As Stephane Dupont previously blogged, effective January 1, 2014, Associations are required to have a new collection policy in place that complies with the HOA Debt Collection Bill (HB 1276).  The new law requires collection policies to set forth certain procedures an Association must follow when collecting on a delinquent account.Continue Reading Time Is Running Out!

 I’ve recently been following a blog that has been discussing how the paying members of a homeowners association can find out who is delinquent in paying their assessments. We’ve been asked many times over the years whether it is lawful, or wise, to publish the names of owners who are not current in the payment of their assessments. It is interesting, at least to me, the scope of opinions about this topic.

I take the position that any member in the association who is not paying his or her assessments is being subsidized by those who do pay. I believed that the member who is paying is entitled to know who they were subsidizing.Continue Reading Can You Disclose Who In Your Community Is Delinquent In Payment Of Their Assessments?

I previously blogged about the necessity of updating association collection policies and procedures as a result of recent legislative changes effective on January 1, 2014.  

In addition to preparing a revised collection policy, associations are also required to send new collection notices which provide specific information to delinquent owners. The notices must provide the

 With the influx of new foreclosures the past few years, you may have heard of homes in your community that are being sold through a ‘short sale’. While short sales are fairly common, few people understand what they are or how they should be handled by an association.  

 A short sale occurs when a lender agrees to accept less than is owed on a mortgage/Deed of Trust to permit an owner to sell their property. For example, an individual owning a home with a market value of $200,000 but with a $225,000 mortgage would not ordinarily be able to sell their home since a necessary condition of sale is to payoff the outstanding mortgage and any liens. In this example, the homeowner would need to come to closing with $25,000 in cash to allow the sale to close. Since most individuals are financially unable to sell their home under these circumstances, a solution is to convince a lender to accept a payment of $200,000 on their loan to permit the sale to go through. Continue Reading Understanding Short Sales in Your Community

It’s no secret that Colorado’s housing market continues to improve and according to the Denver Post, some buyers have even been forced into bidding wars over the low inventory in certain areas.   While the increase in home sales is great news for the local economy, this is also an important reminder to associations to

 As you may have heard by reading our blog, on May 28, 2013 the HOA Debt Collection bill (HB 1276) was signed into law by Governor Hickenlooper. Although the requirements of the Bill do not go into effect until January 1, 2014, it is not too soon to commence preparing revisions to your Association’s Collection Policy to ensure timely compliance.

Effective January 1, 2014, an Association must have a Collection Policy which, at a minimum, includes the following information: 

(1) The date on which assessments must be paid to the association and when an assessment is considered past due;

(2) Any late fees and interest the association is entitled to charge on a delinquent account;

(3) Any returned-check charges the association is entitled to charge;

(4) The circumstances under which a delinquent owner is entitled to enter into a  payment plan and the minimum terms of the payment plan;

(5) Before the association turns over a delinquent account to an attorney or collections agency, the association must send the delinquent owner a written notice specifying:

(a) The total amount of the arrearage, with an accounting of how the total arrearage was determined;

(b) Whether the opportunity to enter into a payment plan exists and instructions for contacting the association to enter into the payment plan;

(c) The name and contact information for the individual the owner may contact to request a copy of the owner’s ledger to verify the amount of the debt; and

(d)  That action is required to cure the delinquency and failure to do so within 30 days may  result in the account being turned over to a collection agency, a lawsuit being filed against the owner, the filing and foreclosure of a lien against the owner’s property and other remedies available under Colorado law. Continue Reading Time to Start Revising Your Collection Policies!

Recently introduced House Bill 13-1249 has been promoted as an attempt to ‘reform’ the public trustee foreclosure process by requiring lenders to prove that they hold the Deeds of Trust being foreclosed and further requiring them to negotiate and work with borrowers requesting a loan modification or other foreclosure prevention alternatives. If the Bill is passed into law, it will undoubtedly provide greater protections to homeowners which may enable them to retain their home and stimulate them to payoff their association delinquencies. A closer reading of the Bill, however, suggests that an association may be negatively impacted from the additional requirements imposed on lenders. Continue Reading Foreclosure ‘Reform’ or Headache for Associations?