HOA Oversight Leads To Bill For 6 Years Of Accumulated Dues; Homeowner's Failure To Pay Leads To $6K In Add'l Legal Fees, Loss Of Home To Foreclosure

In Charlotte, North Carolina, WCNC-TV reports:

• Not all the foreclosures emptying homes across the Carolinas originate from banks and lenders. Increasingly, the institution doing the foreclosing is made up of neighbors who run the homeowners association–known as the HOA.



• Consider one family’s story: Michelle Roberts’ parents helped her and her husband buy their first home in Gaston County in 2003. [...] The Mountain View Community Association off of Spencer Mountain Road near Ranlo, North Carolina and its management company, Hawthorne Management of Charlotte, did not send a bill to the Roberts [for periodic HOA maintenance dues] for years. “Not one word for six years,” said Michelle, “Not one word.”



• The HOA lost track of the Roberts lot and two others when the builder transferred the property to their family. Then in May of 2009 the HOA sent Michelle’s parents a statement asking for almost six years worth of dues at once–$945.

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• At first the Roberts say they called a neighbor who served on the board of the HOA.“She said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll work it out. It’s not that big of a deal,’” said Darin. That was before the lien notices and threatening letters began arriving from the HOA’s law firm. “We were blindsided,” said Michelle. So the Roberts tried repeatedly to work out a payment plan. “They wanted a $444-a-month payment and refused to accept anything less than that,” said Michelle.

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• The Roberts made payments totaling $888 last May–which sounds like they’d paid off the bulk of their original HOA debt. [...] But no. By that point, the HOA’s attorneys were involved. And they charged far more than the original debt in fees and court costs to try to collect it all. Court records show the Roberts whole payment went to legal fees–not to the HOA.

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• And that original bill of less than a thousand dollars? The attorneys added almost $6,000 in court costs and legal fees. “The people that are benefiting are the attorneys,” said Michelle. “They’re getting five times what the original bill was.” [...] The Roberts say they made a good faith effort to try to pay an old debt during trying times and lost their home in the process.

For the story, see HOA forecloses on family; neighbors lose, attorneys profit.