What are my rights if my HOA allowed other resident’s to view my bill statement?
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What are my rights if my HOA allowed other resident’s to view my bill statement?
I recently received an email regarding my HOA fee’s, that I am currently passed due on. The email was sent by the owner of the property management company that handles the upkeep of the property. When he sent the email, he gave out a lot of personal information that is going on with my bill including a statement of my current bill owed. What bothered me was that he including “CC’d” in the email 10 residents of the subdivision. Allowing them access to what was going on with my property. Was he allowed to do this? If not, what action could I take?
Asked on June 12, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Mississippi
Answers:
MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
The answer to your question is simply that it depends on who these 10 residents were when copied on the correspondence from the property management company to you. If these were officers of the HOA (homeowner's association), then they are entitled to know because if you are late and that becomes a significant violation of the bylaws, the HOA can actually sue you and attempt to take over the property (not unheard of). So you need to first figure out who these individuals are. If they are simply random residents, then this was an invasion of privacy.
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Assuming that the bill that was sent you pertained to your property that is in a planned unit development subject to association dues, then most likely under the recorded covenants, conditions & restrictions, bylaws and rules, other owners in your complex are entitled to see the invoice sent to you and you are entitled to see their invoice since all homeowners are interconnected with respect to their dues for their units.
The best way to resolve the dispute that you have written about is to have a face to face meeting with the person who sent the invoice that you are writing about.
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