Did you get charged a Letter Fee on top of the $25 late fee?
Medley's Income from Late Fees has ballooned in the past year and continues to climb.
| Year | Late Fees Budgeted | ACTUAL LATE FEES COLLECTED | CAM Firm, Policy Notes | Financial Sttement General Ledger Code |
| 2024 | 0 | $ 9,410.48 | ICON Management charged us only $25 Late Fee per our Declaration 17.18. | ICON GL code = 04015-00 |
| 2025 | 0 | $ 32,673.59 | Castle Management - collecting $30 LETTER FEE in addition to $25 late fee | GL code = 400400 |
| 2026 (half) | 0 | $ 20,725 (over 40k by Dec?!) | Castle Management - collecting $30 LETTER FEE in addition to $25 late fee | GL code = 400400 |
In early 2025, we changed CAM firms to Castle Management with a new contract and a new payment system.
You may recall the bumpy implementation of the new payment system when we switched CAM firms. However, some homeowners may not remember that a new Collections Fees policy was also quietly implemented at that time. The board then initally offered a "late fee hiatus" because of the delay in getting TownSquare online. However, what most people missed is that the new Policy combined with the CAM Contract grants Castle Management a $30 Letter Admin Fee for each late fee -- more than doubling our late fee charges beyond the $25 late fee in our Delcaration.
We at MedleyMembers believe the $30 Letter Fee, which goes to Castle as a pass-through cost, is not lawful due to a 2020 ruling by the Florida appellate court in Williams v. Salt Springs Resort Association, Inc. (5th DCA). That 2020 decision determined that HOA/Condo assessments are consumer debts* because they arise from the consumer transaction of purchasing residential property primarily for personal/family/household purposes.
What does that mean for us? Assessment fee collection MUST NOW COMPLY with Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA, Fla. Stat. §§ 559.55–.785).
Sure, one instance of extra $30 may not break your budget, but this appelate judgment was widely known for half a decade in the industry. How did our HOA attorney and CAM firm allow it in our contract? Le's ask our board -- it's their responsibility for oversight and compliance.
Homeowners have stronger grounds to challenge collection of assessments, fines, or add-on fees after the Williams decision. We have heard that such cases settle quickly when the law firm/HOA faces personal exposure (FDCPA allows collecting actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000 per plaintiff, attorney fees, and costs; FCCPA provides similar remedies plus potential treble damages in some contexts).
Affected homeowners may have a case to correct this situation by filing a complaint with a consumer protection attorney experienced in HOA debt collection (many offer contingency or flat-fee reviews of demand letters/liens).
Read more in this blog post. https://www.medleymembers.net/blogs/post/collections-policy
The bottom of that post has includes the 4 page Collections policy and quotes our Declaration directly.
* Prior case law: The Williams v. Salt Springs Resort decision replaced the court’s prior precedent in Bryan v. Clayton. In Bryan (1997). The 5th DCA held that condominium (and by extension HOA) assessments were not “consumer debts” whilch meant collection efforts by associations or their agents were largely shielded from FCCPA restrictions.