CCIOA Mandatory Disclosures Prior to Legal Collection Procedures

As you already know, in 2014 additional requirements were added to CCIOA’s collection process, including the sending of a notice of delinquency prior to transferring to an attorney for collection – a step which sometimes lacks all of the statutory requirements. When a property owner has fallen behind in assessments or has any fees against the property, CCIOA requires that, before the property owner’s file is sent to an attorney for collection, the Association must give the property owner a notice of delinquency, which must include:

(A)         Total Amount Owed and Accounting– the notice must include a detailed accounting of what the property owner owes to become current. This could be a copy of the ledger or access to an account online.

(B)         Payment Plan Availability – the notice must state whether the property owner has the opportunity to enter into a payment plan, and if not, must explain why not (i.e. property owners who have failed to adhere to previous payment plan);

(C)         Contact Information – the notice must contain contact information which the property owner can use to get request a ledger and to verify the amount of debt to be paid;

(D)         Thirty Day Period – the notice must specify that the property owner has at least thirty (30) days to remedy the delinquency before the management company may forward the issue to an attorney for collections for further remedial action (i.e. foreclosure, lien, lawsuit, etc.).

If a delinquency notice fails to include any of the above information, it may be in violation of CCIOA.  Please click here for an example of a CCIOA-compliant notice but note that this is an example. Please refer to your collection policy for specifics.

Please note also, that as of January 1, 2019, the jurisdiction in civil actions in County Court is now $25,000 instead of the $15,000 it had been previously.

 Do you have any HOA questions? Contact us at: info@westernlawgroup.com or call: (720) 542-8724.