Kentucky 75-year-old's house seized, sold over $288 unpaid HOA dues

[Demeter]

95. BS!

the HOA is a business. It doesn't matter if there's a mortgage, a tax lien, whatever.

If fees go unpaid, the property is liened, and then foreclosed if the lien is not satisfied. There are very specific procedures to follow. Contract law is the oldest form of law there is and it is well-understood and constantly used.

"They now own a property that they can sell for value and do what they want with the proceeds." Absolutely untrue! Nor would they have been forced to pay the mortgage. That's what a foreclosure settles. We had a co uple of foreclosures, and it was the Mortgage Company that paid the outstanding condo fees and property taxes and maintenance. The Mortgage Company owns the property until the mortgage is paid off. That's why they say People don't buy houses, Banks do!

If the HOA did NOT follow contract law, the BOARD would be PERSONALLY liable for suits from all the owners who WERE paying their fees.

That's why contracts are important to follow. Don't sign one unless you intend to comply. That's why serving on a board is a responsibility and generally, an unpaid one.

The only contract that's easily broken is the marriage contract, and even then the financial penalties can be very high. It is the chicanery employed by the unfaithful spouse that colors most people's understanding of all law. BUT family law is the messiest, least settled part of it all.

"HOA boards are run mostly by frustrated power hungry people who like to make other people miserable." Only if the people of the HOA are too damn lazy to step up and serve.

I've been serving on the Condo board 11 years, now. We've had our petty tyrants, our totally incompetent, our fuzzy, bleeding hearts and our lazy to the bone members. We've gotten them off the board, and currently have a competent, diligent bunch doing good things and the gratitude we get is only in passing, as a road gets rebuilt, the pool renovated, or some other such thing as we are supposed to do.

We just lost our last incompetent, petty tyrant when the people fought back. Now we have to convince somebody competent to fill the vacancy.

Not everybody can or should serve. I'm protecting my investment in my home. (Frankly, I don't dare quit, at least, not until the roads are completed.)