Knock, Knock,We’re Coming In… Collection and Enforcement Against Deceased Homeowners
Last time we checked, the mortality rate was 100%. This means that owners of real property within homeowners associations (“HOA’s” or “Associations”) will inevitably pass away at some point. This leaves many questions for Boards and management about how to navigate issues surrounding the separate interest still titled in the name of the deceased. Enforcement […]
The Impact of a Homeowner Filing Bankruptcy and Receiving a Discharge on Assessment Collection
*Asked & Answered Asked – Our HOA Board of Directors has been advised that a homeowner who is delinquent in their payment of assessments has filed bankruptcy. If the homeowner obtains a bankruptcy discharge does the HOA have to write off the delinquent account as a bad debt? Answered – Not necessarily. While a homeowner declaring bankruptcy […]
AB 1885 – Debtor Exemptions: Homestead Exemption
The homestead exemption protects the value of a homeowner’s primary residence in the event of a bankruptcy. Specifically, it provides that a specified portion of equity in a homestead is exempt from execution to satisfy a judgment debt. Existing state law prescribes that the amount of this homestead exemption is $75,000 for single homeowners, $100,000 […]
SB-908 Signed! Debt Collection Licensing Act
*New Legislation Existing state law provides for the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the “Rosenthal Act”), California’s state equivalent of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). Like the FDCPA, the Rosenthal Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in specified abusive, unfair, or deceptive practices to collect debts. Violations of the Rosenthal Act are enforceable […]
HOA Assessment Collection During the Pandemic
*Asked & Answered Asked – Our common area recreational facilities have been shut-down as a result of the pandemic. With this, and with the economic impact of COVID-19, should our HOA be excusing homeowners from having to pay assessments? What about reducing our assessments or changing our policy to not charge any late fees or […]
Incur a Cost of $10,000 to Collect…a $2,000 Debt?
*Asked and Answered Asked – We have several members in our community that are failing to pay their monthly HOA dues and have run through several debt collection firms in an attempt to collect on these accounts. The firms we have used continuously promised us to collect the delinquency and that “the fees will be […]
U.S. Supreme Court Holds Debt Collection Firms that Solely Practice Non-Judicial Foreclosure Exempt from FDCPA*
It is no secret that homeowners’ associations (“HOA”) are run and managed through the funds of monthly HOA assessments (“Fees”), and more often than not, HOA’s hire and retain debt collection firms to collect on past due Fees from delinquent members of the community. Sometimes, this leads HOA’s to lose large amounts of money in […]
SB 2 Signed: California Legislature Passes the Building Homes and Jobs Act to Address the Affordable Housing Crisis
California is currently facing a serious shortage of affordable housing. The housing crunch is impacting individuals and businesses in all parts of the state. Businesses are having trouble attracting and retaining employees and individuals face longer commute times and overcrowding, among a host of other issues. To combat the affordable housing crisis, the California Legislature […]
‘No Cost’ Collections Can Prove Very Costly
The collection practices of HOA collection vendors have come under increased scrutiny over recent years. For example, we have written about how California courts have struck down a vendor’s ability to reject partial payments. Those actions resonated throughout the HOA industry and resulted in significant changes to the approaches taken by collection vendors when pursuing […]
HOAs Required to Accept Partial Payments from Delinquent Homeowners
*New Case Law Collecting delinquent assessments remains one of the more challenging and frustrating aspects of a homeowners association’s (“HOA’s”) operations. Once a delinquent file is forwarded to a HOA’s collection company or law firm, industry practice has been to reject any partial payments made by the delinquent homeowner (i.e., to reject any payments that […]