Fair Debt Collections

We have a community association client that is very mad right now at the declining state of their association, due to the growing list of delinquent unit owners.  The association wants us to publish the list of delinquents in the newsletter and post this list on the bulletin board as well.  Though we can empathize with the Board of Directors, we suggested to them why we did not think it was a good idea and here are the reasons why:

The Fair Debt Collections Act prohibits anyone from publishing a list of names of people who refuse to pay their debts as this would be considered harassment of these individuals.  Since the Fair Debt Collections Act is federal law, the association and the management company could then be held responsible for this unlawful publishing of the names and in violation of federal laws.  The association could also be sued by these owners for damages, costs and attorneys fees.  As a group, together, they would also have the ability to sue up to $500,000 for these intentional acts as well!

The state of Florida has similar language in their laws and I am sure that there could be a second set of damages, legal fees and costs associated with intentionally publishing these names, as they would be violating state laws too.

On the other hand, if there were unit owners who wanted to know who was delinquent and or in foreclosure, they should put in writing a “Records Request” with the association or Management Company in order to inspect the latest association financial statement, delinquency list, along with backup information on these units as well. These records would provide the information that they were looking for and in this manner would not be in violation of state or federal laws.

Yes, these are difficult times for some associations and many of us are frustrated, but let’s not make the situation worse by not following the laws of the Fair Debt Collections Act.