Late fees, collections, and how to ask for a waiver

The specific amounts and timings are set by the declaration and the board’s adopted collection policy, and they differ between associations. The sequence is broadly the same everywhere.

• A late charge is applied once the payment passes the grace period in the documents.
• Interest begins to accrue on the unpaid balance, at the rate the declaration or statute sets.
• A notice goes out. This is the point at which the problem is cheapest to fix.
• Continued non-payment moves the account to the association’s attorney or a collection agent, and their costs are generally charged to the account.
• A lien is recorded against the unit.
• In the last resort the association can foreclose the lien. This is rare, slow and expensive, and no board wants to get there — but the power exists and is real.

The cost of a delinquency is rarely the late fee. It is the legal and collection costs that attach once it escalates, which routinely exceed the original arrears.

Most collection policies apply a payment to the oldest balance first — costs and interest, then older assessments, then the current one. An owner who pays "this month" while an older balance is outstanding can stay perpetually delinquent while believing they are current. If you are catching up, ask for a statement showing how payments are being applied.

The two are different requests

A waiver asks the board to forgive a charge already incurred. A payment plan asks for time to clear a balance nobody disputes. Boards grant plans far more often than waivers, and in some circumstances an association is required to offer one.

How to ask for a waiver

Waiver of a late fee is generally at the board’s discretion, and boards are cautious with it — every waiver is a precedent the next owner will cite. The realistic route is a written request that the board considers at a meeting.

• Put it in writing, to the board or the managing agent. A phone call to the office is not a request to the board and cannot be decided by the office.
• Say plainly what happened and what you are asking for. A bank error, a first lapse in years, a payment sent to a superseded address, a hospitalisation — these are the circumstances boards actually relieve.
• Attach the evidence. A payment confirmation dated inside the grace period settles a dispute that would otherwise be your word against a ledger.
• Pay the undisputed principal while you ask. Interest keeps running on it, and a request looks very different when the assessment itself is paid.
• Expect a decision at a meeting, in the minutes, and in writing. A board decision on one owner’s account is usually taken in executive session.

If the answer is no

Ask for the reason and for the collection policy the board applied. Consistency is the standard a board is held to — an association that waives for one owner and not another in the same circumstances has a problem, and pointing that out politely is a legitimate argument.

Tell the association early. A board that hears from an owner before the account reaches the attorney has options: a plan, a hold on further charges while a plan is performed, a sequencing that keeps costs down. A board that hears nothing has a file and a policy.

Washington law also gives owners rights in the collection process — including notice and, in defined circumstances, an entitlement to a payment plan. If an account has reached the stage of legal action, get advice rather than relying on a guide.