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CS/CS/SB 56 — Community Association Assessment Notices
by Rules Committee; Community Affairs Committee; and Senator Rodriguez
This summary is provided for information only and does not represent the opinion of any Senator, Senate Officer, or Senate Office.
Prepared by: Regulated Industries Committee (RI)
The bill provides additional notice requirements for condominium, cooperative, and homeowners' associations when collecting assessments.
For community associations that send out invoices for assessments or statements of the account to unit or parcel owners, the bill revises how an association may deliver and change its method of delivery:
- Requires any invoice for assessments or statement of account to be sent by first-class mail or electronic transmission to the owner's email address maintained in the association's official records.
- Requires the association, before changing the method of delivery for any invoice for assessment or statement of account, to deliver the written notice of such change to the owner.
- Requires the notice to be sent by first-class mail and delivered to the owner's address maintained in the association's official records at least 30 days before the delivery method is changed.
- Requires the owner to affirmatively acknowledge his or her understanding that the association has changed its method of delivering the invoice for assessment or statement of account to delivery by electronic transmission before the association may change its method of delivery.
- Requires the owner's affirmative acknowledgment to be maintained by the association as an official record, but such record is not accessible to other owners as an official record.
The bill provides that community associations may not require the payment of attorney fees related to past due assessments without first delivering a written notice of late assessment to the unit or parcel owners. The written notice must specify the amount owed and allow the owner to pay past due assessments without paying additional attorney fees. The bill provides the form of this written notice. The bill authorizes the use of a sworn affidavit as the method for associations to provide a rebuttable presumption that the association complied with these notice and delivery requirements for the notice of late assessment.
The bill also increases the period of time a condominium or cooperative unit owner has to pay a monetary obligation after receiving an association's Notice of Intent to Record a Claim of Lien. This period is increased by the bill from 30 days to 45 days. The bill revises the timeframe for condominium and cooperative unit owners to conform to current law's 45-day payment period to parcel owners in a homeowners' association.
If approved by the Governor, these provisions take effect July 1, 2021.
Vote: Senate 39-0; House 114-0