According to Florida law, HOAs are entitled to any late fees, interest accrued and even attorney fees incurred as a result of past due assessments whether or not the association filed a foreclosure suit against you.
If your lender forecloses on your home or condo, they can declare your association as a defendant in their suit whether or not the association has placed a lien on the property due to unpaid assessments. As a named defendant, your HOA cannot collect past due assessments from you directly. In this instance, Florida requires your lender pay the association up to one year’s worth of past due assessments or 1% of the mortgage—whichever of the two is less.
It’s important to be aware of your HOAs bylaws in order to ensure that a past due assessment does not turn into a much more expensive problem that can potentially cost you your home. Allowing association fees to turn into foreclosure proceedings may result in a bill up to ten times greater than the original amount. If you are past due on assessments, avoid further headaches and contact your association immediately in order to reach an agreement or work out a payment plan.
The opinions in this post are solely those of the author. The author takes full responsibility for the content. Like all blog posts, this is offered for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
This post was written by Stephen Hachey. Follow Stephen on Google, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.
