HOA fines after foreclosure - California

[Mike Jones]

Our group has been purchasing foreclosures at trustee sales for over 10 years and we've never run into anything quite like this. We're trying to evict the former owner, but due to the current COVID eviction moratorium we can't even begin the process. He has stopped maintaining the lawn and last month the HOA charged us a $300 fine for non-compliance for "failure to mow the weeds". We explained the situation to the property management company who in turn forwarded it to the HOA before their recent monthly meeting. Our request for leniency was denied and they charged us an additional $300 for this month. Today I just received a letter saying that beginning next month they will continue to charge $300 per month, plus $75 PER DAY until the weeds are remediated. Legally we can't step foot on the property or hire anyone to take care of the issue until he's evicted. Has anyone run into this before? It's a lower end starter neighborhood and many neighbors aren't maintaining their yards. I feel like the HOA is just trying to recoup the dues the former owner didn't pay. At $75 per day plus $300 per month the fines will be over $2500 per month because we can't mow a small patch of grass! And with COVID there's no end in sight of an eviction date. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Greg M.]

I'm going to assume that it is the front yard as most HOAs wouldn't care about the back yard and wouldn't be able to see the back yard. If so, go over and mow the lawn. 

If it is back yard, give the tenant notice that you will be over every other Saturday to mow the lawn. If they try to stop you, you can call the police to gain access. However, the tenant probably wouldn't care or would like you to mow the lawn.

As for the HOA, spend a couple of bucks and have an attorney write a letter to the HOA. Your attorney will be able to point out that your remedy with the HOA is to file suit against both the HOA and each member of the Board individually. At this point, if they have any brains, they will realize that if you go forward with the threat, it will cost the HOA tens of thousands of dollars to fight the suit, take up a ton of their time (they are volunteers), and cause their insurance company to get involved. They should quickly see that working with you is in their best interest.