FOX 13 Investigates: HOA attorney fees a homeowner’s nightmare

By Tina Jensen
January 20, 2016

TAMPA (FOX 13) – The past few years haven’t been easy for 61-year-old Joe Mosby. He says finances became tight after he was diagnosed with leukemia. Soon after that, he lost the job he’d held for 18 years.

1reaction

“For a long time, I was upside down on my house and sold most of my possessions to pay my bills,” Mosby said. When his quarterly homeowner’s association payment was due in October 2014, it was a $75 bill he couldn’t afford.

“It wasn’t malicious on my part, but I simply didn’t have the money to pay them,” he explained.

What do you think?

Two months later, an attorney hired by the Heather Lakes HOA sent Mosby a notice that he now owed the $75, plus a few dollars in interest. Then there was a $160 charge for “attorney’s fees” charged to Mosby for the letter. The total due was now more than $250. “There are laws for debt collection: American Express, the water company, the phone company,” he said. “These guys play by a different set of rules altogether.” Read more:

http://www.fox13news.com/news/fox-13-investigates/77892305-story