Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Dues Question

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Oct 29, 2004, at 9:11 AM, Robert Heinich wrote:
> However, members who are behind in their payments have stopped talking 
> to our treasurer and the treasurer feels personally blamed when he 
> tries to collect dues from individuals.  How do your communities 
> handle this situation? How do you manage this as a private/public 
> issue? How do you respect privacy without letting one individual take 
> all the responsibility & heat?

We haven't had this problem at Takoma Village so I'm speaking from 
personal experience.

The association has to be very specific about the fees owed and take 
steps to protect yourself without animosity. Your bylaws should state a 
process for non-payment and for late payment. The addition of interest 
from the 15th day for late payment, and legal action as well as 
interest on non-payment. You should talk to your lawyer.

This can be very difficult for other homeowners who have to absorb the 
expense. In the end, the homeowner's association can put a lien on the 
unit so when it is sold, the association is repaid before the seller 
receives their money. Concern is often placed with the person not 
making payments for personal reasons, but the other homeowners are 
equally affected so the sympathy has to be shared.

Last week in connection with maintenance in cohousing, someone said, 
"Asphalt is asphalt." Well, money is money.

Another solution if this is a temporary employment problem is for 
another member to make a personal loan but if this is done, it is 
strictly a personal decision and done between the two people, not the 
association. We did this when we had to go to contract suddenly and 
some of us had money still in securities that was not available with 5 
days notice. We had formal written agreements that we helped write and 
get signed, but the obligation was between the person loaning the money 
and the person borrowing it -- not the group.

Some communities have talked about having an emergency fund to cover 
such instances so individual homeowners "in distress" have community 
support but I'm not sure this has actually been done in a cohousing 
community.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org