Description: Understanding the delinquent homeowner’s financial ability and create a plan to meet the goal of the Association to collect dues.
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An Association must rely on the timely receipt of monthly homeowner assessments (dues) in order to properly function. Due to the non-profit characteristic of a condominium or homeowner association, the annual operating budget is a zero-based budget, in other words, the Association budgets to pay out everything it takes in. There is no profit or contingency in the budget. There is no room for a revenue shortfall. Simply put, uncollected homeowner assessments mean some operating expense can not be paid.
The Northwest, like the rest of the Nation, is experiencing an increase in delinquent homeowner accounts. If your Association is managed by a professional management company, then it is their duty to collect the dues each month. Often times, the management companies accounting department sends out a series of letters in an attempt to collect on the delinquent dues. Unresponsive accounts are sent to a collection attorney and a new process is started that can be costly and difficult to understand.
If your Association is self-managed, meaning the Board or volunteers are handling the day-to-day activities of your Association without the help of a professional management company, delinquent homeowners are often neglected due to the difficulty in approaching a "neighbor" or an unawareness of the collection process.