Tag: Community Associations

The board of directors of a community association may have multiple meetings throughout the year. When these board meetings are “open” the members of the association are entitled to attend and observe. Having the right to attend a meeting is meaningless unless a member knows when and where the meeting will be held. Therefore, in accordance with N.J.A.C. 5:20-1.1, et seq., a board must ensure that proper notice requirements are followed.

Many homeowners and board members – and even managers and attorneys – confuse the different types of meetings that are held throughout the year for community associations. There are two types of community association meetings and there are important differences between the two.

May is a month of collection opportunities for associations. Most associations suspend pool privileges for those unit owners who are delinquent in paying their assessments. Therefore, associations tend to experience a surge of unit owners seeking to remit payments prior to Memorial Day weekend, when most pools open.

Tax Season is a great time for associations to collect their delinquent assessments. Often times, delinquent unit owners seek to pay off their arrears with their tax reimbursement checks. It is important that associations provide their attorney with an updated delinquency report to pursue, so the attorney can commence collection efforts. Boards should seize the opportunity to reduce their delinquencies and bring money in for their association.

For many associations, a good portion of the Board meetings are spent reviewing the ever-growing delinquency report. Boards are faced with different variables when dealing with their delinquency report. For example, a large delinquent account could be a vacant unit that has had a mortgage foreclosure pending for over two years.

Once association counsel obtains a personal judgment against the unit owner for failure to pay maintenance fees, late fees, attorneys’ fees and costs and other charges, we look for ways to collect on the judgment. If the delinquent unit owner owns a vehicle, one method of collecting on the judgment is by levying the vehicle and selling it at auction.

Community associations continue to suffer from very high delinquency rates which is a reflection of the national trends of consumer debt. However, because community associations need to be vigilant in keeping its delinquency rates manageable (as these monies are needed to provide promised services to its members), debt collection is a very big part of an association’s day-to-day activities.