Paying HOA’s
Home Owner Association fees (also known as HOA’s or maintenance) are due every month for those real estate owners whose property is located within a condominium. HOA’s cover the condominium’s amenities and services, and can include trash pick up, pool and clubhouse maintenance, security, etc. At certain times in your ownership of a condominium, you may be asked to pay additional maintenance for special projects (called an assessment) or make a one-time deposit to the condominium’s savings fund. If there are special events (for instance Santa’s visit to your condominium’s tree lighting ceremony), you may be asked to pay for this as well.
Penalties
It is of vital importance for condo owners to pay their HOA’s on time every month as the penalties can range from removal of home owner’s access to the condo’s common areas to something as serious as having the property seized and sold by the condominium for back pay or fees. While it will take some time to have the property seized (approximately 1-2 years), the process will continue until the owner makes payment in full.
Regulations and votes
When a condominium is built, the developer is in charge of creating the bylaws and is the initial owner of all of the now subdivided units. However, as the units sell, the building’s ultimate authority (known as the Home Owners Association) can change those regulations by a unanimous vote of all owners after units have been sold (not just those present for the meeting).
We recommend that our clients always pay their HOA dues on time and in full every month. We have also been placed as the secondary point of contact for those clients who find themselves out of the country often and are concerned about missing a possible communication.
