The homeowner’s association has rules and fees, and can foreclose on your home and put a lien on the property if you don’t pay.

Q: We have not paid our homeowner fees since early 2007 and I have received a Notice of Intent to Foreclose Lien from a local law firm. It states that if full payment is not received within 45 days of the date of the letter, the association will take legal action to foreclose my interest in the unit.

I understand that I owe the fees but can they require me to pay in full in 45 days? Can I try and settle for a lesser amount or agree to pay them over time? Can they go back 6 years to collect? I thought they could only go back 5 years. And, if I don’t pay, can the homeowner’s association take my home by foreclosing on it?

A: You’re probably going to need the help of an attorney, and fast. But with the information you’ve given us, we’d say you better be prepared to pay the association – in full! The homeowner’s association has rules and you haven’t paid them in 6 years. Other owners have had to pay more money to cover what you haven’t paid, and that isn’t fair.

You should know that many, if not most, condominium and homeowner association documents give the association the right to place a lien on the property of any homeowner that fails to pay his or her association dues. The teeth to that kind of a provision is that the association has the right to foreclose on the lien. When an association forecloses on the lien, it goes to court (or takes other legal action) to take title to the property or sell title of the property to satisfy the debt.

Each state has its own procedures that the association will have to follow and you will want to talk to an attorney as soon as possible so you know what to expect. In addition, the laws in your state may have certain limitations for collecting past due amounts but you’ll have to check what any of those limitations might be where you live.

You can try to negotiate with the association and see if it is willing to settle for less that the full amount you owe, or if you can pay what you owe over time. Remember, you’ve failed to pay them for six years and you don’t have much leverage against them. We imagine the association board would have been much more responsive had you gone to them in 2007 and told them you’d like to work out a payment plan. Now, not so much.

If you don’t want to lose your property, you’d better start figuring out how you will repay the association. Your attorney can advise you on any other options you have.

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