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HOA HOMEOWNER REPRESENTATION / COLLECTION PRACTICES
Public information and matter investigation

Georgia HOA Collection Practices Investigation

Daftari Law LLC is evaluating recurring collection practices reported by Georgia homeowners, including difficulty making payments, obtaining reliable account information, understanding how funds were applied, or resolving an account after referral to collection counsel.

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Important: This is an investigation, not an existing certified class action. No court has certified a class concerning these practices. Publication of this page does not mean that any particular association, management company, lawyer, or law firm violated the law. Eligibility and available claims depend on the documents, communications, dates, payment history, and applicable law.

Practices being evaluated

One event may have an ordinary explanation. The legal significance depends on the complete account history and whether the same practice was used consistently across other accounts.

Restricted payment access

Loss of access to an association or management-company portal, refusal of direct or partial payments, or instructions that all payments must be made through collection counsel.

Unclear or conflicting ledgers

Differences among association, management-company, and law-firm balances, including charges that are not itemized or credits that do not appear consistently.

Application of homeowner payments

Payments credited to attorney fees, interest, fines, or other charges while regular assessments remain shown as unpaid, potentially producing further late charges and collection activity.

Collection after an attempted cure

Continued demands, liens, lawsuits, or foreclosure activity after a homeowner attempted to pay, disputed the balance, requested validation, or sought a current payoff.

Attorney fees and collection costs

Fees or costs that may not be authorized, sufficiently itemized, reasonably incurred, properly noticed, or accurately reflected in the amount demanded.

Meaningful account information

Delayed, incomplete, or inconsistent responses concerning the creditor, amount claimed, payment history, governing authority, or method for bringing the account current.

The cycle under review

A homeowner may begin with an unpaid assessment, disputed fine, or account error. After referral, ordinary payment access may become unavailable and the homeowner may be directed to collection counsel. If payments are refused or credited in a way that leaves current assessments unpaid, new charges may continue to accrue. The resulting ledger may then be used to support a lien, lawsuit, judgment request, or foreclosure demand.

The firm is evaluating whether particular communications, ledger practices, payment policies, fee claims, or litigation activity may support legal relief for an individual homeowner or a group of homeowners. The available claims and remedies depend on the facts, and no particular form of litigation is promised.

Georgia's new payment-priority protections

The Georgia Property Owners' Bill of Rights Act contains provisions scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. For covered associations, owner payments are to be applied first to regular assessments or dues, then special assessments, then specific assessments, and finally other fees and fines. The Act also states that an owners' association may not refuse an owner's payment in any amount or assess accelerated assessments.

Separate attorney-fee provisions apply to actions filed on or after July 1, 2026. Except in specified emergencies, those provisions require notice, an opportunity to pay, and an itemized list of reasonable attorney fees before fees may be collected or awarded. In a bench trial to recover assessed sums, the judge must review claimed attorney fees for reasonableness and enter an order addressing them.

Effective dates matter: The payment-priority and payment-acceptance provisions generally do not take effect until January 1, 2027. Conduct before that date must be evaluated under the contracts, governing documents, and law applicable at the time. The attorney-fee provisions have a different effective date.

Documents to preserve

  • Every ledger received from the HOA, property manager, and collection firm.
  • Payment receipts, returned or uncashed payments, bank records, and portal screenshots.
  • Collection letters, validation notices, emails, call notes, payoff statements, and settlement proposals.
  • The declaration, bylaws, collection policy, fee schedule, and amendments.
  • Liens, complaints, summonses, motions, affidavits, judgments, and foreclosure notices.
  • A timeline identifying attempted payments and how each payment was credited.

Requesting an evaluation

A request should identify the association, management company, collection firm, approximate dates, current procedural status, and any immediate deadline. Do not send confidential documents until requested after conflicts review. Requesting an evaluation does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not extend a court, lien, foreclosure, appeal, or response deadline.

Contact the firm about collection practices