Need Help Desperately on How to Handle Nasty HOA Situation (rent, lawyer)

[jlwrivera]

Wow. I am surprised at the animosity here. I asked for help/ideas with my predicament. For those of you who offered suggestions - thank you. I actually was searching on google for help with HOAs, dispute with HOAs and this forum kept popping up. So I signed up hoping that someone might have a brilliant suggestion, or could share an experience where they were able to reslove a similar situation successfully. For some reason, I feel I need to clarify myself, as apparently it did not come through in my post:

1.) I am not angry with the HOA.
2.) I am not upset about living in a community with an HOA - I think they serve a valuable purpose.
3.) I did pay my dues for 2009.
4.) I did pay Q1 late, and accepting responsibility, I paid the late fees. Q2 was on time, and Q3 & Q4 were early - very early.
5.) I have no problem paying the dues I agreed to pay.
5.) I have had fees waived from my account before, as I am not a perfect human, and now looking back, yep, I am with you, I was totally stupid in listening to the woman on the other end of the phone tell me not to worry that the fees were taken care of. (Just to let you all know that I have learned my lesson - last week when I got a letter indicating I was now receiving fines for the oil spot on the driveway, I called in immediately and spoke with a woman and explained that it was taking us a bit more time to find the right cleaner on the oil spot. She said: I'll give you to October 15th and remove the fines from you account. I politely said thank you and went about my day - documenting the day time and person I spoke with. The very next day it occured to me that I just made the EXACT same mistake AGAIN. So I called and spoke with someone else to clarify that the fines were indeed removed, and when I am back in town later this week, I will get it in Writing.)

I suspect my real issue is with the property mangement firm, which I should have clarified. I absolutely accept responsibility for the situation, but going back and saying to myself - you should have had the woman at the Property Mangement send it in writing that I did not need to pay the bill, I should have had my address as the primary contact information, I should have kept massive amounts of documentation on this entire situation expecting it to end up in litigation, I should have asked the property managment's attorney to clarify when and how they would get back to me on whether or not my settlement offer was accepted or not - there are a million I should haves. Going back and analyzing what I should have done does me absolutely no good.

I am not placing blame or crying that it's not may fault. I did not come here looking for sympathy or judgment. I came here looking for advice and ideas on how I might be able to keep the house from going to foreclosure over this situation since I may very well be unable to come up with the $1496 before November 11th. While the mortgage and HOA dues are budgeted for, this extra nugget was not.

Here's to looking forward and keeping a positive view of life.

[pink caddy]

Basically, you're a confusing person, at least to me. I don't know where your're coming from.

Last post--something about animosity here. Then your admission of not CYA as I suggested you should have done.You agree.

Then some rambling about bla, bla, and then nobody responds all day. Know why? Can't figure out your need for help. What OTHER kind of help will help you or make all those that gave the advise YOU asked for not look like the bad guys??

[jlwrivera]

Hey Pink Caddy -

I did get great advice and I have said thank you to those people - twice.

To the people who are name calling each other and arguing about the value of HOAs, I am sorry to have brought up the subject. The preference for or against HOAs is debated in several other threads, as well as the whole "if you don't like your HOA then move" thing has been beaten to death. Not the situation here, but absolutely fine for others to discuss.

The crux of the matter:

The property management company mislead me about a fine I incurred (said I did not have to pay it). The property management company forwarded my unpaid fines to thier attorney for collection. I was in active discussions with the attorney about negotiating a payment plan, or reduction in the fine due to a financial hardship. Regardless of me trying to be proactive in resolving the issue of the fines, the attorney for the property management company began foreclosure proceedings against me instead of working with me to resolve the issue amicably.

I was asking if I have any recourse, can they do this to someone, and since the property managment clearly does not want to help me (I wonder if they even spoke to the HOA board?) what would people recommend as next steps? (other than getting an attorney as I suspect the attorney will be about as much as the fine, that I can't pay at the moment).

I am not angry and I am greatful to everyone providing feedback and sorry if I upset anyone else. I will be contacting the company to get the contacts in the neighborhood and writing letters as suggested. I will also be seeking out legal referrals should it come to that - I sincerely hope not as I have been wanting to be reasonable all along, not really sure why the Property management company is being so aggressive....If someone has additional ideas or details, please provide insights as I am at the point of trying everything!

Thanks again for all the input!

[srivera8738]

I wouldn't stress over it. If the HOA wants to bill you for this that and the other, just send a certified return receipt letter outlining everything that you have done on your part to be kept in good standing. You will not need an attorney. The HOA will not want to spend money on an attorney if this can be rectified amicably. Best of Luck.

[pink caddy]

Easy for you to say, it's not you that will have the problem when they bring about a foreclosure proceeding against him. The subject of why these HOAs DO go forward (which doesn't make sense) has been discussed here many times.

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by jlwrivera

......

The property management company mislead me about a fine I incurred (said I did not have to pay it). The property management company forwarded my unpaid fines to thier attorney for collection. I was in active discussions with the attorney about negotiating a payment plan, or reduction in the fine due to a financial hardship. Regardless of me trying to be proactive in resolving the issue of the fines, the attorney for the property management company began foreclosure proceedings against me instead of working with me to resolve the issue amicably. .....

I am not angry and I am greatful to everyone providing feedback and sorry if I upset anyone else. I will be contacting the company to get the contacts in the neighborhood and writing letters as suggested. I will also be seeking out legal referrals should it come to that - I sincerely hope not as I have been wanting to be reasonable all along, not really sure why the Property management company is being so aggressive....If someone has additional ideas or details, please provide insights as I am at the point of trying everything!
...

Given what you said and my post earlier about what the NC Law says and if the foreclosure papers have been filed, then you have no choice at this point but to face your day in court. Anything else is a waste of time and may actually hurt your case.

Understand the management company was hired by the HOA to handle the dues for them and given instructions on how to proceed in these manners. To them this is nothing more than a business and this foreclosure is nothing more than a business transaction to recover the costs that you caused your neighborhood to incur because you didn't pay your share of the dues. They are under no obligation to cut you some slack and if they did, what you are asking is for your neighbors to end up paying for your mistakes. It's not right and shouldn't happen. Your characterization of the situation that you have been misled to me sounds as if you still don't accept responsibility for paying the debts you owe your neighborhood. They are afterall having to pay to collect something that you should have taken the time to take care of in the first place.

With that said it sounds as if they have cut you some slack in the past so this isn't the first time they have had to deal with it. Maybe it is an expensive way to get some experience, but paying your debts isn't optional and it is your responsibility to make sure they get paid. It is not the responsibility of the people you owe to come to you asking again and again for money but somehow when they fail to do so, many people who owe money get this idea they don't really need to pay. I don't know if this is what happened with you, but we have owned multiple properties over the decades in various HOAs and have never ever missed a payment.

I won't even get into the issue of owning investment property where you are unable to come up with $1500 in two months time to cover unexpected expenses. (and this one was totally avoidable) If they don't foreclose on it, I think you need to work out a better plan for getting ahead. Maybe this is tough advice, but you did ask for people's thoughts on the matter.

[Common_Sense_Troll]

Pay the money you OWE and move on Gjeesh!!!

[P3anut]

I live in an HOA and I'm sorry, our association is redoing our CCR's and By-Laws...They said this time around the CCR's would bring power back to the people...needless to say they are worse. In order to obtain an issue to fight HOA's and according to the lawyers the rules are so vague the way they are written so they can twist them to suit the situation in the HOA's favor..but the issue will cost the average homeowner $15k or 20k...but we pay for their lawyers. Fight for the homeowners bill of rights in your state, the new CCR's they want to put in place state they can take possession of your home with in 30 days, occupy the residence with a renter until they get their money, all the time you are paying your mortgage and taxes on the house, with no place to live. There is something wrong with this society and how government lets these snakes get away with this. I didn't realize it either when I moved in they seemed like basic rules until you dig deeper and realize you are signing away your constitutional rights and Civil liberties. Everyone who doesn't live in an HOA think twice and think again. DON"T DO IT!!!!

[hooligan]

Any changes to the CC&Rs for my neighborhood has to be passed by AT LEAST 70% vote of the homeowners. What are the stipulations around changing/ammending the CC&Rs for your HOA, P3anut?

[kchenette]

Spoiler

Hey there!
Just an FYI...You guys are responding to a thread from last October!
Probably long done and over now!