HOA dues collection

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stokesdale-Greensboro
We live in a small neighborhood with around 28 houses and an HOA, just had the occaisional formal meeting tonight. Not much goes on, but annual dues are collected to pay the electric bill for our street lights. Now there are 5 people not paying, and the discussion revolved around how to get these people to pay up. I wanted to know who they were, I said we should just shame them into paying, public humilation/ridicule, etc. The board says that's private information, they can't give it out. I call BS, I'm a homeowner, part of the association, this information should be open to all homeowners. Am I wrong here?
 
Im on the HOA Board and yea you have to keep it private. But the board can put lien's on the house or even forclose on it.
 
MILLION-MILES said:
Im on the HOA Board and yea you have to keep it private. But the board can put lien's on the house or even forclose on it.
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That's great..in theory.

Chances are better than average in this economy that the home hs more owed on it than its actual value. So you lien the home, then foreclose..(good luck on that by the way as a second position) and if you ever get that far then what?

The HOA now own a home that they have to pay and maintain. HOA dus go up...everyone loses.

As frustrating as it is Tony, I would look at this as the proper place for socialistic activity (a small community) perhaps your neighbor has lost their job, is having trouble feeding the family, etc.

Another possibility take a drive through and count the for sale signs, generallywhen a home is on the market you stop paying dues as it is an unenforceable positon.
 
I would want to know who's dead weight I'm pullin.On a somewhat similair note we share a driveway w one neighbor.Any work that has been done to maintain it has been done by me at my expense.I borrowed a tractor and grader blade and spent most of a day tryin to recover the rocks that had washed away durin the past seven years we've been here.
He comes up to me and comments on how the dw is alot better and we agree to split the price of rock to go on it once his income tax gets here (roughly $450 for 20 ton).His money has came and went and no rock and with all the heavy rains we've had lately the dw looks like the grand canyon.I REFUSE to pick up the whole $450 tab for the rock.
 
Most likely the home owner has all the money they need for cigarettes and other optional expenses regardless of income. They agreed to the fees when they bought the home. Put a collections agency on them.

Then rewrite the HOA laws and put 30 days past due equals 24x24 sign in front yard stating this property is past due and will be in collections soon.
 
Be lucky you even have an HOA! My best friend lives in a private neighborhood with 85 homes in & one drive in/out. The pavement in front of his home is falling apart & washing away with every rain storm. It's not a well off community so no one is willing to help fix it. He lives close to the entryway. So they just watch it fall apart.
 
Now on what basis is this private information, privy only to the board members? I can understand it being private outside of all the homeowners, but if all 28 of us are in this togehter, shouldn't the 23 paying members ahve the right to know who the non-paying members are?

Yes we can put a lien on their house, but I'm sure the legal costs are way higher than the $135 annual dues. What "the association" voted on was to pay a lawyer $75 to send a DEMAND letter to the past due accounts. These people will be billed the extra $75 too.

Call me old school, but I think 5 flaming :poop:bags would be a better start.

I have to be careful, I have 3 non-running vehicles parked out front, everyone's been pretty cool with that though. Wife and I tried to get the HOA-disolution movement going, but everyone wants the lights.
 
Ron said:
That's great..in theory.
Chances are better than average in this economy that the home hs more owed on it than its actual value. So you lien the home, then foreclose..(good luck on that by the way as a second position) and if you ever get that far then what?
The HOA now own a home that they have to pay and maintain. HOA dus go up...everyone loses.
As frustrating as it is Tony, I would look at this as the proper place for socialistic activity (a small community) perhaps your neighbor has lost their job, is having trouble feeding the family, etc.
Another possibility take a drive through and count the for sale signs, generallywhen a home is on the market you stop paying dues as it is an unenforceable positon.
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I didnt say they are good ideas. Its just what can be done.
 
Gmachine said:
Be lucky you even have an HOA! My best friend lives in a private neighborhood with 85 homes in & one drive in/out. The pavement in front of his home is falling apart & washing away with every rain storm. It's not a well off community so no one is willing to help fix it. He lives close to the entryway. So they just watch it fall apart.
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I was gonna start another thread later, but you went there.

Our road is privately owned, the builder said they would but never did apply for it to become a state road. Most likely money...what does it take to start this process? Wife and I thought this was a good idea, but apparently the rest of the neighbors think we should let the road deteriorate and all pay for it later...even though we can't get $135 annually from everyone :shaking:

Yep, I didnt move far enough out in the country.
 
RenegadeT said:
... What "the association" voted on was to pay a lawyer $75 to send a DEMAND letter to the past due accounts....

...I think 5 flaming :poop:bags would be a better start.
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Lawyers... flaming :poop: bags... isn't this basically teh same thing?

Papa_Jon said:
I think you should find out why they have not paid, LOst job, sick family or other harsh reason before anything is done....
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That's kind of hard when you don't know who it is!

But seriously, come on, $135 a year is peanuts. IMO I'd want to know who it was so I could get the story - if it was a real, true hard luck case, I'd be tempted to just cover one of them myself and chock it up to what good neighbors do.
But of course its it's just somebody being a jackass "I'm not paying up b/c I hate HOAs" then :flipoff2: them, :poop:bag time.
 
RenegadeT said:
Our road is privately owned, the builder said they would but never did apply for it to become a state road. Most likely money...what does it take to start this process?
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Nowadays, a private road has to be brought up to state standards before they'll accept ownership and maintenance.
 
RenegadeT said:
did you see the $75 part? lawyers aren't free
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Yeah and all that $75 is for is the guys signature,his receptionist will do all the work.
 
THIS is why i live in the country.:beer:
 
kaiser715 said:
Nowadays, a private road has to be brought up to state standards before they'll accept ownership and maintenance.
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yeah I know that, I think it was built to the standards with intent to file, but thinking maybe the builder cheezed out and thats why it never happened. Is it free to apply...how does that work? Probably a moot point, the neighbors would rather pay to fix shit later. I said fawk fixing it, I have a few 4x4's.
 
If all the paying owners put a sign in their yard that said
"I paid my annual HOA dues"

I guess you'd know who didn't
 
upnover said:
If all the paying owners put a sign in their yard that said
"I paid my annual HOA dues"
I guess you'd know who didn't
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Now there's a good thought.That would most likely guilt them into paying or at the very least they would be unlikely to post the sign.
 
Can you turn off the lights that are in front of the non payer's houses? Take out light bulbs, disconnect wiring, etc.
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Can you turn off the lights that are in front of the non payer's houses? Take out light bulbs, disconnect wiring, etc.
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Well id guess so, but then wouldn't you be taking the safety aspect of the light away from all the people who use the road at night who DID pay?
 
RenegadeT said:
I have to be careful, I have 3 non-running vehicles parked out front, everyone's been pretty cool with that though. Wife and I tried to get the HOA-disolution movement going, but everyone wants the lights.
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That's the :poop:storm we ran in to at my folk's place. The neighborhood had an HOA, had a few non-paying members, when the screws were turned, they made sure to point out what everyone else was doing wrong...ie propane tanks were too big, wells weren't covered appropriately, garbage cans weren't covered/hidden, improper compost dumping, grass wasn't maintained to the max height, not to mention light duty vehicles that were licensed commercially (no commercial vehicles to remain over night) and my folks' house has 8 vehicles in the driveway with only 4 drivers.


In the end, most folks just shut up and went on their way because they were in violation of the HOA bylaws/ordinances in some fashion as well. So I guess it's one of those things, don't throw stones if you live in a glass house.
 
Last year I was two weeks late on paying my HOA fee because the first notice must have gotten lost either in the mail or in my junk mail trash pile. Two weeks and they charged me a $20 late fee, on a $200 HOA fee. So I sent them $200 and a letter explaining what happened. A month later I got a bill for $20. I threw it out. Two months later I get a bill for $55, I called them and they didn't give a shit, said I had to pay it. I politely requested that they remove the pile of yard debris that their landscapers left behind my fence, and I would pay their assinine $55 if they did that. They never removed it so I never paid. Finally it went to collections and my wife paid it because she was afraid it was going to kill out credit.

The pile of debris is still there, and just to spite them I've been piling my own stuff in it now too. I don't care, it is behind my fence and the only people that can see it are people driving down the road behind my house that is a city street and not part of the neighborhood. It's been there two years now and no one will remove it. Matter of fact, the landscapers just mow around it now. :lol:
 
hscrugby said:
How many people are on the board that don't want people to know who isn't paying dues?

:D
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LOL!

Seriously though, if the board members know who hasn't paid, then I would demand to also know, or I would say I am not paying either.

I like Chip's idea of putting a sign out in the front yard.
 
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