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!