OCJoeR0149
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Nevada
My wife and I own a rental property in Las Vegas. The property has always been rented since we've owned it. We live in California and the address of record with the HOA and management company is our home in California. While we were at a family funeral out of state the notice for the semi-annual dues came to the house in June 2011 (payment is due July 1). By the time I returned a late notice had also been received. I contacted the management company and requested that the late fee of $10 be waived due to the situation (The HOA policy was that a $10 late fee would be due if the dues were not paid within 30 days). I was told that I had to send in the full amount and request in writing for the waiver of the late fee, which I did. A month or so later I received an e-mail advising me that the HOA board found the late payment was justifiable and removed the late fee. We would receive a credit on our next payment.
What I was not aware of was that while the HOA board was ruling on the request for the waiver the Management company had sent the file to their collection division. This was done in violation of the HOA's written collection policy which copies Nevada state law. We were not aware of this because the collection division had sent out notifications to the property address which was occupied by a tenant who did not forward the mail to us.
When we finally learned of the collection, some time in March 2012 when I went to the property to repaint it. (the tenant had notified us that she was moving out at the end of February 2012). I found notices of the filing of the lien in the mailbox. I contacted the management company as asked how the matter could go to collection when the HOA had accepted the check and in fact waived the late fee? I was told that since the entire file had gone to collection I had to contact them. After several months of e-mails I eventually received an e-mail from an individual in the collection division. I explained that the dues had been paid and the late fee waived. I also explained that they had been sending the notices to the wrong address. (The Collection company is a sub division of the management company). I sent them copies of the check, e-mails back and forth with the management company, the e-mail waiving the late fee and requested that the lien be removed. By this time they had already received a default judgement against the property. This went on for another 19 months with me sending the same information to at least 4 different individuals in the collection company and meeting with them on at least 2 occasions. I sent them copies of the HOA policy on collection and the Nevada Revised Statute that required them to wait 60 days AFTER the payment was DELINQUENT. (they began the collection activity approximately 45 days after). They had posted at least 2 notifications on the property of the Trustee Sale in this time. Finally I received an e-mail from their Trustee Sale division that they had in fact begun the action in violation of the policy and law and agreed to rescind the judgment and release the lien. During this entire time we were unable to rent the property because Nevada law requires a landlord or real estate agent to notify a prospective tenant of the judgment and pending sale by attaching an addendum to the lease.
We took the Management company and Collection company to small claims court. In the first hearing, before what is called a referee, we obtained a judgment for $7,500 with a statement that the inability to rent the property was due to the illegally filed lien and judgment. The defendants appealed to the Justice Court judge. She found that since we were unable to specifically show damages caused by the premature collection actions and illegally placed lien and judgment there were no damages.
My question wouldn't the filing of a lien and obtaining of the judgment by itself reduce the rental value of a property since no one will rent it once they find out about the lien. The whole point of filing the lien against real property is to reduce its value by the amount of the lien, and to force the sale of the property to satisfy the lien. Since the sale can take place (an almost did, twice) an any time after the judgment is granted, the property has no rental value because the landlord would not own the property after the Trustee sale.
thank you
Joe
My wife and I own a rental property in Las Vegas. The property has always been rented since we've owned it. We live in California and the address of record with the HOA and management company is our home in California. While we were at a family funeral out of state the notice for the semi-annual dues came to the house in June 2011 (payment is due July 1). By the time I returned a late notice had also been received. I contacted the management company and requested that the late fee of $10 be waived due to the situation (The HOA policy was that a $10 late fee would be due if the dues were not paid within 30 days). I was told that I had to send in the full amount and request in writing for the waiver of the late fee, which I did. A month or so later I received an e-mail advising me that the HOA board found the late payment was justifiable and removed the late fee. We would receive a credit on our next payment.
What I was not aware of was that while the HOA board was ruling on the request for the waiver the Management company had sent the file to their collection division. This was done in violation of the HOA's written collection policy which copies Nevada state law. We were not aware of this because the collection division had sent out notifications to the property address which was occupied by a tenant who did not forward the mail to us.
When we finally learned of the collection, some time in March 2012 when I went to the property to repaint it. (the tenant had notified us that she was moving out at the end of February 2012). I found notices of the filing of the lien in the mailbox. I contacted the management company as asked how the matter could go to collection when the HOA had accepted the check and in fact waived the late fee? I was told that since the entire file had gone to collection I had to contact them. After several months of e-mails I eventually received an e-mail from an individual in the collection division. I explained that the dues had been paid and the late fee waived. I also explained that they had been sending the notices to the wrong address. (The Collection company is a sub division of the management company). I sent them copies of the check, e-mails back and forth with the management company, the e-mail waiving the late fee and requested that the lien be removed. By this time they had already received a default judgement against the property. This went on for another 19 months with me sending the same information to at least 4 different individuals in the collection company and meeting with them on at least 2 occasions. I sent them copies of the HOA policy on collection and the Nevada Revised Statute that required them to wait 60 days AFTER the payment was DELINQUENT. (they began the collection activity approximately 45 days after). They had posted at least 2 notifications on the property of the Trustee Sale in this time. Finally I received an e-mail from their Trustee Sale division that they had in fact begun the action in violation of the policy and law and agreed to rescind the judgment and release the lien. During this entire time we were unable to rent the property because Nevada law requires a landlord or real estate agent to notify a prospective tenant of the judgment and pending sale by attaching an addendum to the lease.
We took the Management company and Collection company to small claims court. In the first hearing, before what is called a referee, we obtained a judgment for $7,500 with a statement that the inability to rent the property was due to the illegally filed lien and judgment. The defendants appealed to the Justice Court judge. She found that since we were unable to specifically show damages caused by the premature collection actions and illegally placed lien and judgment there were no damages.
My question wouldn't the filing of a lien and obtaining of the judgment by itself reduce the rental value of a property since no one will rent it once they find out about the lien. The whole point of filing the lien against real property is to reduce its value by the amount of the lien, and to force the sale of the property to satisfy the lien. Since the sale can take place (an almost did, twice) an any time after the judgment is granted, the property has no rental value because the landlord would not own the property after the Trustee sale.
thank you
Joe