Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia

I hate to give a lawyer-ly answer, but it depends.

It depends on what your declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions, as well as the articles of incorporation and bylaws (the "governing documents") require. The governing documents must grant the right to put a lien in place and you must follow any requirements (going back to how you adopted the budget and determined what the assessments/fees should be) that the governing documents contains. The situation can be further complicated (or made easier) depending on whether your association has been submitted to the Georgia Property Owners Association Act, which gives automatic lien rights to associations.

Check your documents and then you probably should contact an HOA or collections attorney to make sure that you do not run into any problems in your efforts to collect the past due assessments/ fees. You need to verify the name of the owner of the property and its location as well as make sure that your lien has language that really protects the association's interests here. Bankruptcies and foreclosures can cause additional issues that need to be navigated, before you press ahead with collection efforts.