What happens if I pay late or fall behind?

Write to your association or your manager before the due date, and say what you can pay and when.

That sentence is the whole article. Everything below it varies by state and by community, but this does not: an association that hears from you early has options it stops having later, and a written record of you asking is the most useful thing you can own if this goes on for months.

It does not have to be long. "I own [address]. I cannot pay the full amount due on [date]. I can pay [amount] on [date] and the rest by [date]. Please tell me what you need from me." Email is fine. Keep a copy.

Asking is not an admission of anything and it does not waive any rights. Not asking is the only choice on this page that has no upside.

Almost every rule in this area is set in two places, and neither of them is Roam.

• Your governing documents — your declaration or CC&Rs, bylaws, and adopted rules — say what your association may charge and what steps it may take.
• Your state's law sets limits on top of that: whether a late fee is allowed and how large, what notice must be given before each step, how long an association must wait, and what it must offer you first.

These differ substantially from state to state and from community to community. Anyone who tells you a specific number of days, a specific fee, or a specific outcome without reading your documents and your state's law is guessing. This page describes shapes, not rules. Your documents and your state's law control, and where they disagree with anything here, they win.

Find the due date on your statement, and find out whether your association has a grace period — a number of days after the due date before a payment is treated as late. Some do, some do not, and the length varies.

Your governing documents say which applies to you. If you cannot find them, ask your manager for the section that covers late payments and collections, and ask them to send it to you. That is a normal request.

Treat this as the general sequence, not as your association's process. Some associations do fewer of these; some are required to do more; the order and the waiting between steps vary; and several of these steps require a board decision, formal notice, or a waiting period before they are allowed.

1. A reminder or a statement showing the balance. Often automatic.
2. A late fee, interest, or both, where the governing documents and state law allow it.
3. A formal demand or notice of delinquency, usually with a deadline and a description of what comes next. This is the point at which the matter stops being routine, and it is the last comfortable moment to make an arrangement.
4. The account is referred out — to a collection agency, or to the association's attorney. From here the cost usually rises sharply, and you may be dealing with someone other than your manager.
5. A lien recorded against the home. In many states an association can secure an unpaid balance against the property this way; in some, a lien arises by law without any filing. A lien generally has to be dealt with before the home can be sold or refinanced.
6. Legal action. Depending on the state and the circumstances, that can include suing for the debt and, in some states and in some situations, foreclosing on the lien. States vary widely in what they permit and what must happen first — several restrict when an association may foreclose at all, or require a minimum balance, a minimum time, an offer of a payment plan, or specific notices beforehand.

Some associations may also suspend privileges while an account is delinquent — most commonly use of amenities — where their documents and state law allow it, and usually only after notice and a chance to be heard.

Your right to vote is treated separately, and in some states it is protected even when you are behind. Standing for the board is a different question with its own rules. If you are told you have lost your vote because of a balance, ask which document or which law they are relying on.

Some associations report delinquent accounts to a collection agency or a credit bureau, which can affect your credit. None of this is universal.

Nothing on this list happens to you because software decided it. Each step is a decision made by your association, under its documents and its state's law.

This surprises people more than anything else here, and it is the reason early is cheaper than late.

• Late fees and interest can apply to each period that goes unpaid, not once.
• The next assessment still becomes due while you are behind, so the balance grows even if nothing is added as a penalty.
• The costs of collecting can be added to what you owe. In many associations, and under many states' laws, that includes collection agency costs and the association's attorney fees. These can become larger than the assessment that started it.
• A partial payment is applied in an order set by your association's rules and your state's law, which may not be the order you intended. So a payment that feels like it should clear this month's assessment may leave this month still showing as unpaid — and therefore still accruing. Some states require assessments to be paid first, before fees and interest; ask your association how yours was applied.

If you take one practical thing from this section: the cheapest version of this situation is almost always the earliest one.

Many associations can agree a payment plan, and in some states they are required to offer one before certain steps. Some cannot, or will not, and that is their decision to make.

• Ask in writing, before the deadline on any notice you have received.
• Propose something specific and realistic — an amount and dates. A concrete proposal is easier to say yes to than a request for help.
• Ask whether fees and interest keep accruing during the plan, and whether any will be suspended or waived. Ask this before you agree, not after.
• Ask what happens if you miss one payment. In many plans a single missed payment cancels the whole arrangement and returns the account to where it was, or worse.
• Get the agreement in writing and keep it. Read it before signing; it is a contract.

If your association says no, ask them to confirm that in writing and to tell you what they will accept. A written "no" with a reason is still useful — it shows you asked.

Dispute it and, if you can, pay the part you do not dispute. Two things worth knowing first:

• Disputing does not usually pause anything. Fees can keep accruing and deadlines keep running while your association considers it. If they decide in your favor, it comes off.
• Ask for an itemized statement showing every charge and every payment. Most disagreements turn out to be about one specific charge or one payment that was never matched to your account.

See Why do I owe this?

Say so plainly and early, in writing. Associations are made up of your neighbors, and a board that knows why is in a different position from a board that only sees silence.

• Tell them what changed — a job, an illness, a death in the family, a divorce. You do not owe anyone your medical history, but "my circumstances have changed and here is what I can do" is a different conversation from nothing.
• If you have filed for bankruptcy, tell your association immediately in writing and give them the case details. It changes what anyone is permitted to do to collect, and they need to know.
• Consider getting advice of your own from an attorney licensed in your state, or from a non-profit housing counseling service. If your home is genuinely at risk, this is worth doing early rather than at the end.

Roam cannot arrange any of this, waive anything, or intervene with your association on your behalf. Only your association can.

Do not ignore it, and do not put it aside to deal with later.

Documents from an attorney, and above all anything filed with a court, carry deadlines that are short and consequences for missing them that are hard to undo. If you have received court papers, get legal advice immediately. Missing a court deadline is the single most expensive thing that can happen in this whole sequence, and it is the one that is most often avoidable.

Keep every document you receive, with the envelope and the date it arrived.

Roam records the charges your association applies, sends the notices your association sends, and takes payments on their behalf.

Roam does not do any of these. It does not decide you are late. It does not choose to charge a late fee. It does not refer your account to an attorney or an agency. It does not record a lien. It does not file anything with a court. It makes no decision about your home.

It also cannot waive a charge, pause a process, or agree a plan. Those are your association's decisions, every one of them.

If you tell Roam you are struggling, the only useful thing we can do is tell you to tell your association — so it is faster to start there.

1. Early beats late. Every option on this page is cheaper and more available before a deadline than after one.
2. In writing beats a phone call. Not because anyone is untrustworthy, but because a written record is the thing that can be checked later.
3. Keep copies of everything, including what you sent and when.
4. Silence is the only strategy with no upside. Every other choice here, including a partial payment or an unanswerable email, leaves you better off than nothing.

If you do not know who to write to, or nobody is responding, see Something is wrong with my account. Who do I contact?