•  See Meeting Minutes webpage for latest board meeting minutes. https://www.hiddenlakesfranklin.com/meeting-minutes

• Your Hidden Lakes Homeowners’ Association is seeking a new Director for a three year term. An election will be held at the annual homeowners meeting on April 24, 2026. Time and location to be determined.  All interested parties should email hiddenlakesoffranklin@gmail.com.  Thanks in advance!

HIDDEN LAKES HOA BOARD LEIN & FORECLOSURE RESEARCH

In regards to the presentation from ANN HESSIL on HOA LIENS AND FORECLOSURES the following is an explanation of HOA responsibilities, process, and action taken since the new Board was elected in 2025:

1. Yes, it is the fiduciary responsibility of the HOA Board of Director to foreclose on a homeowner who does not pay their dues.

2. The FIRST STEP is to place a lien on the property.  This is a public record stating that the dues/fees owed will be paid if the property is sold.

3. If dues continue to be unpaid, the Board must continue to communicate with the homeowner and report what is owed to the Association.

4. If unpaid dues persist, the Board is obligated to investigate and consider the foreclosure process.

5. NOTE: Foreclosures make sense only if the homeowner does not have a “MORTGAGE.” The reason is, if in fact the HOA wins the foreclosure suit (which may take years for the court’s decision), the HOA would OWN the property and THE PROPERTIES MORTGAGE. If a foreclosure is being considered research must be undertaken to ascertain if the property has a mortgage, and if NOT (there are services who can gather mortgage information for a price) it would make sense to proceed (if there is HOA funds). The estimated cost of the legal foreclosure process would be anywhere from $5000,00 to $10,000.00 and could take up to a year to a final decision.

6. It was suggested that communication with the homeowner is critical explaining and documenting the sequence of events by letter to protect the Board. It also was suggested that if non-payment persists and Foreclosure is warranted the process must be turned over to an HOA Lawyer (TO BE THE INFORCER) to protect the HOA and the Board members.

7. To cover the Foreclosure Lawyer/Processing fees the HOA dues will probably have to be increased? The professionals hired and the Court will not wait until the final decision is passed on, to get paid.

ACTION TAKEN:

Because there was a great amount of interest in enforcing our Bylaws at the last HOA meeting IN 2025. The new Board has taken multiple steps to communicate with those who are delinquent, the amount owed with interest, and deadlines set. Some owners complied with this new request, and some of your Board members personally approached delinquent members (with some positive results) to collect what is owed. For those who have not complied, the process of the FIRST STEP of placing liens on their properties will be placed early in January 2026.