This is why I will never (if I can help it) live in a subdivsion with an HOA.
As with any debt collection, there are plenty of legal meneuvers for you to do to prolong/fight the process. For example, you could possibly sue them for filing an imporper lien, failing to follow established HOA procedures for filing liens and bringing legal actions, etc.
The problem is an HOA and the Collection Agency have deeper pockets than you, and this isn't the same as fighting a credit card collection.... this is your home. Get an experienced attorney.
Initial consultations are usually free. You don't want to depend on pro se tricks and come up against a judge that doesn't think they are cute.
@Anonymous wrote:
@Dalmus wrote:This is why I will never (if I can help it) live in a subdivsion with an HOA.
Why?
Pay the HOA fees and a person shouldn't have any issues, right?
Oh, if one signs on to the covenant and agrees to pay the HOA, absolutely they should pay their dues. The OP even said they are all for paying what they owe.
My comment was in reference to the fines for not painting his house, how they screwed up the lien and refuse to own up to it and is in effect attempting to extort twice the amount actually owed.
I have a general objection to them, though, for many reasons, starting with why should I pay a fee in order to give somebody else the power to decide what I can and cannot do with my own property? As long as I abide by town/city ordinances, of course.
@CreditInspired wrote:
@Dalmus wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Dalmus wrote:This is why I will never (if I can help it) live in a subdivsion with an HOA.
Why?
Pay the HOA fees and a person shouldn't have any issues, right?
Oh, if one signs on to the covenant and agrees to pay the HOA, absolutely they should pay their dues. The OP even said they are all for paying what they owe.
My comment was in reference to the fines for not painting his house, how they screwed up the lien and refuse to own up to it and is in effect attempting to extort twice the amount actually owed.
I have a general objection to them, though, for many reasons, starting with why should I pay a fee in order to give somebody else the power to decide what I can and cannot do with my own property? As long as I abide by town/city ordinances, of course.
And this is why I love HOAs. I hate living near someone who feel they can have 100 plastic flamingos in their front yard, or old cars with flat tires in the driveway, or overgrown weeds taller than an adult. Yep, I'll pay the fee gladly.
That's the good side of HOAs.
There's a dark side, too. Like when the HOA president runs around with a ruler at 6 am daily measuring people's lawns and then fining them if its 1/8th of an inch over 3.5 (real example). Or when they fine you because you had a guest over for more than 2 hours who's car was more than 10 years old (also a real example). Or (my favorite) when they fine you for "performing car maintenance" in view of the street because you woke up to a flat tire and had to put the spare on (was told that this should have been done by a qualified auto service such as AAA).
I get the appeal to certain people. Its just not for me.
I realize most are not like that. I'm sure there is only one Mr. Stangle - HOA President in the world (hopefully!). Lol
But once bitten, twice shy as the saying goes. I don't get the flu shot for the same reason... The two times I've gotten a BAD case of the flu were the years I got the shot.
I'll bet if I lived somewhere nice and then somebody moved in next door and turned their house into something the Munsters would love, I'd wish there was an HOA. Lol