I am the president of my HOA. We have a homeowner who has violated a rule for several months, and we have notified him by registered mail that he will be fined until the situation is resolved.
We are sending account statements to him every 10 days showing the charges for the fine.
If for any reason he does not receive these statements, or claims not to have received them, I believe he still owes the fine. In fact I believe he would still owe the fine if we sent no statements at all until our regular assessment statements. Am I correct? Or must we send each statement using a signature-required method of delivery?
From what I understand for stuff like this one certified (signature required) letter mailed with a standard 1st class letter containing the same thing mailed at the same time would be proof of acceptance even if the signature one was refused and returned.
If he owes the money he owes it, regardless of statements. However there may be a question as to his owing it and the legality of the fine itself. In one HOA I know the fine is invalid except the back amount owed needed to be paid back for selling the place. It gets tricky sometimes.
There is absolutely no question of the legality of the fine. We are following Virginia state law that is very specific.
He has exterior construction that has been in a partial state of completion with no progress for over a year. It is not a crime, it is a rule violation.
I am not a lawyer and certainly don’t live in Va.
But based on everything I have ever seen/done the correct process is to send a certified letter to the correct address. Keep the receipt proving the letter was sent. Done.
Any court will accept the receipt as proof you did your part. It won’t matter if the recipient claims not to have received the letter.
I feel like in cases where you receive bills or statements, there’s usually a clause that states that not receiving it doesn’t mean you don’t owe it and that it’s on you to contact them.
When I have to do this, I send things out Certified Mail, signature required with a return receipt. I mail it out and a few days later I get a card back with a signature on it from someone at the address or the letter returned with a reason (no one available, refused, etc).
Regardless of the outcome, for my cases, that’s all that’s needed. Proof that I attempted to notify the person at their ‘last known address’. It honestly doesn’t matter if they refuse it or sign for it, I just have to show that I sent it.
Anyways, if you sent him one statement, that you have proof he received, I wouldn’t bother with anymore that way. Seems like a waste of money. At this point he probably thinks it’s funny that someone is spending $30 bucks a month for all this.
I don’t know much about HOAs, but why not just take him to small claims or hand it over to a collections agency? Seems like either of those options would get it moving a lot faster.
ETA, anytime someone refuses the certified letter or I otherwise get it back unopened, I always leave it just like that. I hand it over to the people that need it (in my case, the police) so they can open it. IMO, letting them open them helps to show that the ones where the person does get them actually do contain what I say they do.
We have sent a notice by registered mail indicating the date that a daily fine commences. The fine will be included in his assessment statement, which we send out twice a year. The law (see § 55-513 D) explicitly requires the initial notice to be sent certified/registered mail.
We are sending him supplemental statements every 10 days. I do not think these are required at all, and therefore believe they do not have to be sent registered mail.