The story behind the
story:
How
good are the warning letters?
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Courtesy
of the Herald Tribune
Posted
August 6, 2005
By
PAUL QUINLAN and WILL ROTHSCHILD
SOUTH
VENICE -- In protesting the foreclosure and subsequent auction of her
home by a homeowners association, Karin Healy has said she never received
even a single letter warning her that could happen.
But a court filing Friday shows 17 different documents were sent to Healy
demanding payment and detailing the escalating danger she was facing.
Four letters were sent to Healy demanding payment of overdue homeowners
association dues before the association's attorneys moved to foreclose on
her home in January, according to court records obtained Friday.
Healy has maintained that she was never contacted about her escalating
debt to the Fairway Village Homeowners Association until July 20, the day
her home was sold in a courthouse steps auction.
It is unclear if the homeowners association made any other attempts by
mail, phone or by visiting Healy in person to collect the debt or work out
a payment plan.
Healy stopped paying her association dues in 2003. She said she was
following a bankruptcy attorney's advice.
Regardless, six weeks after she failed to pay her quarterly assessment due
April 1, 2003, the bill was in the hands of an attorney, and the costs
quickly began to escalate.
Fairway Village Homeowners Association's attorneys Sharon Vander Wulp and
Bob Moore said the law requires only one written notice from the
plaintiff's attorneys during a foreclosure action, which they said they
provided in a letter dated Oct. 28, 2003.
That letter notified Healy of a claim in the amount of $1,123.52 and gave
her 30 days to satisfy the lien before a foreclosure suit would be filed.
For the next 15 months, there was no communication between Healy and the
association's attorneys. Moore and Vander Wulp said they delayed filing
for foreclosure because Healy's mortgage lender filed for foreclosure
before they could and then Healy filed for bankruptcy.
After Healy satisfied the foreclosure suit with her lender and her
bankruptcy attempt was denied in federal court, the association resumed
its efforts to foreclose in January.
Healy was served foreclosure papers on Feb. 2, according to court records.
Healy also was sent affidavits of attorney's fees, a request for final
judgment in the suit, a notice of the hearing for the judgment, and the
final judgment of foreclosure itself, which is dated June 2.
Healy also was sent a notice of the sale, which she has admitted to
receiving, five days after its July 15 date.
Healy received two letters demanding payment of a delinquent $138
quarterly bill from her homeowners association's management company in
April and May of 2003 before the case was turned over to an attorney.
Vander Wulp's June 3, 2003, letter demanding payment included two
association payments, a late fee, interest, "costs incurred" and
$112.50 in attorney's fees, bringing Healy's bill to $427.89.
By the time she received the next letter from Vander Wulp, dated Oct. 28,
2003, the $580 she owed in attorney's fees were more than the $414 she was
behind in assessments.
She also received a notice of lien with that letter.
Both the June 3 and Oct. 28 letters were sent by both certified and
regular mail, Vander Wulp said. Healy refused to sign for the certified
copies, and both were returned to the attorney's office.
Vander Wulp estimated that 80 percent of delinquent bills are paid after
the initial demand for payment is sent by an association's attorney.
Vander Wulp and Moore said they represent about 450 to 500 homeowners and
condo associations.
On Thursday, with the help of an unnamed benefactor she would identify
only as a Shriners clown and "my angel," Healy deposited
$6,164.58 into the circuit court registry.
Of that, $1,380 will go to pay back the 10 quarterly assessments she
missed. Nearly three times that amount -- $3,692.50 -- will cover the
association's attorney's fees. The rest will cover late fees, interest and
other costs.
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