Our HOA has billed the wrong assessment shares for years. How do we fix it?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 9, 2026

What an HOA board does when dues never matched the declaration's shares: prove the error, correct future bills, weigh refunds and back-billing, notify owners.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The short answer

Fix future bills first and treat past years as a separate decision. The recorded declaration sets each home's share, not the spreadsheet a former treasurer or manager built. A board that knows the shares are wrong shouldn't keep billing them, and it can't change the formula by board vote. That leaves two calls. For future bills, either follow the declaration or win the owner vote to amend it. For past years, decide with the association's attorney whether to give credits, collect from owners who paid too little, or settle. Don't mail a catch-up bill before that conversation. Rules vary by state and by governing documents. This guide is general education, not legal advice. An error in one year's budget is a smaller job, covered in our guide on fixing a mistake in an adopted budget.

Prove the error from the recorded documents

Order certified copies of the declaration and every recorded amendment, supplement and plat from the county clerk. Find the words that set the share: equal per lot, a percentage table, square footage, or classes such as townhome and detached. A later phase's supplement can carry its own formula. The usual causes: - A manager set up equal billing years ago and nobody opened the percentage table. - New phases came in and the percentages never changed. - A cost the declaration charges to some homes, such as a limited common element, went on every bill. Build a sheet with one row per home: current owner, share under the declaration, share billed, and the first year they differ. Confirm the declaration's shares total 100 percent. If the documents conflict or read two ways, get the attorney's written opinion before going further. The statutes point back to the document. C.R.S. 38-33.3-315(2) says common expenses are assessed by the declaration's allocations. Fla. Stat. 720.308(1)(a) requires assessments in the proportional share the governing documents describe, for communities created after October 1, 1995. Tex. Prop. Code 82.057(a) has a condominium's declaration allocate each unit's share of common expenses. Chapter 209 sets no formula for Texas subdivisions, so the declaration controls. Section 38-33.3-117 does not list 315(2) or 217(4) for Colorado communities created before July 1, 1992, so ask the attorney which rules apply to an older one.

Put dollars on it

A made-up example. A 60-home association has a $150,000 budget and a declaration that says equal shares, so $2,500 per home. For years the bills went out at $2,100 for the 40 townhomes and $3,300 for the 20 detached homes. That still totals $150,000, which is why the bank balance never showed a problem. Each detached home overpaid $800 a year and each townhome underpaid $400. Over four years, $64,000 moved between owners: $3,200 per detached home and $1,600 per townhome. Corrected monthly bills rise $33.33 for townhomes and fall $66.67 for detached homes. The association kept none of that money, so any refund comes from owners. Fund $64,000 with a special assessment at the correct equal shares and every home pays $1,066.67, including the homes owed money. A detached home nets $2,133.33, two-thirds of its overpayment. Only charging each townhome the full $1,600 gets everyone to equal, and back-billing is where the legal risk sits.

Correct future bills, or amend to match the old practice

Following the declaration takes a board decision and clear notice. The next annual budget is the cleanest place to start. Amending the declaration to match the old billing takes an owner vote, and often a steep one: - Texas subdivisions: Prop. Code 209.0041(h) sets 67 percent of the votes, and (h-1) lets a lower percentage in the declaration control. Texas condominiums: 82.067(e) requires 100 percent of the votes to change a unit's allocated interest. - Florida HOAs: unless the original documents or statute provide otherwise, 720.306(1)(c) bars an amendment that materially and adversely increases a parcel's share unless the record owner and all lienholders on that parcel sign on. - Florida condominiums: 718.110(4) requires the owners and lienholders of all affected units. Section 718.110(5) offers a shortcut, board or majority owner approval, only for a scrivener's error that leaves the shares not totaling 100 percent. - Colorado: 38-33.3-217(4) requires 67 percent of the votes, including 67 percent of votes outside the declarant, or more if the declaration says so. The court petition route in 217(7) can't change allocated interests except as section 315 allows. Read your declaration for its own limits, since some require consent from every affected owner. Our guide on running a vote to amend the declaration covers ballots. Don't assume an amendment clears old claims.

Decide what to do about past years

Meet with the attorney in closed session where state law allows. Tex. Prop. Code 209.0051(c) and C.R.S. 38-33.3-308(4)(b) cover attorney consultations. Fla. Stat. 720.303(2)(a) is narrower: proposed or pending litigation, where the talk would be privileged. Ask about three things. Deadlines. Texas gives four years for debt (Civ. Prac. and Rem. Code 16.004(a)(3)) and a four-year residual period (16.051). Florida gives five years on a written instrument (95.11(2)(b)). Colorado gives six years on liquidated debt (13-80-103.5(1)(a)), and 38-33.3-316(5) ends an assessment lien unless enforcement starts within six years. Which period applies to an owner's refund claim or the association's catch-up bill, and when it starts, is the attorney's call. Waiver and estoppel. In Seabrook Island Property Owners Association v. Pelzer (S.C. Ct. App. 1987), a covenant tied the charge to assessed value and the association used a flat fee. The court threw out the disputed 1984 charge but refused to refund 1976 to 1983, because the owner paid without objection, received the benefit and the association acted in good faith. That is one South Carolina case. It does not bind a court in Texas, Florida or Colorado. Legal fees. Fla. Stat. 720.305(1) and C.R.S. 38-33.3-123(1)(c) award fees to the prevailing party. Tex. Prop. Code 5.006 awards them to a prevailing party who brought a restrictive covenant action. The realistic options: 1. Correct going forward with a written explanation. It costs the least and leaves overpaying owners free to bring a claim. 2. Give credits for a defined look-back period, funded in a way the documents allow. 3. Sign settlements with releases from affected owners. Apply the choice to every home, including directors' homes, and record the vote. Ask before crediting a current owner for what a former owner paid, because the claim may not have passed with the deed.

Clean up what the wrong shares touched

- Late charges. Recalculate any late fee or interest based on a wrong amount and reverse the excess. - Collections. Pause liens and collection letters on any balance that depends on the wrong share until the attorney confirms a corrected number. - Closing documents. Fla. Stat. 720.30851(3) waives amounts above the estoppel certificate against a person who relied on it in good faith. C.R.S. 38-33.3-316(8) makes a statement of unpaid assessments binding on the association, the board and every owner. Tex. Prop. Code 207.003(b) puts the assessment amount and total due on the resale certificate. A recent buyer may be off limits for any catch-up, so pull every certificate issued in the look-back period. - Votes. Check whether the same table sets voting power. If votes were counted the same wrong way, ask the attorney about past elections and amendments.

Wording the board can copy

A motion for the open meeting: "I move that, beginning with the [year] budget, the association bill all assessments according to the shares in Article [X] of the declaration recorded at [recording data], as shown on the attached schedule, and that the board take up prior years at its [date] meeting after receiving counsel's advice." A notice to owners: "While preparing the [year] budget, the board compared our billing schedule with the recorded declaration and found they do not match. Article [X] sets each home's share at [formula]. Since at least [year], bills have used [method]. Starting [date], bills will follow the declaration. Your monthly amount will be $[new], compared with $[current] today. This correction does not change the association's total budget. The board is reviewing prior years with the association's attorney and will report at the [date] meeting. The article and the full schedule are attached."

A sample timeline

Weeks 1 to 3: the secretary orders certified documents and the treasurer builds the home-by-home sheet with dollar totals by year. Weeks 3 to 6: the attorney reviews the packet and gives written advice. Hold lien filings tied to affected balances. Next noticed open meeting: the board votes on the correction schedule. If it changes a current-year assessment, follow your state's budget amendment and notice rules, such as Tex. Prop. Code 209.0051(h)(11) or Fla. Stat. 720.303(2)(c). Within a week of the vote: the notice and schedule go to every owner. At least 60 days before the first corrected bill: a reminder, so owners on bank bill pay can change the amount. This is good practice, not a statutory period. Within 90 days: the board votes on prior years and records the outcome.

Mistakes boards make

- Passing a resolution that "confirms" the old billing. A board vote doesn't override a recorded formula. - Sitting on it until after the annual meeting. Every bill sent after the board knows makes the good-faith argument harder. - Fixing it only for the owner who complained. Everyone else then has a stronger complaint. - Paying refunds from reserves without checking whether the documents and state law allow it. - Telling overpaying owners "you'll get your money back" at a meeting. That sentence may show up in a demand letter.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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