Cohousing-L Mailing List: Assessment abatement request

[Thomas Lofft (tlofft]

I believe an unpaid assessment in many ways is not unlike any other debt. It 
should be committed to a negotiable instrument, that is a note and debt 
agreement, containing the date,  amounts, names of the parties (as they are 
officially recorded on the deed and HOA Charter), the terms of repayment and 
the conditions and rights of parties in the event of default under the terms of 
agreement. Yes, such an instrument could be factored, i.e., sold to another 
party or pledged as collateral to a lender.
 
Most important in the case of property assessments, I believe these can be 
erased in bankruptcies and/or foreclosures, or overlooked or even ignored in 
the transfer of title, even in an open market sale, if appropriate action is 
not taken to secure the rights of the creditor. Therefore, when the HOA becomes 
aware they are at risk of a default in payment or collection, it is important 
to file a public lien in the local county records to make the debt a matter of 
record that will not be overlooked by a title company in insuring title to a 
subsequent owner.  
 
Considering the worst case, if an HOA starts forgiving debts, it will not meet 
its budget and oversight agencies like FHA or even local lenders may consider 
that the HOA is deficient in its responsibilities and refuse to make future 
mortgage loans within that community.
 
Thomas Lofft
Liberty Village, MD
 
 
 Ann Zabaldo zabaldo [at] earthlink.net wrote: 
To: "cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Assessment abatement request
Message-ID: <70CADD49-58C7-4FFD-8FBA-4DB5AD3B1FF3 [at] earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=utf-8

Hello Pat ? ?

I know we have worked out payment plans with some community members who have 
for various reasons had difficulty paying their HOA dues. 

Some communities have a sliding scale for dues. This means other units have to 
pay more to balance out the budget.  

Abating dues would cause a shortfall in the budget as you have noted.  I'd be 
interested in knowing if other communities have abated HOA dues how they have 
made up the shortfall in the budget. 

A couple of questions:  has your community taken on trying to sell the home for 
the owner?  Or helping her rent it?  Is it possible for her to pay a reduced 
amount of dues now with recovery of the full amount when the home is sold or 
rented?

By the way ? ? what community do you live in and where are you located?

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington DC

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 26, 2015, at 1:47 PM, Pat Elliott <pdelliott43 [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> A member of our community bought her unit last year but never moved in, her 
> circumstances having changed. For the last nine months, she has been trying 
> to sell it or rent it long-term with no success for a variety of reasons. Now 
> she is requesting that the HOA abate her assessments from about $320 to $100 
> a month until she either has a tenant or sells the unit. She says this is 
> what other cohousing communities do. Of course, we budgeted on the basis of 
> all units paying full assessments. Her unit being empty makes a very modest 
> difference in the HOA costs, if any.
> 
> What have other communities done in this sort of circumstance?
> 
> Pat Elliott