Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Property HOA dues....

If you try to sell the house with a lien on it from the HOA, escrow will not close until and unless the past due amounts (and possibly attorneys' fees) are paid. Further, at some point the HOA can file a lawsuit against you to foreclose on the lien and potentially sell the property to satisfy the lien.

Re: Property HOA dues....

You have no legitimate excuse / defense to justify not paying the dues, any more than if you didn't pay the mortgage. Dues default will result in a lien that will either be paid from sale proceeds, with interest and penalties and legal fees, just like a mortgage in default, or could be used to foreclose on your property. "presenting your case to the judge" means you are involved in expensive litigation - something to avoid.

Re: Property HOA dues....

First, I would strongly suggest that a dues-strike is not the way to resolve the issue. If you don't pay your dues, the HOA can place a lien on your unit which would have to be paid either prior to, or out of the close of escrow when and if you sell. Eventually, failure to pay coudl result in the HOA foreclosing your unit, or your lender advancing the money to cure the default, and then adding that to your loan (or declaring a default on your loan, and foreclosing for the default). HOA dues are also personal to you, and can can affect you personally (unlike property taxes) should you ever be in the position of having to walk away from your home. When the day comes to remove the lien, you will pay not only back dues, but penalties, fees and interest which can more than double your total cost. And again, not paying dues is not going to resolve the ultimate issue of whether your HOA even necessary. In front of a judge the state of the economy, and even the perception that the HOA does nothing is not going to prevail - the laws are very clear that so long as the HOA follows the Davis-Stirling Act and the project's governing documents, and acts even remotely reasonably, there really is no excuse for not paying dues. First, you need to do a lot of homework. Get copies of the financials for the past three years. Review them to see where the money is going, and whether the $200 a month dues level is appropriate. When you say the dues pay for a slush fund, the Directors should not be paid and they shouldn't have any expenses related to their role that would require being reimbursed. I am very curious why any of the dues ends up in their pockets. If you find that they are spending more money than is necessary, and the budget should be lower, then read the Bylaws of the Association, and figure out if you can call a special meeting to address the financial issues. You may be able to force a reduction in the dues amount. Alternatively, if the HOA is really providing no benefit (and frankly, this takes a lot of research as well, as I have seen very few HOAs that don't provide some benefit), perhaps you can convince a large enough number of the homeowners to vote to disband the HOA. Again, read your CC&Rs and Bylaws to see how that might be done. You will also need to research the Davis-Stirling Act - a google search will get you a ton of information. Good luck.

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