Lawyer threatening lien on property due to HOA past due fees (Maryland)

[therush]

I have been working overseas for the past 3 years and renting out my townhouse in Maryland. I notified the Homeowner's Association (HOA), in April 2012, of my new contact address prior to departing, but that address apparently didn't get recorded. I did this in person at the HOA's office so I have no record of this actually happening.

In December 2014, I received a notice from a lawyer threatening a lien against my property for outstanding HOA payments, plus legal fees, late fees, etc. The HOA fee was increased in January 2013, and I did not receive the notification. I continued paying the HOA fees monthly, but at a rate of a few dollars lower than the increased fee. I wrote a letter to the lawyer representing the HOA and just received a response. They pretty much ignored all my arguments against paying the extra fees.

I paid the difference in the HOA fees with the letter, but at a minimum, I feel the lawyer fees, late fees, etc. should be split, given I provided a change in address prior to departing and never received any of the notices sent to the townhouse.

The difference between what I paid and the new HOA fee amounted to $250. The Lawyer is trying to collect an additional $1,000 on top of that.

What recourse do I have?

 

[LdiJ]

I have been working overseas for the past 3 years and renting out my townhouse in Maryland. I notified the Homeowner's Association (HOA), in April 2012, of my new contact address prior to departing, but that address apparently didn't get recorded. I did this in person at the HOA's office so I have no record of this actually happening.

In December 2014, I received a notice from a lawyer threatening a lien against my property for outstanding HOA payments, plus legal fees, late fees, etc. The HOA fee was increased in January 2013, and I did not receive the notification. I continued paying the HOA fees monthly, but at a rate of a few dollars lower than the increased fee. I wrote a letter to the lawyer representing the HOA and just received a response. They pretty much ignored all my arguments against paying the extra fees.

I paid the difference in the HOA fees with the letter, but at a minimum, I feel the lawyer fees, late fees, etc. should be split, given I provided a change in address prior to departing and never received any of the notices sent to the townhouse.

The difference between what I paid and the new HOA fee amounted to $250. The Lawyer is trying to collect an additional $1,000 on top of that.

What recourse do I have?

Interesting. They had the address available to give to the attorney, but they did not have the address available to notify you that the fees had increased?

 

[therush]

Interesting. They had the address available to give to the attorney, but they did not have the address available to notify you that the fees had increased?

I'm not sure how the attorney got our new address, but I don't think it was from our HOA.

The HOA is charging us $50 per certified letter they sent to our rental property that were not signed for by our tenant.

Apparently our tenant also threw away the non-certified letters that they received and did not notify us of warning letters posted on the door of the property.