Home owner's Association Liens

[Regularwolf]

I am not sure if I have posted this question to the proper topic but I was wondering if anyone had any advise on lawsuits brought by Home owner's Associations for failure to pay dues.

 

[seniorjudge]

We need facts and details.

Your question is too general to be answered.

 

[Regularwolf]

A suit has been brought and a lein placed on my residence for non-payment of Home owner dues. The Plaintiff is seeking legal fees, interest, late fees and of cousre the unpaid dues. I live in San Antonio, Texas and homesteaded my house when i purchased it. However, I am being told that because the requirement for the association was in place before i purchased that it supercedes the homestead act.

I have attempted to several times without success to contact the law firm representing the association but always get voicemail. I can give even more details if needed but my question is: Is this legal?

 

[seniorjudge]

Yes, it is legal for the HOA to collect fees and if you do not pay, they will put a lien on your place.

Do not double post.

We will discuss it in this thread.

 

[Regularwolf]

Thanks for the info. I apologize for the multiple posts on this issue. My HOA dues are at least 2 or 3 delinquent. I only became aware of the delinquency in June of 2006 when my estranged wife deserted the home. At that time I discovered that she had not been paying any of the bills, which obviously included the HOA dues. To make matter worse, she overdrew several bank accounts as she wrote hot check on her departure. So as you can imagine, I have quite a mess to deal with in the aftermath.

With regard to the HOA, I attempted to contact them as soon as I became aware of the situation and met with limited success. Most times I was unable to speak with a live person. However, on the occasions that I did, I requested an itemized list of the charges. Upon its receipt, I discovered what I considered to be excessive late and legal fees. At that point, I attempted to bring this to the attention of the law firm. Of course, I once again had to leave voicemails. This was in the latter part of 2006 and I have yet to receive a return call.

In the meantime, I had been working on other issues. I came home a few days ago to find notice of their lawsuit against me taped to my door.

So, what options do have under the circumstances? Is it possible to work with the law firm even though the suit has been filed and foreclosure has been requested? Due to the circumstances, I am not of course able to pay what is owed outright. Do you thinking that it might be possible to come to some payment arrangement with the firm?

Thanks again for your advice.