Our Clients Ask Us: Partial Payments

Q: Recently, unit owners have increasingly fallen behind on their maintenance assessments. Can we refuse to accept partial payments on a past due account and choose to proceed with foreclosure instead?

A: NO. The association can and must accept partial payments on a past due balance where there is no foreclosure action. If the unit owner is delinquent and wants to make a payment, the association does not have any grounds for refusing payment because the association’s rights are not in jeopardy. The association must accept partial payments even if a lien has been filed.

The ability of the association to refuse partial payments changes if a foreclosure has already been filed because the association’s rights and claims become affected by acceptance of payment. At that point, the association cannot accept partial payments from a unit owner without either amending the complaint or entering into a settlement arrangement that is filed with the Court disposing of the foreclosure claim of the association. To accept partial payments otherwise jeopardizes the association’s claim in the foreclosure action because it reduces the amount in controversy.

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