succeed anyway.

Every time we hear stories about the crazy lengths some lawyers will go to when collecting for HOAs or condos, we start to think maybe the box is there for a reason.

Unjust Enrichment Someone Expense Someone Else

Unjust Enrichment

A while back we talked about a community in a sticky collections situation. One of their unit owners had passed away, leaving a mortgage-free title to an heir. But, it came with a $13,000 tax certificate (which had been sold to an investor) and $17,000 owed to the association, as well as a tax-deed sale that had already been set. The perfect storm for the association to lose out on a hefty chunk of change. Now Axela was able to draft a clever plan to avoid that and had to act quickly to make it work, but if we hadn’t been called in, here’s what would have happened:

The HOA’s attorney wanted to let the unit go to the tax-deed sale and then file a suit for something called “unjust enrichment.” This is a claim basically stating that someone (in this instance, the investor who’d purchased the tax certificate) was paid at the expense of someone else (the association).

This is a risky play for a lot of reasons: first, if the tax sale goes through, the money owed to the association is ‘wiped out,’ meaning there is no chance of recovering money from the sale or from the owner after the fact. Additionally, if the judge found that the investor was not unjustly enriched (which is the likely outcome) their tax lien would have been rightly prioritized over association fees.

So the idea of unjust enrichment was a wild reach that was almost certainly going to be unsuccessful in recovering for the association. But it would have been a definite way to tack on a ton of hours in legal fees for the attorney, wouldn’t it?

Fishy Lawsuits Questionable HOA Attorneys

Sneaking In New Rules

Fishy lawsuits aren’t the only questionable trick attorneys have up their sleeves. One client we worked with had an attorney attempt to completely ignore state statutes by advising the Board to modify the community’s governing documents to contradict state laws. This was complicated and unethical for several reasons, like the fact that governing documents don’t overrule state statutes (something an HOA attorney would be WELL aware of!) so the attorney’s time and counsel which they charged the association for were totally unnecessary.

To add insult to injury, these changes were made to try to force the bank to take responsibility for debt owed to the association, creating a lengthy legal battle as part of this ridiculous plan. Again, we’re seeing a trend of attorneys being paid but the association not recovering their lost income – in fact, the community often winds up owing the attorney more for their efforts and having to write off the bad debt from the delinquent assessments. Talk about throwing good money after bad!

Attorneys Being paid associations not recovering

Just Because it’s Legal Doesn’t Make it Ethical

Clearly, all HOA attorneys are not the same, and we hope that your community association’s attorney is an upstanding and ethical partner for your community. You need your attorney to be available to advise you on decisions the Board makes to help prevent future lawsuits and to deal with any that do come.

But your attorney is just one of the tools in your community association’s toolbox. Just as you wouldn’t use your HOA attorney (and pay their high fees) to perform management tasks, you also shouldn’t be hiring your attorney to perform collections. The attorney’s only recourse is to take the issue to the courts. That means pursuing foreclosure, or, if that’s not likely to be successful, trying some legal scheme like these that will get the attorney paid for their time, but is unlikely to end with money in the association’s pocket.

The Attorney's Recourse To The Courts

Treating People Like People

Thinking outside the box can be great, but the more we hear about the crazy legal hoops attorneys find to jump through that only seem to take advantage of the association, the more we think that they need the box.

There’s at least one ethical, merit-based way that has a 95% success rate when it comes to collecting debts owed to associations: Axela. Our proprietary technology and process empowers defaulted homeowners to set up payment plans they can actually pay off, rather than harassing them for lump sums of money they’ll never be able to repay, or putting them out of their home in a foreclosure.

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Florida Statute Could Strike Down Delayed Collections For HOAs Post-Foreclosure by Axela

Florida Statute Could Strike Down Delayed Collections For HOAs Post-Foreclosure by Axela

  • Posted: Feb 03, 2022
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We know that this headline reads like a Florida-specific issue, but Florida is often used as a guideline for other state laws and courts. For this reason, we think it’s important for homeowners and condo associations in other states to take note.

In Accardi v. Regions Bank, Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that awarded the bank a deficiency judgment and remanded the circuit court to enter an amended final judgment to include attorney’s fees and taxable costs only. The bank was not able to recover its deficiency judgment.

This happened because of a Florida Statute that states “Actions other than the recovery of real property shall be commenced as follows … within one year” (of a certificate of title being issued or acceptance of a deed in lieu of foreclosure, that is):

“An action to enforce a claim of a deficiency related to a note secured by a mortgage against a residential property that is a one-family to four-family dwelling unit. The limitations period shall commence on the day after the certificate is issued by the clerk of court or the day after the mortgagee accepts a deed in lieu of foreclosure.”

That’s a lot of legal jargon that most simply translates to say that there is a one-year statute of limitations period for which a claim for a deficiency may be acted upon (not to be confused with the timeframe for enforcing a deficiency judgment that has already been entered) in order to avoid the deficiency claim from becoming time-barred.

This Accardi v. Regions Bank ruling got us all thinking. Clearly, it reflects a problem for banks and lenders who have had to foreclose and were left with a sale that did not satisfy the judgment amount at foreclosure, but that isn’t really the takeaway here. The takeaway is that, in theory, this same statute could potentially be used to prevent delayed collections for HOAs and condo associations when attempting to recover assessments post-foreclosure.

Is your community association trying to recover outstanding debt post-foreclosure? You should be.

If the association was the foreclosing party, and they recovered less than the amount owed as a result of the sale of the property, then that would give rise to pursuing a claim for a deficiency. So it would be very worthwhile to enforce a claim for a deficiency within a year of the certificate of title being issued.

Again, this statute of limitations is specific to Florida, so if your own state already has statutes that have different time restrictions, you need to follow those to the letter of the law. But doing this seemingly small task in the right time frame could be the difference between getting your deserved monies owed or leaving it all on the table due to a dickered-out semantic technicality.

Similarly, if an association has debt that is uncollectable from a subsequent owner due to superior lien foreclosure or tax sale, the association should act quickly to enforce its collection rights on this debt. While the fact pattern under this scenario is different from pursuing a deficiency claim created by virtue of the association’s own foreclosure sale, it would be wise to take action to collect on this debt sooner rather than later, to avoid any potential argument that would suggest it is a deficiency and that it is time-barred.

Collections delayed are collections denied.

No HOA or Condo association should stop trying to collect the money it is owed to them until said debt has been declared uncollectible by a collection professional, and that may not be your community association attorney. Don’t leave money on the table and don’t accept HOA and condo delinquency write-offs. Let a professional Condo and HOA collection company recover the money that is owed to your community association.

Axela Technologies, the nation’s leading collection company for community associations, does know the laws nationwide and we suggest that pursuing that debt at no cost and no risk is a good strategy. A great strategy, you must send the file to collections before it is too late. Perhaps a court will say that beyond one year is too late.
Don’t write off debt that could have been recovered. Call us for a free review and collection analysis. Not only can we collect from debtors who have been foreclosed on, but we can also collect from homeowners who are behind on their assessments, all at no cost to the association.

 

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