collections on property owner dues

I was gifted property by my parents about 10 years ago. The property is resort property and has property owner dues associated with it. I have not paid the property owner dues since 1997. The association recently hired a collection company to do all their billing and past due collections. I received no notification from the association prior to their turning the collections over to this company. I also have received no correspondence from the association for the dues since 1998. Upon receiving a statement from the collection agency that I owed $1,889 I contacted them and asked for a breakdown of the amount owed. I received the breakdown in the mail yesterday and it included a collection fee. Is this legal? Does anyone have any tips on how I should approach them on settling these past owed dues. The property owners association has had my correct address the entire time and the collection agency had the correct information of how to contact me as well. Also, shouldn't I be allowed to just turn the property over to the association for the back owed dues? Also the property owners association is charging the same dues to improved and unimproved properties. And the same dues to property owners who live there full time versus property owners who only visit on weekends. I have not been up to the resort since 1996.

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face=" Arial, Verdana, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by heldupinTX:
I was gifted property by my parents about 10 years ago. The property is resort property and has property owner dues associated with it. I have not paid the property owner dues since 1997. The association recently hired a collection company to do all their billing and past due collections. I received no notification from the association prior to their turning the collections over to this company. I also have received no correspondence from the association for the dues since 1998. Upon receiving a statement from the collection agency that I owed $1,889 I contacted them and asked for a breakdown of the amount owed. I received the breakdown in the mail yesterday and it included a collection fee. Is this legal? Does anyone have any tips on how I should approach them on settling these past owed dues. The property owners association has had my correct address the entire time and the collection agency had the correct information of how to contact me as well. Also, shouldn't I be allowed to just turn the property over to the association for the back owed dues? Also the property owners association is charging the same dues to improved and unimproved properties. And the same dues to property owners who live there full time versus property owners who only visit on weekends. I have not been up to the resort since 1996.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here is how to approach them.
Pay the amount due. They are not obligated to take the property in lieu of payment. You can file a complaint if you feel there is discrimination in how the fees are established.