Owner Grievances And Withholding Maintenance Fees

It happens to every Association Board: an owner is displeased with how the landscaping was done or that they have a leak that wasn’t fixed in a timely enough manner, and they inform the Board that they are withholding their maintenance fees until the issue has been resolved. Some of these owners even inform the Board that they will be putting their maintenance fees into escrow because of their dissatisfaction.

The good news for the Board is that the duty of the owner to pay maintenance fees is separate of the obligation of the Board to perform maintenance and other repairs to the premises. The Ohio Condominium Statute states that there is no defense to non-payment in a foreclosure.

Moreover, Ohio Law does not provide for the placing of maintenance fees into escrow when an owner is dissatisfied or claims that the Board is not acting in accordance with the governing documents. We often find individuals getting information on this issue from the Internet on the wrong state, from an attorney that does not practice law in Ohio or, from assuming maintenance fees, like rent, can be placed into escrow for grievances, when in fact, they cannot be.

Once the collection process has started due to nonpayment of fees, the Association’s attorney sends a collection letter, and the owner is given 30 days to dispute the debt in writing. If the owner disputes because they are withholding fees due to maintenance or some other issue, we will respond with a letter that states they are not allowed to withhold the fee. Once the dispute has been addressed, if the account does not get paid in full, the Association can proceed with the normal collection procedure including the filing a Certificate of Lien and an eventual foreclosure action. Beware of restrictive endorsements on payments, such as “payment in full” if the amount does not represent payment in full.

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