Homeowners Associations Win Foreclosure Court Battle - cbs4.com: "Revenues have fallen off a cliff as homeowners, many in foreclosure, are choosing not to pay their bills. In May The Oaks in Miami Gardens began using a new legal strategy presented by the Associated Law Group. The attorneys proposed to go after landlords who were collecting rents but not paying their association dues.
Instead of rent payments going to the landlord, the court appoints a receiver to collect that rent. The receiver then pays the association what's owed.
What's new about this maneuver though is the judge isn't doing this on a case by case basis. The receiver is appointed to collect for any rental unit in foreclosure in the entire building."
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And it seems that the Third District Court of Appeals approves of this method. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.
2 comments:
For the record, the 3rd Court denied hearing the case, because the owner filed the wrong documents -- an extension of time to reply.
The trial court order can be found at http://www.algpl.com/news.html, which specifies the appointment of a receiver only for "all units . . . occupied by a Foreclosure tenant . . . ", who is a tenant in a unit under foreclosure.
The CBS4 reporter is misleading his readers AND MAY CAUSE POWER HUNGRY BOARDS TO DEMAND TENANT RENTS FROM ALL TENANTS WHOSE OWNER IS JUST BEHIND IN RENT. That's not what the court order says.
Absolutely correct. This order only deals with units that are in foreclosure and have tenants who are paying rent to the offending owner. If the unit is empty the court order does not speak to renting it out and in my opinion should not. Associations that rent out units that they have not foreclosed upon are only asking for trouble. Nor does this order have anything to do with units that are not paying their rents to the offending owner or the association. The association can serve them but can do little if they flatly refuse to pay anybody. It's a good ruling and the judges in Florida have stepped up to help out the associations. Now rents that typically are four times maintenance can be collected to pay down late fees, late interest, past due assessments and collection costs. It also has latent benefits in that the unit becomes current and possibly can make an association viable for Fannie Mae lending.
mdrimmer@afslc.com
www.associationfinancialservices.com
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