I'm probably screwed and will have to pay the fine but wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions on disputing this payment issue.

We bought a rental house in 2021 and the HOA fees were set up to be drafted via ACH from our account.

Everything was paid on time, no issues. In late 2024 the HOA changed how future payments were going to be made. They sent this out via regular mail. They mailed this to our tenant which is the address they said they had been on file, not our home address. Our tenant does all bills/banking online and claims to never check the mail (the community does not have mailboxes at each house but group mailboxes in the subdivision).

We did not receive this notification and when they mailed out the new due statements for 2025 we did not receive it. In August I received an email from the HOA asking to provide an updated mailing address which I provided. Two month later in October I received a "fake" certified mail in my mail (the envelope had certified stamped on it but I was not required to sign for it, it was simply left in our mailbox). The letter requested the HOA fee plus a fine of 125% of the original fee. We paid the regular HOA fee due but not the fine. We contacted the property management group and requested to speak to someone in regards to the issue & were told we would receive a call back. Of course no call back occurred despite several attempts and we received the notice for 2026 dues along with the fines still due a week ago. I attempted to call today but did not receive a call back.

Sorry for the long winded post. Any suggestions or just suck it up & pay?

This may not be popular, but you should have made sure they had the correct address when you bought the property. I have served on an HOA board, and frankly there is no way the board or a management company can take the responsibility to keep up with each property and any possible address changes, etc. It is incumbent on the individual owners.

I will say we had almost this exact scenario happen to some of our owners when we changed management companies in 2024. The way we handled it was to get the delinquent owners to pay what they owed, no late fees or any penalty, and get it set up right moving forward. However, our board isn't looking to nickel and dime folks for nonsense. I hear that isn't always the case. Good luck.

Truthfully I don't recall what information was all given when we signed paperwork in 2021. I agree I should have been more diligent with everything. I'm irritated with myself, our tenant, and the property management company for taking as long as they did to simply email me (which they had my email on file). I just don't like throwing money away which is basically what is happening.

Yea, seems like an email would have been an easy lift, and might have solved a bunch of problems. That would frustrate me no end.

In Texas, POA fees are capped at 18% per year interest.

What do the HOA covenants/by-laws say about late fees? Are there more than 15 lots in the HOA?

This link can help you navigate the 2025 law changes that may be applicable to your situation.

Agree with this. Also a former board member and we would have waived fees in this instance since it was an honest mistake from someone with a history of on time payments.

If you don't have much luck with the management company, ask to speak with the board and/or go to a board meeting.

What is the mailing address on the deed? County appraisal district website?

I agree go to the next board meeting and explain what happened.

Might not be able to do much at the board meeting other than address the board during open comment since you're not an agenda item, but it can't hurt to put a name to a face when you're pleading for mercy.

Otherwise you might get a long way with a non-confrontational (not saying you would be) phone call to the person that handles the account. Like you've said... You're owning the screw up with the mailing address, you're upset/frustrated with the tenant for not checking the mail, and you honestly thought it was taken care of and didn't notice the missing ACH draft. Offering to get the balance paid up in full, no fight, with some meet in the middle on penalties and fees doesn't seem to me like much of a heavy lift.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have made no headway with the management company so I will reach out to the board as suggested.

The mailing address on the deed/county appraisal office is our home address. We have had no issues other than this.

We had an issue years ago at a "rental" my mil lived at. Similar in that they claimed to mail stuff to the address. We were able to prove that our Texas address was the address of record. Been a long time and I don't remember exactly how we did that. Maybe it was listed in the tax records as such? There were other stupidity issues with what the hoa did and how they tried to fine us. In the end we paid the dues and not the fines, which was my end goal.

ETA: I know it was not a hoa specific document because part of the issue was that the hoa was actually defunct when we purchased and there weee no documents about it signed at closing.