Q: What might be achieved to an individual who refuses to pay their dues? — A.M., Torrance.
A: Whereas an disagreeable job, gathering past-due assessments from members is an important board duty. If the affiliation doesn’t require all members to well timed pay their fair proportion, the great neighbors paying every month are going to must pay extra to make up for the neighbors who don’t. With out gathering all due assessments, the affiliation can not pay its payments, which harms all HOA members.
Due to the significance of normal and well timed evaluation fee, the regulation provides HOAs some very highly effective instruments to assist communities guarantee they’ll meet the frequent bills of householders.
First, Civil Code Part 5650(1) supplies that if the affiliation pursues evaluation delinquencies it may possibly additionally recuperate lawyer charges, curiosity and late costs.
Second, Civil Code Part 5675(a) authorizes the HOA to document a lien (primarily an involuntary mortgage) on the property to safe the HOA’s evaluation declare. The lien will make it tougher to promote or refinance the property with out first paying off the evaluation declare.
Third, if the lien continues to be unpaid 30 or extra days after it’s recorded, the HOA can underneath Civil Code Part 5700 start foreclosures proceedings to involuntarily take the property away from the proprietor.
There are two forms of foreclosures. One is nonjudicial foreclosures, by which the HOA (normally by way of a set vendor) supplies a sequence of notices and after prescribed ready durations can have the property bought at a foreclosures sale. The opposite kind of foreclosures is judicial foreclosures, by which the HOA recordsdata a lawsuit in opposition to the home-owner asking for a choose to award cash to the HOA and/or to have the property bought to pay the debt.
Owners mustn’t ignore foreclosures notices and will act rapidly to guard their properties. Finishing a foreclosures is a really severe motion, and HOAs ought to seek the advice of authorized counsel earlier than sending property to a foreclosures sale.
The duty to maintain members present on evaluation assortment is a severe matter and needs to be taken significantly by each the HOA board and HOA householders.
Q: I’m a newly elected board member. As I’m trying over home-owner’s delinquency info, I’m involved that a number of incumbent board members are delinquent. Is there any Civil Code {that a} board member needs to be present of their HOA dues? — D.S., Irvine.
A: The one automated eligibility requirement to serve on HOA boards in California is that one should be an proprietor within the HOA.
Civil Code Sections 5103(d)(2) and 5105(c) present 5 optionally available eligibility requirements that associations might undertake, and one such commonplace is that candidates or administrators not present of their fee of normal or particular assessments could also be disqualified from candidacy or serving on the board.
“Delinquent” is outlined by Civil Code Part 5650(b) as not paid 15 days after an evaluation turns into due. Civil Code Part 5103(d)(3) states that board eligibility necessities should even be utilized to the seated administrators, which signifies that if the election guidelines bar delinquent candidates then administrators should additionally not be delinquent.
Kelly G. Richardson, Esq. is a Fellow of the School of Neighborhood Affiliation Legal professionals and Companion of Richardson Ober LLP, a California regulation agency recognized for neighborhood affiliation experience. Submit column inquiries to [email protected].
