condo fee- (fees, banks, property, lawyer)

[dc53]

I posted a scenereo on the texas/San Antonio site, and was guided here. I will try to explain to you and hopefully someone will know what to do, if anything. I have a condo in San Antonio, Texas. I live in Wyoming in the summer. I was in St. Louis, Missouri in February till April 15th. In the end of February, I knew I had a condo fee coming up for March, so I got on the computer and looked up the management company- I sent the fee to the address listed on March 2nd. The fee is $100.30 per month. I came back to Wyoming on April 15th, and had a 'late' notice in the mail. It seems that my payment never reached the compay because it is the old address- they moved about a year ago and are now at another address. My check never cleared the bank. I got back to the management company right away- they said they would contact the accounting department and call me back. After three weeks, I had not been contacted, so I called them back- they knew nothing. I sent a letter that day, May 7th, to the board of directors, explaining what had happened, and sent both a copy of the carbon of the check I had written in March, and also a copy of my bank statement so they could see that the check before it and the check after it were cashed in very early March- I did this so they would know I was not lying about sending the check. I also sent another check to cover the March check. I paid April and May on time. (I have always paid on time). I get a call today that they will "waive the first months late fee". I am shocked- I have been trying to work on this- sent the check to the advertised address on the internet- I contacted them as soon as I got a letter- then they did not get back with me. They are charging me another $100.00 for 'late fees'. Can this be legal? I know that this is a property management company, so they will try to get as much money as they can any way they can. I looked up the Texas Attorney General to see if I could make a complaint, and it says 'we do not help with individual complaints'. Who would I contact? Is there anybody out there from Bexar County that knows would be a good place to start? Also, there is a maximun that a company is allowed to charge for a late fee. It is set by each individual state. Anything above that number is called a 'userage fraud' collection- illegal. I am so upset at being so far away and I feel that I am getting taken advantage of. Can any of you give me sound advice? I have talked/written to the management company until I am blue- they seem to just want to take more money. Thanks You can pm me if you would like.

[olecapt]

It is improbable that anyone is going to fix your problem. You may sue over it and likely win. But it is likely you will be told to pay your own legal fees which will far exceed the amount in question.

Under any circumstances get paid up. Failure to do so can send the penalties due to draconian levels in a relatively short period of time. If you are back in the community you can file a small claims action which you will likely win.

Other than that there is likely no workable form of redress...you been had. Smile and bear it..or hire a lawyer...or move to Texas.

Those are your options.

Sorry about that...but life tends to the practical not the fair.

[RickMG]

How were you paying the fees when you lived there? I've never see anyone pay the condo fees in person (not to say some don't). If you think you'd win in court, file at small claims court as it's only $100. You might win because it most likely is their fault that the web site wasn't changed with the new address, that is as long as it was their web site. I hope you stopped payment on the checks. Since some banks charge you for stopping payment, you could show the charges as proof that you sent payment. But, outside of not updating their web page, they really didn't do anything else wrong but sure could be more understanding and trusting.