Several years ago the Virginia General Assembly gave community associations the power to foreclose on their assessment liens.  This provided an apparent powerful tool in the collection of delinquent assessments.  I emphasize the word apparent.  First of all, and worst of all, association liens are subordinate to first mortgages and real estate taxes.  In this day in time it is most often the owner with virtually no equity in his property that is also delinquent in his assessments.  The first step in deciding on the use of the foreclosure option is to perform a title search to determine what liens are on the property. That might result in a quick decision to cease all action toward foreclosure because the sale will not yield any dollars for the association.  However, if there is substantial equity you should keep pursuing that option if the balance owed by the homeowner is significant enough to make the investment of costs  (attorney’s fees, advertising the sale, etc.) worthwhile. 

Continue Reading Are you thinking about foreclosing on an assessment lien? Think twice

It’s a good day to talk to you about due process procedures which are needed when you wish to formally take action on a covenant violation without filing a law suit or possibly suspend services or use of facilities for an owner who is more than 60 days delinquent in the payment of assessments.  

The authority for suspension and levying charges must be included in your governing documents in order to be available to you. That is required by the pertinent statute.  If you do not have those provisions you need to amend your documents to acquire them.  Most of your documents will contain the pertinent language.  If so you still need a formal procedure to follow which details when and in what form an owner will be put on notice, time frames for processing the matter, establishing what body will conduct the hearing (the board or a committee), rules pertaining to evidence and testimony, and other rules to be followed so as to establish some uniformity to the process that every member can rely upon.  Every association’s procedure is not the same and the procedure can be tailored to the needs of each community.  Some associations want those proceedings to be held in a closed session – others do not handle it in that manner. Even if you have a procedure you should review it periodically to insure you are following it and, if not, you should amend or rewrite it.  We are pleased to help you with due process procedures so that your enforcement actions are handled smoothly, fairly and effectively.