First time posting here. We bought our townhome last Fall, and during closing, we paid the HOA fees for the year. New fees were posted to our account this Spring, and I paid them on time (~$1000 for the year). But a few weeks later, I received a letter about late HOA fees for a different amount (~$650). The name of the HOA was a bit different than the one listed on our account and closing docs, and this fee wasn’t listed on our HOA account, so I thought it was a scam. A couple of weeks later, we got a letter threatening collections unless we paid the fee. So, I called our community’s help-line, and they said there was a duplicate account for our address, and they’d have it fixed. But then, in July, we received a letter saying this fee had been sent to collections. I called the HOA firm they hired, and they said our property was covered by two HOAs, which is why there’s this additional fee. But we’ve never heard of this second HOA, it’s not in our closing docs, and no one told us about it. I called the HOA help-line again, but they said they didn’t know what I was talking about and would escalate the issue, but I still haven’t heard back. Last week, we received a letter saying that the law firm has filed a lawsuit.
I’m asking what my options are and what to expect next. I plan to call the HOA help-line again, but I don’t want to pay this extra fee we were never told about. Any advice would be really helpful!
Have you spoken to a neighbor to see if they have the same issue? It still sounds like a scam. Maybe contact your realtor and have them check with the previous owners to confirm.
Lian said:
Have you spoken to a neighbor to see if they have the same issue? It still sounds like a scam. Maybe contact your realtor and have them check with the previous owners to confirm.
I haven’t asked a neighbor yet, but that’s a good idea. We bought directly from the developer. They told us about the duplicate account and said they’d fix it. We weren’t sure if this was real either, but we checked with the court and confirmed the lawsuit was filed. They also gave us contact info for the law firm and HOA.
@Aubrey
So, you got a letter saying the law firm filed a lawsuit? Who sent the letter, and have you actually been served yet? What court did you confirm it with? Do you mean the clerk of court?
AdvocateAce4 said: @Aubrey
So, you got a letter saying the law firm filed a lawsuit? Who sent the letter, and have you actually been served yet? What court did you confirm it with? Do you mean the clerk of court?
I’ll double-check the sender when I get home. We confirmed it with the clerk of the court listed on the documents we got about the lawsuit.
@Aubrey
So, you got documents, not just a letter? I’m guessing it had the court’s name at the top, along with a subpoena and other court info explaining the suit and how to respond.
I lived in a condo with two HOAs. One was paid annually for the neighborhood, and the other was for my condo association, paid monthly. But all this was explained during the purchase.
Rowan said:
I lived in a condo with two HOAs. One was paid annually for the neighborhood, and the other was for my condo association, paid monthly. But all this was explained during the purchase.
Thanks for sharing! We’ve never had a townhome before, so I wasn’t familiar with how this works. The second HOA looks like it’s for the neighborhood, but I don’t understand why they wouldn’t mention it at closing or include it in our docs.
@Aubrey
In my case, the master HOA was mentioned in the seller’s disclosure (this was in Arizona), and it came up several times during the process, including at closing. Sorry you’re dealing with this stress.
Rowan said:
I lived in a condo with two HOAs. One was paid annually for the neighborhood, and the other was for my condo association, paid monthly. But all this was explained during the purchase.
How does having two HOAs even work? I feel like this would be a big problem if the rules conflict.
@Fay
The neighborhood HOA was just responsible for the general upkeep of the area outside the individual condo or housing developments. It was like $300 a year for things like landscaping, walking paths, dog waste stations, etc. The neighborhood association didn’t have any say in the rules of the housing complexes.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’d suggest reaching out to the lawyer for the HOA and asking for more time to respond so you can sort this out. But don’t answer any questions, just say you weren’t told about the second HOA, so you thought the bills were fake, but you might settle if they can prove the charges are legitimate and you have to pay them.
Not a lawyer, but I work with property transactions. I agree with contacting your title company, they should have caught this if two HOAs are involved. If this is a new development, it’s unlikely there are two, but it’s possible (I’m not sure where you live). In the meantime, you can look up the lawsuit filings and check out the complaint to get a better idea of what they’re claiming. Try a Google search for your county’s court records.