Q: I recently purchased a vacation home and needed to obtain an estoppel from the property manager to find out if the seller was up to date on HOA fees and other assessments. The estoppel report indicated that the seller’s credit balance was small. I refunded that amount to the seller at closing, but now the property manager is refusing to refund the credit balance to me. Now they ignore me and refuse to discuss this issue. What should I do? — Bert Long
A: As part of the process of purchasing real estate in a neighborhood association, one of the parties (usually the seller) pays a fee to the association to report the status of periodic and special assessments and other information about the property. Both sales and the community as a whole. This report is called an “estoppel” and is binding on the community. Typically, the property manager creates the estoppel, which is created on behalf of the association.
Because the association account values the units more than the seller, the buyer refunds the credit balance to the seller at the closing table and retains the credit balance in the association account.
While you have paid the seller, the association will not return that money to you. Instead, a credit will be credited to your unit’s account.
It’s similar to when you return something to a store and instead of getting cash back, you only get a gift card.
Request a copy of your ledger to ensure the balance is still showing, and only if the balance is showing, reduce your next dues payment and use up your credit. However, if there are no credits in your ledger, you need to find out why.
Except in a few specific scenarios, a neighborhood association must comply with the estoppel report it issues.
In your case, the estoppel states that your account was credited, so the association should honor that. Contact the property manager again and politely ask to see the ledger to see what happened to the credit balance.
If you are angry with your manager, raise the issue with the board. You need to be polite but firm to get the information you need.
Gary M. Singer is a Florida attorney and is certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in real estate law.