J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog

Foreclosures for HOA dues and fines are an immoral scourge

Many years of practicing law relating to homeowners associations teaches me that no one should ever have their primary home (homestead) foreclosed on because of HOA dues, fines, or assessments. While it is, unfortunately, the law, the law in this instance is unfair, immoral, and unconscionable. Lawyers in this state who enable HOA's in taking away people's homesteads and tacking on thousands in attorney foreclosure fees to the bill — dwarfing the actual bill from the HOA — have abandoned conscience, in my opinion. They take part in a monstrous system. I have observed the means, methods, and motives of those who participate in the HOA-Industrial-Complex, and I believe the law has in essence sanctioned oppression and overreach of ordinary people by those with great means. No one should become homeless because of HOA dues, period. No one should be forced to pay lawyers thousands of dollars for the process of collecting HOA dues by any means. There should be strict limits on the interest, penalties, and fees that can be charged by an HOA, just as there are in all sorts of other contexts, and there should never, ever be a foreclosure against a homestead for such sums.
J. Patrick Sutton Cases & Issues Blog