Dear lawyers
I bought a house in Florida in 2006/2007 and rented out. When we signed the papers for the purchase, somehow we missed to notify Homeowners Association to send all mails to our residence in CA. So since we bought the house till Sept. 2008, all HOA bills and notices were mailed to our property in FL. The mails were never forwarded by the rentners to us. So Sept. 2008, we receive a letter from an attorney for the HOA stating that we own them $3700 from day one for assessment fees, legal and late fees and fines. I wrote a letter to HOA pleading my case and they rejected and demand full payment. I have posted the response from the HOA manager below. Could you please help and let me know if I should look for an attorney to fight this case or if I would have no chances to win this case, even with an attorneys help.
Appreciate for all the help.
CT
Response from HOA manager below:
I'm sorry to say that the board after reviewing your request has decided
payment of your entire balance due is what you are responsible for. At the
time of sale, your realtor discloses the homeowner fees in a HOA Disclosure
Form required from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, Inc. and
Florida Statutes. At closing these fees are checked by both title company
and closing attorney. The board determined that because Shirley Oaks is
stated as a deed restricted community and the various documents that
acknowledge assessment dues within their community, there is no clear
reason, from your letter, that having no knowledge of assessments due from
just a notice is sufficient reason to neglect these payments to the
association for over three years. A homeowner is ultimately responsible to
these ends, not a dependency on the association to send notice of required
fees. It was also noted that there was no effort on your part to contact
and relay any information prior to receiving an Intent to Lien letter from
the attorney.
I bought a house in Florida in 2006/2007 and rented out. When we signed the papers for the purchase, somehow we missed to notify Homeowners Association to send all mails to our residence in CA. So since we bought the house till Sept. 2008, all HOA bills and notices were mailed to our property in FL. The mails were never forwarded by the rentners to us. So Sept. 2008, we receive a letter from an attorney for the HOA stating that we own them $3700 from day one for assessment fees, legal and late fees and fines. I wrote a letter to HOA pleading my case and they rejected and demand full payment. I have posted the response from the HOA manager below. Could you please help and let me know if I should look for an attorney to fight this case or if I would have no chances to win this case, even with an attorneys help.
Appreciate for all the help.
CT
Response from HOA manager below:
I'm sorry to say that the board after reviewing your request has decided
payment of your entire balance due is what you are responsible for. At the
time of sale, your realtor discloses the homeowner fees in a HOA Disclosure
Form required from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, Inc. and
Florida Statutes. At closing these fees are checked by both title company
and closing attorney. The board determined that because Shirley Oaks is
stated as a deed restricted community and the various documents that
acknowledge assessment dues within their community, there is no clear
reason, from your letter, that having no knowledge of assessments due from
just a notice is sufficient reason to neglect these payments to the
association for over three years. A homeowner is ultimately responsible to
these ends, not a dependency on the association to send notice of required
fees. It was also noted that there was no effort on your part to contact
and relay any information prior to receiving an Intent to Lien letter from
the attorney.
