Money Matters

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Last week Gina Botti blogged about the importance of properly recording an association assessment lien. Although CCIOA states that a lien is ‘perfected’ or in place upon the recording of the association’s Declaration, it is still important to prepare and record a Notice of Lien to ensure that the lien is not overlooked upon the sale of a unit. 

It is also particularly useful to have a recorded assessment lien against a property that is in public trustee foreclosure. Although most people are aware of the statutory six month super priority lien that arises once a property is foreclosed, few are aware that a foreclosure may present an opportunity to fully recover the assessments and fees that it is owed. Once a property is sold at foreclosure sale, an association typically has eight business days following the sale to also exercise its redemption rights. What are these redemption rights? Simply put, they allow the association because of its lien to take title to the foreclosed property (away from the successful bidder at the sale) for the amount of the sales price at the foreclosure auction plus interest and other expenses.

 

Continue Reading ‘Redemption’ from Uncollected Debt

A lien is a security interest, or encumbrance, over some type of property to secure the payment of a debt or some other obligation. Liens also have different priorities over one another and only when a lien is “perfected” will it be legally entitled to priority over subsequent liens. A creditor must normally “perfect” its lien by taking steps required by law to give other parties notice of the lien. As Lindsay Smith points out in her blog, Colorado requires that any party claiming an interest in real property record evidence of that interest in the real property records of the county in which the property is located. Continue Reading Liens – Protect your association’s interests!

I recently read an article where a homeowner was upset about her condominium association initiating foreclosure proceedings against her for her failure to pay her assessments. While people may read this article and feel sorry for the homeowner, one should keep in mind that the homeowner failed to appear at court to protect her interests and, more likely than not, failed to respond to the Association and its attorneys attempts to contact the homeowner prior to the foreclosure proceedings even being initiated. It does not appear that the homeowner is the helpless victim of the actions of a condominium association, but instead, that the homeowner apparently avoided her obligation to pay assessments and did not take any action to prevent the events that followed.   Continue Reading Before You Start Pointing Fingers….

Mediation is a type of alternative dispute resolution with the goal of finding a solution and reaching an agreement that is acceptable to all parties involved. In some counties, mediation is mandatory and if a case becomes contested, the parties are ordered to attend mediation prior to scheduling a trial. In some instances, however, even if not court ordered, it may be beneficial for the parties to attend mediation depending on the facts of the case.Continue Reading What is Mediation?

 Last month I explained the basics of an association judicial foreclosure through the time of the sheriff’s sale.  In an ideal world, all foreclosures would result in a complete monetary recovery for an association and a new owner would timely pay all future assessment charges.

 However, it is not uncommon for an association to take title to a property through its foreclosure sale. This is especially likely to occur if the property has a first Deed of Trust (mortgage) and/or tax liens which exceed the market value of the foreclosed property.  So what should an association do once it takes title to a foreclosed property?

Continue Reading What to Expect Following an Association Foreclosure Sale

Reasonable is a term that is used a lot in the world of homeowner associations. It is a term that can have different meanings depending on who is interpreting the term and in what context the term is being used. According to Meriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the term reasonable means, “1a : being in accordance with reason; b : not extreme or excessive; c : moderate, fair; d : inexpensive; 2a : having the faculty of reason b : possessing sound judgment. As you can imagine, it can be difficult to interpret what one person thinks is reasonable in comparison to another and can present problems when attempting to resolve issues. Continue Reading What is “Reasonable”?

We always advise Associations to look to their governing documents for operational guidance. However, it is extremely important that the Association’s governing documents are consistent with one another and most importantly, with the Declaration.  

The Declaration is the controlling document, so Associations should first make sure their Policies and Rules and Regulations are consistent with the Declaration. This can be important in the day to day activities of the Association as well as in litigation. A court will look first to the Association’s Declaration for authority, and if anything in the Policies or Rules and Regulations conflicts with the Declaration, the Declaration’s terms will control.  That is not to say that Policies or Rules and Regulations cannot add to or elaborate specifics about the Association’s Policies and Rules; they simply cannot contradict the terms of the Declaration. Below are some examples.Continue Reading Consistency is Key in Governing Documents

Colorado law provides that an association is entitled to a super-priority lien “super lien” for assessments which would have come due during the six months immediately preceding the filing of a foreclosure action by an association, or a party holding the first Deed of Trust.Continue Reading Protecting the Association’s Right to Collect the Super Lien

I previously posted a blog regarding the importance of the Notice of Bankruptcy. Here is a story of just how important this Notice can be and the consequences of not paying close attention to receiving this Notice. 

As you can see after reading this article, the Bankruptcy Court takes very seriously the protections afforded to a…