Condo & HOA Assessment Collection Attorneys

Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA · September 23, 2026 · Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026

Florida Community Association Assessment Collection Attorneys

Assessments are the only revenue most community associations have. When owners do not pay, the shortfall is made up by the owners who do, through higher assessments, deferred maintenance, or borrowed reserves. Florida law gives associations strong collection remedies, including a lien that relates back to the recording of the declaration and a foreclosure remedy that does not depend on a mortgage lender, but it conditions every remedy on a sequence of statutory notices and it regulates how the debt is communicated. Hamilton Mikes handles assessment collection for condominiums, homeowners associations, cooperatives, clubs, and resort communities throughout Southwest Florida, from the first statutory notice through lien foreclosure, bankruptcy, and the lender's foreclosure of the same unit.

The Legal Basis for the Debt

A unit or parcel owner is liable for all assessments that come due while he or she owns the property, regardless of how title was acquired, and is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that accrued before the transfer. The exception is the first mortgagee, or its successor, that acquires title by foreclosure or deed in lieu: its liability for pre-title assessments is capped at the lesser of the assessments that accrued during the 12 months before it took title or one percent of the original mortgage debt. That "safe harbor" means the association usually loses most of a long delinquency when a lender forecloses, which is the strongest argument for collecting early rather than waiting for the bank.

Assessments not paid when due bear interest at the rate stated in the declaration or, if none is stated, 18 percent per year. Where the documents authorize it, the association may also charge a late fee of up to the greater of $25 or five percent of each installment. Payments received are applied by statute first to interest, then to late fees, then to costs and reasonable attorney's fees, and only then to the assessment itself, and an owner's notation that a check is "for assessments only" does not change the order. The association's ledger must reflect that order exactly, because a ledger that does not is the first thing an owner's attorney will attack.

The Statutory Notice Sequence

Since 2021, Florida law has required a specific series of notices before an association may recover attorney's fees, record a lien, or foreclose:

Notice of late assessment. Before the association may charge the owner for attorney's fees related to a past-due assessment, it must deliver a 30-day notice of late assessment in the statutory form, by first-class mail to the owner's address on the association's books, and keep an affidavit of mailing in its records.
Notice of intent to record a claim of lien. At least 45 days before recording a lien, the association must deliver written notice of its intent to do so, by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and by first-class mail, to the owner's address of record and the property address.
Claim of lien. The lien is recorded in the county's official records, states the amounts due and their due dates, and, for a condominium, secures assessments that come due after recording as well as those already delinquent. A condominium claim of lien expires one year after recording unless a foreclosure action has been filed.
Notice of intent to foreclose. The association must deliver a second notice, by the same methods, stating that the lien will be foreclosed unless the amounts due are paid. A homeowners association may not file the foreclosure until 45 days after that notice; for a condominium, no foreclosure judgment may be entered until 45 days after it, and in practice the notice precedes the filing.

Each notice has required content and delivery methods, and a defect in one restarts the clock. Our collection notices guide reproduces the sequence with the statutory periods for condominiums and homeowners associations.

Remedies Beyond the Lien

Suspension of use and voting rights. When an owner is more than 90 days delinquent in any monetary obligation to the association, the board may suspend the owner's, tenant's, and guests' rights to use common facilities, other than those needed to reach the unit, parking, elevators, and utilities. Voting rights may also be suspended; for a condominium the delinquency must exceed $1,000 as well as 90 days, and the suspension takes effect 30 days after notice to the owner. These suspensions are imposed at a properly noticed board meeting and require written notice, but they do not require the fining-committee hearing that covenant-violation suspensions do.
Collecting rent from the tenant. When a delinquent owner's unit is leased, the association may demand in writing that the tenant pay future rent to the association until the delinquency is paid. A tenant who complies is protected from the landlord's claims, and a tenant who refuses may be evicted by the association under the residential landlord-tenant act. The remedy is fast, statutory, and underused.
Money judgment. The association may sue for a money judgment without waiving its lien, which is useful when the unit has no equity or when the owner has other assets.
Payment plans. Nothing in the statutes prohibits a payment plan, and a written plan that keeps the lien in place, requires current assessments to be paid on time, and terminates automatically on default frequently produces more than a foreclosure would. We prepare plans that protect the association if the owner stops paying.
Qualifying offers. In a homeowners association, a parcel owner who is sued may serve a notarized "qualifying offer" under section 720.3085(6) to pay the full amount by a date within 60 days, which stays the foreclosure until that date. Boards should understand the mechanism before a foreclosure is filed so that the offer, if made, is handled correctly. Chapter 718 has no equivalent for condominiums.

When the Lender Forecloses First

A first-mortgage foreclosure names the association as a defendant because the association's lien is junior to the mortgage. The association should appear, monitor the case, and file its claim for the safe-harbor amount when the lender takes title, but it should also consider foreclosing its own lien first. Title obtained through the association's foreclosure is subject to the mortgage, but it lets the association rent the unit and apply the rent to the debt while the lender's foreclosure proceeds, and it eliminates the delinquent owner's control of the unit. Whether that strategy makes sense depends on the mortgage balance, the unit's rental value, and the lender's pace; if the lender diligently proceeds with its case, the association may not have enough time to lease the unit and recover the cost of its own foreclosure. We evaluate it unit by unit.

A tax deed sale is different: it generally extinguishes the association's lien for assessments that accrued before the sale, so associations should monitor tax certificate activity on delinquent units and, where the numbers justify it, pay the taxes and add them to the lien.

Bankruptcy

An owner's bankruptcy filing imposes an automatic stay on all collection activity, including letters, liens, suspensions, and pending foreclosures, and violating the stay exposes the association to sanctions. The association must file a proof of claim, and in a Chapter 13 case it must monitor the plan and object when the plan mistreats its claim. Assessments that come due after the petition remain the owner's personal obligation for as long as the owner holds title, even in a Chapter 7 case that discharges the pre-petition debt, and the association's lien survives the bankruptcy unless the court avoids it. Managers should forward every bankruptcy notice to counsel the day it arrives.

Estoppel Certificates and Closings

When a unit sells or refinances, the closing agent will request an estoppel certificate stating the amounts owed. The statutes require the association to deliver the certificate within ten business days of the request, prescribe its contents, cap the fee the association may charge (with the cap adjusted for inflation every five years), and make the certificate binding: an amount omitted from the certificate is not collectible from the purchaser. Closings are where collection succeeds or fails, and we prepare estoppel procedures that capture every fee, fine, and cost the documents allow.

Consumer Collection Laws

The Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act applies to associations and managers collecting assessments, and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to the attorneys and agencies that collect for them. Both prohibit harassment, misrepresentation of the amount or legal status of the debt, communication with an owner known to be represented by counsel, and disclosure of the debt to third parties. Posting a list of delinquent owners in the lobby, calling an owner's employer, or threatening a lien the association has not yet noticed properly are the kinds of conduct that turn a collection matter into a counterclaim. Our collection letters and procedures are written to comply with both statutes.

Collection Policies

Uniformity is a legal requirement as well as a practical one. A written collection policy adopted by the board specifies when late fees and interest begin, when the 30-day and 45-day notices go out, when the account is referred to counsel, what payment plans the manager may approve without board action, and when use and voting rights are suspended. The policy is applied to every account the same way, which protects the association against claims of selective treatment and removes the collection decision from the board's monthly agenda. We draft collection policies and the resolutions that adopt them, and we work with the manager to implement the calendar.

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We represent Condominium Associations in recovering regular and special assessments, interest, late fees, and costs under Chapter 718, including statutory notices, claims of lien, rent demands to tenants, foreclosure, and bankruptcy claims.

Homeowner Associations

We assist Homeowner Associations (HOAs) with Chapter 720 collections, including the parallel notice sequence, liens for assessments and qualifying fines, suspensions, and coordination with master associations that hold their own liens.

Cooperative Associations

We help Cooperative Associations collect maintenance under Chapter 719 and the proprietary lease, where the association's remedies against the share and the occupancy right differ from a real property lien.

Country Clubs and Golf Communities

We counsel Country Clubs and Golf Communities on collecting dues, minimums, and capital contributions under club documents and mandatory-membership covenants, including suspension of privileges and enforcement against members who have sold their homes.

Timeshare Communities

We assist Timeshare Condominiums with high-volume assessment collection and the trustee foreclosure procedure Chapter 721 provides.

RV Resorts and Other Communities

We represent Recreational Vehicle Resorts, Master Associations, Sub-Associations, Multi-Condominium Associations, and Mixed-Use Developments in collections that involve layered liens, commercial units, and shared-facility charges.

Frequently Asked Questions About Assessment Collection

When should an association begin collection efforts?

The day the assessment becomes late. A courtesy reminder can go out immediately; the statutory 30-day notice of late assessment should follow on the schedule in the collection policy, typically within 30 to 60 days of the due date. Delay costs the association twice: interest and fees accumulate that a lender's safe harbor will later wipe out, and other owners conclude that paying late has no consequence.

Can an association accept payment plans?

Yes. A written plan should require the owner to stay current on new assessments, preserve the recorded lien and the association's fees, set a definite schedule, and terminate automatically on default so that the association can resume foreclosure without starting the notice sequence over. The board may authorize the manager to approve plans within stated parameters.

What happens if an owner continues to ignore collection notices?

After the 45-day notice of intent to lien, the association records a claim of lien; after a further 45-day notice of intent to foreclose, it files a foreclosure action. Along the way the board may suspend use and voting rights, and if the unit is rented, demand the rent. Most owners pay at the lien stage; most of the rest pay when the foreclosure is served.

Can we charge the owner for our attorney's fees?

Yes, if the statutory 30-day notice of late assessment was delivered first and the fees are reasonable. The fees, along with interest, late fees, and costs, are secured by the lien and are paid before the assessment principal under the statutory order of application.

What can the association collect when the bank forecloses?

From a first mortgagee that takes title, the lesser of 12 months of assessments or one percent of the original mortgage debt, plus the assessments that come due after the lender takes title. The former owner remains personally liable for the rest, and a money judgment against that owner is sometimes worth pursuing.

Does a delinquent owner keep the right to vote and use the pool?

Not necessarily. Once the owner is more than 90 days delinquent in any monetary obligation, the board may suspend the right to use common facilities other than those needed to access the unit, at a properly noticed meeting and with written notice to the owner, and may suspend voting rights as well (in a condominium, only when the delinquency also exceeds $1,000, effective 30 days after notice). The suspension ends when the account is brought current.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 to adopt a collection policy or to refer a delinquent account. Related services: Lien Foreclosure, Budgeting and Financial Reporting, Sales, Leases, and Occupancy, and Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

About this page. This page is published by Hamilton Mikes, P.A. for general educational purposes. It is not legal advice, it is not a legal opinion, and it is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer who has reviewed your association's governing documents and the facts of your situation. Reading it, downloading it, or corresponding with the firm about it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship arises until the firm and the client have signed a written engagement agreement. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information to the firm until a conflicts check has been completed and an engagement is confirmed in writing; information sent before that point may not be treated as privileged.

Scope and currency. This article addresses Florida law as applied to Florida community associations, and the firm is licensed to practice in Florida only. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the law of any other jurisdiction. Florida's community association statutes have been amended in every regular session since 2021, and subsection numbering has moved more than once in that period. Each page states the edition of the Florida Statutes it was written against. The law may have changed after that date, an appellate court may have construed a provision differently, and an administrative rule or a local ordinance may impose requirements this page does not address.

Your governing documents control. Much of what governs a Florida association is not in the statutes at all. Declarations, articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules, plats and recorded amendments differ from community to community, and on many questions they set the rule while the statute sets only a floor or a default. A procedure that is correct in one association may be a breach of the documents in the association next door. No general page can tell you which is which for your community.

Why general information is not advice. Legal questions are resolved by applying the law to particular facts as a judge, jury, arbitrator or hearing officer finds them. An outcome that appears clear in the abstract frequently turns on the documents, the chronology, the board's own prior conduct, and the procedural posture, none of which a general page can anticipate. A lawyer supplies what information cannot: the judgment to identify which facts matter, the experience to know how a court or the Division is likely to treat them, the ability to choose among the courses of action actually available, and the advocacy to carry the association's position through negotiation, hearing or trial.

The standard of care, and the protection the statute attaches to counsel. A director of a Florida community association is held to the standard in section 617.0830, Florida Statutes: to act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and to discharge the duties of the office with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances. That standard is measured against the decision the board actually faced, on the record actually before it. The same statute supplies the protection that goes with the duty. Under section 617.0830(4) and (5)(b), a director who has no knowledge making reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports and statements prepared or presented by legal counsel retained by the association as to matters the director reasonably believes are within counsel's professional competence. The Legislature has written the prudent course into the statute. A board that obtains advice on its own documents and its own facts, and acts on that advice, is standing on ground the statute expressly protects. Nothing on this website confers that protection. General information, however carefully prepared, is not advice on your declaration, your amendments, your board's history or your dispute, and a director who relies on it in place of counsel forgoes a statutory protection that was available for the asking.

Personal exposure is real. Service on an association board is usually uncompensated, but volunteer status is not itself immunity. Under section 617.0834, Florida Statutes, a director or an officer is not personally liable in monetary damages for a statement, vote, decision, or failure to act in that role unless two things are both true: the director or officer breached or failed to perform the duties of the office, and that breach was a violation of the criminal law, a transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct in a proceeding brought by or in the right of the corporation, or recklessness or bad faith in a proceeding brought by anyone else. That protection turns on how the director acted, not on whether the director was paid. Chapters 718, 719 and 720 add consequences of their own, including removal from office, civil penalties assessed against the individual for certain willful and knowing violations, and in defined circumstances criminal liability. Whether any of that reaches a particular director depends entirely on the facts and on the director's conduct. The practical point is narrower and more useful: the decisions that generate this exposure — levying an assessment, enforcing a covenant, denying a transfer, withholding a record, entering a unit, terminating a contract, signing for construction work — are precisely the decisions on which general information is least adequate, and on which counsel costs least relative to what is at stake.

No guarantee; prior results. The firm makes no representation or warranty that the information on this page is complete, current or applicable to any particular matter, and disclaims liability to any person for any action taken or not taken in reliance on it. Any description of prior results does not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter; every case turns on its own facts, documents and record.

Do not act on this page alone. If your association faces a decision of consequence, obtain advice from a Florida-licensed attorney who has read your governing documents and the relevant record before the board votes, signs, sends or forecloses. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. represents community associations throughout Southwest Florida and can be reached at 239-594-7227.

Assessment Collection