Association dues are expected to be paid on time. However, some cannot pay HOA dues because of financial hardships. Whatever the reason may be, the association board needs to collect the dues. The board has the power to consider legal action if members do not pay on time. The pending dues of the delinquent members will not only keep association cash flow at stake, but it might also affect the current value of the property. Therefore, the association will try its best to collect HOA dues. If some of your association members are not paying and you want to know how to collect delinquent HOA dues, you can go through the following to get all the required information that you’ll need in this situation.

How to Collect Delinquent HOA Dues

You can start with reminders with a grace period. The grace period will vary from five to fifteen days. Once the grace period is over, you might consider legal action. 

Reminders

You can send reminders through registered mail to maintain the records. Whenever required, you can show the reminder to the legal authorities. It is important to take reminders seriously and make payment within the grace period.

Payment Plans

You should carefully plan payments to give practical options. The plan should give the struggling members a reasonable time for the payment. Also, you should not consider a legal action unless it is the last option. If a member agrees for the payments, he should be aware of the consequences he can face in the case of failure. The period will vary from six months to twelve months.

Protocols

It is important to follow the protocol to get the approval of the board on your payment plan. Otherwise, the board might not give approval. It can be worse when the delinquent member will file complaints.

Special Assessments

The board can do a special assessment due to an emergency. If it happens, you will have to understand that a few are not in a position to write a check for some reasons.

What Are the More Serious Options?

More serious options involve legal involvement. You might need to involve an attorney for collection services. Although, be sure to look into the attorney’s profile and their areas of practice to ensure that they’re able to handle a case like yours. You can further do your research by looking into your attorney’s case results to see how experienced they are. The procedure will vary depending on your state. Other alternatives that you can consider include filing a lien. You can also consider restricting access as an alternative. By doing so, you can stop the delinquent member to access tennis courts, pools, and fitness centers.

In addition to the above, you might need to decide to foreclose on the delinquent member’s home. You might not prefer to do this. But you will have to do this as a last option. More importantly, do all your preparations for the potential defenses that you might encounter. The process is going to be traumatic and expensive.

Bottom Line

Now you know how to collect delinquent HOA dues. There will be more than one way that you can do so, it just depends on how you want to go about it. Some options to consider if you’re in this situation include sending out reminders, enacting a payment plan, hiring an attorney, restricting access among many more.