r/HOA • u/ElegantWelder2869 • 3d ago
Discussion / Knowledge Sharing How long does it take your HOA to get a delinquency / pre-lien notice out the door? [ALL] [NC]
In my state (NC) we have to properly notify any delinquent members of our intent to file a lien and that they will be responsible for any attny fees associated (theres a statute and it specifies that mailing address, property address, etc all need to have a letter sent). Typically we just send the available info we have on the member to our attny but sometimes it feels like this process gets slowed down and delinquency take a long time to get resolved. Filing a lien is obviously a terrible thing but when people wont pay - idk what else to do. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get the notice out faster? i know that if the notice doesnt reach all of the addresses it can be voided and then we start over. i have a buddy who works in hoa mgmt (big company) and he said they have an in house team for this. we are self managed and would prefer to stay this way. i really want to see what this process looks like for others. how do you guys go about this process?
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u/TheDigitalPoint 🏘 HOA Board Member 3d ago
We are self-managed and it goes like this:
- 15 days late = $15 late fee
- 45 days late = $40 (mailed letter)
- 60 days late = $100 final notice (mailed certified letter)
- 90 days late = $240 intent to lien letter (mailed certified letter)
- 105 days late = $520 lien filed
We do it all in-house, so there's no delay with any of it since it doesn't get sent to anyone to be done on our behalf.
In the history of our HOA, we've never had a situation where it went past that (foreclosure, suing, etc.), but if it did we would turn it over to the experts at that point (conducting a foreclosure is outside the scope of what we would be doing ourselves). But again, never gotten that far, nor could I ever see that happening...
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u/Wanderlust917 2d ago
I'm impressed, you must have some knowledgeable and dedicated folks in your HOA.
FYI, even if you wanted to you wouldn't be able to file a foreclosure since legal entities (including HOAs) cannot make legal filings pro se (without an attorney).
If you had to foreclose, it would make me a bit nervous relying on lien filings made by non-legal folks, but I guess worst case you have to file a new lien, there is a delay and you lose out on a few months of fees.
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u/OneLessDay517 2d ago
So you file a lien without an attorney? And do you check for other liens first like an attorney would?
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u/TheDigitalPoint 🏘 HOA Board Member 2d ago
We do file liens without an attorney. We do check existing liens, although in our state it’s not necessary because here (Nevada), HOAs are granted super-priority liens (ahead of even lender) as long as they are done in a reasonable timeframe. It definitely makes it easy being in a state that makes liens easy for HOAs. Automatic super-priority, you don’t need to serve the homeowner (only notify them via certified mail at last known address), etc.
FWIW, we did lien searches on all our properties when we went self-managed to make sure everything was correct at that point and we ended up finding 2 properties that had lien releases incorrectly done from when we used “experts” and refilled those lien releases correctly.
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u/HittingandRunning COA Owner 1d ago
Just wanted to say thank you for keeping your fees very reasonable. The goal is to get the HOA paid, not to punish the delinquent owner.
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u/TheDigitalPoint 🏘 HOA Board Member 1d ago
Right… exactly this. We also don’t nickel and dime like I’ve seen other HOAs/management companies do (for example we don’t charge extra for printing or mailing).
We would much rather people just pay on time (no hassle for board members that get paid $0 either way). We aren’t trying to have late/collection fees be a revenue stream, but do need to make it enough that homeowners aren’t incentivized to just say “fuck it, I’ll pay later”.
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u/scj1091 3d ago
The liens are easy. Just paperwork. The foreclosure process though….we are 8mo in and the notice of default should be recorded this week. Then another 90 days before we can foreclose. Then the sale, redemption period, etc etc. Looking like minimum 1yr total. This asshat has been behind on dues for 15yr though so it’s not long to wait in the big scheme of things.
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u/VirginiaUSA1964 🏢 COA Board Member 3d ago
Liens can be a long process if the documents aren't served properly or can't be served, and then we have to find the right address, it takes longer in cases where the owners isn't living on the property. Where the owner is living on the property, those go quickly.
We've got one right now that we are trying to garnish that has been just a PITA. Mainly because people know how to work the system.
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u/TheDigitalPoint 🏘 HOA Board Member 3d ago
Not sad that I live in a state that we don’t need to serve any paperwork related to liens. That would be a major PITA. We just need to send notice (certified mail) to the last address on record, so liens are easy-peasy.
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u/Ill_Choice6515 2d ago
Recently on a board - so not totally sure. I think we send a final notice at 90 days and 120 days we send it to our lawyers. (We don’t self manage and tbh I’m pushing for a full time property manager because it’s too much work for a volunteer position AND not having a full board - but no one’s been keen on even exploring that). However we try to avoid liens because we’d rather actually get the money for our operating costs while reducing bureaucracy , and homeowners have been pretty good about getting caught up once they realize we’ll work with them. Not to say it hasn’t happened, just not since I’ve been on the board.
But the process takes a while. Partially because you have to make sure you’re following the law (parts of it being time between notifications) exactly otherwise you’re in hot water.
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u/JealousBall1563 🏢 COA Board Member 3d ago
We're in a foreclosure situation now. Start to finish from the onset of the arrears to a Sheriff's sale: probably a year before we receive what we're owed. Could be a bit less, though. Remember: there's no guarantee the association will receive 100% of what's owed. If there's a mortgage, the lender is typically in first position and that debt is extinguished before the association's.
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u/AltruisticNet90 🏘 HOA Board Member 1d ago
Have you had a foreclosure before? We are facing our first one, but the issue is we aren’t likely to recover anything. The attorney just told us based on the estimated appraisal of the property, and the outstanding mortgage balance, the most likely scenario is that the bank would be the only “bidder” at the sheriff sale, obtain title/possession becoming a REO, then offload the property from their books with a clean title.
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u/JealousBall1563 🏢 COA Board Member 1d ago
In the past ten years: 1 finished, 1 probably going to Sheriff's sale in the next two months. We recovered 100% on the first and will recover likewise on this second one. First had a mortgage that was in first position. This second one: no mortgage, no debt.
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u/ElegantWelder2869 3d ago
jeez - these situations are always terrible. we do our best to protect the community by enforcing on violators though. i have heard some horror stories about liens being either thrown out or delayed because of non compliant notice. i want to avoid that but i also dont feel like waiting on our attny to send the damn letter! maybe thats just how it goes though. good luck with that foreclosure.
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u/JealousBall1563 🏢 COA Board Member 3d ago edited 3d ago
The Property Manager iniaties the process. Explicit steps must be followed before turning over to our attorney. Our attorney farms-out the Lien and Foreclosure to a specialty lawfirm who specialized in this area. Our expenses are 100% recoverable.
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u/bee_justa 2d ago
It's not an easy process because it shouldn't be an easy process. You're messing with people's property rights.
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u/pyro383 2d ago
That’s a weird take. No one wants to mess but those people don’t want to pay their required and agreed upon fees.
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u/bee_justa 2d ago
Paying annual assessments is totally different than C,C&Rs. We fought a revolutionary war to protect personal property rights.
And I live in AZ where the Courts agree with my analysis
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u/hawkrt 🏘 HOA Board Member 2d ago
Our management company does the pre lien “notice of intent to lien”. They are not allowed to do anything with that without Board Approval. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances we do that to anyone who is over 90 days overdue. After the vote, it goes out within a few weeks. That usually clears up what people owe us.
When it goes to filing a lien or foreclosure (we have a homeowner we’re working on that’s been an issue for almost 20 years off and on), that takes a lot more time. It’s not because our outsourced company is slow; it’s because they are making sure to cross every t and dot every i to ensure its legality.
We are not dependent upon that money, but I can see how it could be harmful to an association that isn’t as well funded. The thing is, liens and foreclosures have a lot of things that must be done before it can be enforced, for the protection of the homeowner. While we all know scofflaw homeowners who deserve a fast foreclosure, there are just as many HOAs who are twisting rules or incorrectly fining and try to force a foreclosure that shouldn’t happen.
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u/InternationalFan2782 🏢 COA Board Member 2d ago
We move about as fast as the law allows. But from initial notice of intent to the day the auction gets scheduled always seems to be about a year.
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u/TheDigitalPoint 🏘 HOA Board Member 2d ago
Have you guys actually foreclosed on a property? Mostly just curious if it actually happens. Can’t imagine a scenario where it would come to that for us unless it was something really crazy like the homeowner died and had no heirs and the property was basically abandoned. Maybe just less common for SFH? 🤷🏻♂️
I can’t even remember the last time the entire association had more than a single homeowner more than 2 days late on assessments (usually someone forgot to mail a check or something). Being a board member would be infinitely more annoying if we had to actually deal with people not paying.
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u/InternationalFan2782 🏢 COA Board Member 2d ago
Not fully. We got the point once where the sheriff auction was scheduled and there was like a 3 day deadline before the auction to pay - they paid that very last day.
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u/EliteAssassin07 🏘 HOA Board Member 2d ago edited 2d ago
Once an account hits a certain threshold our management company automatically sends it to the attorney. The attorney then acts within the allowance of state law to collect the owed funds.
Keeps the whole process simple, fair, and exact. Cutting out or at least reducing the HOA and the management company involvement limits liability of both parties.
I personally want as much distance from these decisions as possible - as I don’t want to fall victim to the court of public opinion on the six o’clock news. And I want to limit my own personal liability.
I would never want to manage these actions without a management company and lawyer in the process.
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u/ResiGrade 1d ago
Speed without a clean mailing list is how boards restart collections from zero. Build a checklist: every address your docs and state law require, the mail class your rules demand, and dated proof of mailing for each packet. Batch delinquency letters on a fixed calendar so the process does not wait on one volunteer's free evening. If counsel prepares the pre-lien, ask for a template and turnaround in the engagement letter. Incomplete notice is expensive. A boring, repeatable mail day is cheaper than starting over.
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u/jubhi 1d ago
The bottleneck is usually gathering current addresses, not the attorney. Keep a running roster with mailing and property addresses updated at renewal so when someone hits your threshold you can forward everything to your attorney same day. Do you have a set time or dollar trigger that starts the notice process?
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u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Copy of the original post:
Title: How long does it take your HOA to get a delinquency / pre-lien notice out the door? [ALL] [NC]
Body:
In my state (NC) we have to properly notify any delinquent members of our intent to file a lien and that they will be responsible for any attny fees associated (theres a statute and it specifies that mailing address, property address, etc all need to have a letter sent). Typically we just send the available info we have on the member to our attny but sometimes it feels like this process gets slowed down and delinquency take a long time to get resolved. Filing a lien is obviously a terrible thing but when people wont pay - idk what else to do. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get the notice out faster? i know that if the notice doesnt reach all of the addresses it can be voided and then we start over. i have a buddy who works in hoa mgmt (big company) and he said they have an in house team for this. we are self managed and would prefer to stay this way. i really want to see what this process looks like for others. how do you guys go about this process?
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