A lien is a "cloud on your title". It means you can't sell or transfer your property until that payment is taken care of. A lien can sit on your property and not do any real harm if you're not planning on moving for awhile.
HOWEVER, if the condo assoc. is being that difficult that they aren't working with you at all re: partial payments, I have a bad feeling that they would exercise their right to foreclose. I don't know the time frame on that. It seems ridiculouse, but I had a contractor that owned a $400K house that a HOA filed a lien and tried to foreclose on to get $1000!
I would call the association manager and ask him/her to explain this action.
From your post, it appears that the association had been accepting partial payments but has recently changed direction.
To answer your question, yes a lien against the property stays on the record until such time as the property is sold and the lien is satisfied from the proceeds of the sale. This lien may have a limited life, so you may see the lien renewed in another five years or so.
While unpaid liens can be foreclosed (if the association chooses to go this costly route against each member), I suspect that the association had so little cooperation from its members, that the board decided to simply record a lien against every unit in the association. Most likely, the association will just wait until the property is sold to collect.
Call your association manager to confirm that this is the plan and to confirm that the lien does not accrue interest. If this is not the plan, put your "refund" in a savings account. Continue to contribute partial payments to your savings account. Then when you have the full assessment in hand, payoff your association lien and get a release recorded.
Who are you hearing "forcing foreclosure on the lien" from?
If you are hearing it from your association board, then they are free to bring a foreclosure action against a unit member to recover an unpaid lien. I suspect that you should start attending the board meetings to get a little better informed about their plan.
If you are hearing this from others (perhaps some on this board), then they are only suggesting the worst case scenario as a possible outcome. But, none of us knows what your association board really intends to do.
I was in one assocation a few years ago where some owners refused to pay their dues. The board just recorded a lien against those owner's units and periodically updated the liens as the unpaid dues accrued. The liens were collected when the units were sold.
I have been to recent courthouse foreclosure sales where the plaintiff was the condominium owners association. In each case, the unpaid dues were a rather substantial amount -- $6000 and $16000. In the first case, the owner's representative paid off the lien the day before the foreclosure sale; while, in the other case, the property was sold at foreclosure subject to the superior mortgage notes.
While the association could initiate an expensive foreclosure action against each unit owner for just $1000, I find it hard to comprehend the cost effectiveness of this decision.
A lien is a "cloud on your title". It means you can't sell or transfer your property until that payment is taken care of. A lien can sit on your property and not do any real harm if you're not planning on moving for awhile.
HOWEVER, if the condo assoc. is being that difficult that they aren't working with you at all re: partial payments, I have a bad feeling that they would exercise their right to foreclose. I don't know the time frame on that. It seems ridiculouse, but I had a contractor that owned a $400K house that a HOA filed a lien and tried to foreclose on to get $1000!
[ Edited by xvaxavx on Date 08/11/2004 ]
I would call the association manager and ask him/her to explain this action.
From your post, it appears that the association had been accepting partial payments but has recently changed direction.
To answer your question, yes a lien against the property stays on the record until such time as the property is sold and the lien is satisfied from the proceeds of the sale. This lien may have a limited life, so you may see the lien renewed in another five years or so.
While unpaid liens can be foreclosed (if the association chooses to go this costly route against each member), I suspect that the association had so little cooperation from its members, that the board decided to simply record a lien against every unit in the association. Most likely, the association will just wait until the property is sold to collect.
Call your association manager to confirm that this is the plan and to confirm that the lien does not accrue interest. If this is not the plan, put your "refund" in a savings account. Continue to contribute partial payments to your savings account. Then when you have the full assessment in hand, payoff your association lien and get a release recorded.
[ Edited by xvaxavx on Date 08/11/2004 ]
Who are you hearing "forcing foreclosure on the lien" from?
If you are hearing it from your association board, then they are free to bring a foreclosure action against a unit member to recover an unpaid lien. I suspect that you should start attending the board meetings to get a little better informed about their plan.
If you are hearing this from others (perhaps some on this board), then they are only suggesting the worst case scenario as a possible outcome. But, none of us knows what your association board really intends to do.
I was in one assocation a few years ago where some owners refused to pay their dues. The board just recorded a lien against those owner's units and periodically updated the liens as the unpaid dues accrued. The liens were collected when the units were sold.
I have been to recent courthouse foreclosure sales where the plaintiff was the condominium owners association. In each case, the unpaid dues were a rather substantial amount -- $6000 and $16000. In the first case, the owner's representative paid off the lien the day before the foreclosure sale; while, in the other case, the property was sold at foreclosure subject to the superior mortgage notes.
While the association could initiate an expensive foreclosure action against each unit owner for just $1000, I find it hard to comprehend the cost effectiveness of this decision.
[ Edited by xvaxavx on Date 08/11/2004 ]