Homeowners can pay their dues in one of two ways: Online and By Mail. Online payments are available via the secured payment portal at FRONTSTEPS. (Click on link to access. Available by 3Q). You may wish to sign up for an account that will allow you to make ongoing payments as well as manage your account. (To sign up for an account, click here.)
Please reach out to Toney Dionne (901-758-5678 or toney.dionne@crye-leike.com) and Brooks Stevenson (brooks.stevenson@crye-leike.com) at Crye-Leike PM with all questions related to payments, account sign-up, account access and payment/delinquency status. Note: When contacting Crye-Leike PM by email, please be sure to include both Toney Dionne and Brooks Stevenson to ensure that your question is handled in a timely manner.
Within the payment portal, homeowners will be able to view their account status and outstanding balance.
Payment Options
The payment frequency is quarterly. Note that this is a change from monthly. Homeowners may continue to pay annually or semiannually if they so choose.
The assessment amount of $450 or $405 (take your monthly payment X 3) will be billed on the first of the month of each quarter, i.e. January, April, July and October. Invoices from Crye-Leike PM will be sent to homeowner email addresses. A hard copy invoice will only be postal mailed to homeowners without access to email.
We encourage all homeowners to select payment by e-Check since it is free. It is a one-time setup and requires the homeowner to specify a recurring quarterly frequency through his/her checking account. Simply set up the payment to instruct the bank to mail the check to one of the two addresses noted above.
Assessments are due on the last day of January, April, July and October. Payments received after these months will be considered past due.
If payment isn’t received after 60 days past the due date (i.e. quarter end), the account will be considered delinquent. Interest at 10% per annum begins to accrue. Crye-Leike PM will forward the past due account to a collection agency to demand immediate payment.
If another 30 days go by without payment, then Crye-Leike PM and its attorney will regrettably take legal action which may include filing a lien on the homeowner’s property. A demand letter would be mailed to the homeowner to outline the total past due, which at this point will include late payment interest and all fees incurred to collect, i.e. collection agency, attorney, and filing.
3Q (July – September) Illustration:
It is important for homeowners to understand their personal financial obligation to the HOA. The below references from the CCR essentially state that by nature of buying a home in the HOA, the homeowner is responsible for paying all assessments.
Section 2 outlines the types of expenses that the assessments cover.
Section 5 details what could happen in the unfortunate case of non-payment, something nobody wants to have happen. It would be a step of last resort.
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KEY REFERENCES FROM COVENANTS, CONDITIONS & RESTRICTIONS
ARTICLE VII ASSESSMENTS
Section 1. Creation of the Lien and Personal Obligation of Assessments
Owner of any Lot, by acceptance of a deed thereto, whether or not it shall be so expressed in any such deed or other conveyance, shall be deemed to covenant and agree to pay to the Association: (1) annual assessments or charges; (2) special assessments for capital improvements; and (3) emergency assessments, such assessments to be fixed, established and collected from time to time as hereinafter provided. The annual, special and emergency assessments, together with such interest thereon and costs of collection thereof as are hereinafter provided, shall be a charge on the land and shall be a continuing lien upon the Lot, and together with such interest thereon and cost of collection thereof as are hereinafter provided, shall also be the personal obligation of the Person who was the Owner of such Lot at the time when the assessment fell due.
Section 2. Annual Assessments and Carrying Charges of the Association
Each Member of the Association shall pay to the Association an annual sum (herein sometimes referred to as “assessments” or “carrying charges”) equal to the Member’s proportionate share of the sum required by the Association, as estimated by its Board of Directors, to meet is annual expenses, including, but in no way limited to, the following:
(a) The cost of all operating expenses of the Association and services furnished, including charges by the Association for its facilities, if any; and
(b) The amount of all taxes and assessments levied against the Association or upon any property which it may own or which it is otherwise required to pay, if any; and
(c) The cost of extended liability insurance and the cost of such other insurance as the Association may effect; and
(d) The cost of funding all reserves established by the Association, including, when appropriate, a general operating reserve and / or reserve for replacements; and
(e) The assessments assessed by any superior HOA for maintenance of adjourning streets, landscaping, alleys and private drives which are a burden of the Development.
(f) The estimated cost of repairs, maintenance and replacements of the Common Areas, the private drives, the sidewalks, and all other items the Association may be responsible for; and
(g) The cost of lawn and landscaping maintenance as specified by the Association for each Lot.
Section 5. Non-Payment of Assessments
Any assessment levied pursuant to this Declaration, or any installment thereof, which is not paid on the date when due shall be delinquent and shall, together with interest thereon at the rate of 10% per annum, or the maximum rate allowed by statue, whichever is lower, and the cost of collection thereof, as hereinafter provided, thereupon become a continuing lien upon the Lot or Lots belonging to the Member against whom such assessment is levied and shall bind such Lot or Lots in the hands of the then Owner, his heirs, devisees, personal representatives and assigns. To evidence the lien of any unpaid and delinquent assessments, the Board of Directors shall prepare a written notice setting out the amount of the unpaid indebtedness, the name of the Owner of the Lot, and description of the Lot. Said notice shall be signed by a Member of the Board, or a duly appointed legal representative, and recorded in the Shelby County Register’s Office. The personal obligation of the Member to pay such assessment shall, however, remain in his personal obligation for the statutory period, and a suit to recover a money judgment for non-payment of any assessment levied pursuant to this Declaration or the Bylaws, or any installment thereof, may be maintained without foreclosing or waiving the lien created herein.
… The Association may notify the holder of the first mortgage on any Lot for which any assessment levied pursuant to this Declaration becomes delinquent for a period in excess of sixty (60) days and in any other case where the Owner of such Lot is in default with respect to the performance of any other obligation hereunder for a period in excess of ninety (90) days.