Letter: HOA assessments are not optional dues

Friday, March 3, 2006 | 7:45 a.m.

The Sun's Feb. 27 editorial, "Your dues - or your home," disagreed with the power of a homeowners' association to foreclose on a home for unpaid "dues." The word dues connotes that they are optional. These payments are not optional. They are assessments and by law must be paid.

These assessments are used, among other things, to insure the homeowners' association, repair and maintain any common items (landscaping, pool, clubhouse, gates, private streets, etc.), pay for utilities, legal and accounting fees, postage, and management services. If residents were allowed to "opt out" of paying these assessments, their share would then fall on the rest of the residents and soon nobody would pay any assessments, resulting in bankruptcy for the homeowners' association. That is why they are mandatory.

In addition, no foreclosure is done without several warning notifications and at least one registered letter to the resident informing them of the proceedings. The requirements and procedures for homeowners' associations and members are covered in Nevada Revised Statute 116 (the Nevada Community Association Uniform Act). The woman described in this editorial displayed willful stubbornness in paying $50,000 in legal fees and forfeiting her $250,000 home to try to avoid paying $2,100 in assessments and fines.

It should be noted that life is a series of multiple-choice questions and it is possible to fail the test.

Wayne Torrey, Las Vegas