Community Associations Blog

This month in Collection's Corner, we are focusing on deferred billing. Our office offers two different billing options with respect to collection cases: contemporaneous billing (i.e. "pay as you go") or deferred billing. Unlike contemporaneous billing where you receive an invoice for all actions completed on a collection matter and costs incurred during the prior month, with deferred billing, the legal fees are incurred but not invoiced until a "triggering event" occurs. Triggering events include, but are not limited to, bankruptcy filing by the delinquent owner, sale, or other transfer of ownership of the property including foreclosure, writ of execution, death, obtaining a personal judgment against the owner, or if management accepts and processes a payment from the delinquent owner. Once a triggering event occurs, all deferred legal fees will be "brought forward" meaning you will receive an invoice for the deferred amounts in the next month's invoice. Also, while our legal fees will be deferred, the community will still be billed contemporaneously for any actual costs incurred, such as filing fees, private process server fees, title work and the like, because those costs are paid upfront on behalf of the community by our firm.

On July 31, 2019, the Maryland Attorney General announced that the Office of Consumer Protection Division reached a settlement with Evergreen Management, LLC ("Evergreen") and its owner, Jason Barry Oseroff ("Oseroff") for misappropriation of community association funds. Charges were brought against Evergreen and Oseroff in April of this year, alleging the management company and its owner used community association funds for their own benefit, refused to provide bank statements, falsified, balance, expense and income reports, and transferred funds from one association's account to a different association's account in order to hide any shortfall that resulted from the improper use of the funds. In addition, Oseroff and Evergreen liquidated clients' reserve funds and investment accounts without authorization. As part of the settlement agreement, Oseroff is no longer permitted to manage any condominium or homeowners' associations. In addition, Oseroff and Evergreen must repay all of the monies they owe to consumer and pay penalties; approximately $2.5 Million Dollars.

This month in Collections Corner, we will return to an issue we first addressed in our December 2017 Newsletter - reporting delinquent homeowners Community Association debt to the credit bureaus (enclosed). To briefly recap the contents of that letter, our office became aware of a company advertising services to report delinquent homeowners on behalf of a community association. Our office conducted research and identified a few issues that lead us to recommend not reporting delinquent homeowners. For example, federal laws for credit reporting impose investigation obligations on the creditor who provides the information, opening new avenues for delinquent homeowners to sue a community association. Additionally, we are not swayed that reporting delinquent homeowners actually increases the efficiency of collections.

If someone you love recently died in an accident, Maryland’s wrongful death statute can help hold the parties at fault responsible. This statute allows for spouses, parents, children and other family members to receive compensation for their loss.