It was the late 1980’s. Condominiums in Massachusetts were literally going “broke” because unit owners were not paying their common area fees. That meant that water bills and common electricity bills were not being paid. The towns and utilities tried to work with the Trustees to the extent they could. In many situations, Condominiums went bankrupt because the amounts due and owing got “out of hand”.

But help was on the way. Condominium Trade groups organized in states across the country started drafting new, and effective, legislation which gave Condominiums some clout with the Unit Owners. Massachusetts adopted this statute in 1992. It should have proved a Godsend, but unfortunately, it has not. There are still condominiums in trouble because of delinquencies. The statute involved, which has become part of Section 6 of Chapter 183A, is not being used to its fullest capacity.

In effect the new statute gave the Trustees tremendous power to collect. Fall behind by 60 days or more, and the Trustees can commence an action against you, force you to pay penalties and legal fees, and if you do not get caught up, sell your Unit at foreclosure and wipe out all mortgagees.

The last sentence is the important one. Once this type of action is commenced, the only thing the Trustees need to do is notify the Mortgage Lender(s) for the Unit. It has been my experience that the Unit Common area fees get “caught up” in days. WHY, you ask? Because if the Lender does not pay, in full (including attorneys fees and penalties) the Lender will lose out on the collateral.

So, my advice to each and every person reading this post who owns a condominium is to question your Trustees to make sure they have an automatic procedure for collectionm once Common Area fees become 60 days deliquent. If they so not, they should, and there should be zero tolerance for not proceeding. The enforcement action costs the Condominium nothing!!!!

If any of you have further questions on enforcement procedures, please contact me at etopkins@topbev.com. This is an important Condominium right, and SHOULD NOT EVER BE IGNORED OR DELAYED.

The post set forth above was originally included in my blog, www.realtorsresourceblog.com, which is intended to assist the real estate profession with various topical issues. I am an experienced Massachusetts real estate and estate planning attorney. I hope you will find these materials useful.