Once association counsel obtains a personal Judgment against the unit owner for failure to pay maintenance fees, late fees, attorneys’ fees and costs, and other charges, we look for ways to collect on the Judgment. If delinquent unit owner rents his unit, one method of collecting on the Judgment is by levying the rental income.
The process starts by association counsel requesting tenant information from management and the board; we need information such as the names of the tenants, copies of any leases management may have on file, license plate numbers of the vehicles driven by the tenants, etc. Once we obtain this information, we file an Execution against Goods and Chattels. A judge will review and sign the Execution against Goods and Chattels, authorizing a Court officer to levy the rent in an amount up to the Judgment amount, plus Court officer commissions and other Court costs. Once the Order is signed, the case is assigned to a Court officer. The Court officer will then serve the tenant with the Execution against Goods and Chattels, which mandates that the tenant must pay his/her rent to the Court Officer, rather than to the delinquent unit owner.
At that point, the tenant will pay the rent to the Court Officer. The Court officer will notify association counsel that the rents have been levied. Association counsel then files a Motion to turn over funds that were levied. The Motion places the unit owner on notice that his/her rental income is about to be turned over to the association.
Once the Order to turnover funds is entered, it is served upon the Court officer, who will then forward the monies to association counsel. This process continues until the Judgment amount, plus court officer commissions and court costs are satisfied.