As the lead attorney in Barker Martin's Collections Department, I am often asked whether an Association is required to send an owner a delinquency notice letter before turning an account over to an attorney for collections. While there is a requirement under Washington and Oregon state law to send budget notices to all owners, the Association is not required under state law to send a delinquency notice letter to an owner before turning the account over to an attorney for collections. However, as you may have suspected, an Association's governing documents may require that a notice be sent to an owner prior to turning over their account for collections. For example, the Association's Rules and Regulations may provide that a "delinquency notice shall be sent" prior to sending an account to an attorney for collections. Please note, Oregon state law and/or an Association's particular governing documents require the Association to send notice to an owner before commencing a foreclosure lawsuit; however, this article is focusing on whether a delinquency notice letter must be sent to an owner by the Association prior to contacting an attorney to assist with recovering the owner's unpaid assessments. read more

There are a number of ways an upset homeowner could choose to express their discontent with their association, the board, or another resident. They could raise concerns at a meeting, complain in writing, or even run for the board to try to make policy changes. Instead, unfortunately, sometimes they choose to interrupt, disrupt, shout over others, and generally hijack the meeting. One way we've seen this play out is when an owner insists upon recording a meeting. read more

Incorporating technology into our homes is big, big business in the Unites States. Where once we were clapping at our lamps, now we can control virtually everything inside and outside of the home with the sound of our voice or apps on our phones. As part of this growing trend, video doorbells have become immensely popular, and offer real-time video and audio streams, as well as cloud-based recording. Companies like Ring, August, Nest, and Honeywell have a wide variety of devices with near limitless options. read more

OK, so no, despite the clickbait title, there is no one little trick to deal with problem owners. Maybe it's the political climate or the phases of the moon, but it sure seems like the "problem owner" issue is out in force right now. Take the Florida community that was recently vindicated in an arbitration against a particularly problematic owner in this Florida article. read more

It has been quite some time since this Blog explored an associations' authority to tow vehicles within their communities (prior blog article can be viewed here). Considering towing is a high-stress situation for most boards and the sheer number of questions we receive related to towing, we thought it would be useful to revisit a few of the basics of this issue. read more