How should an HOA board handle owner requests to waive late fees?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 18, 2026

How an HOA board decides requests to waive late fees: written criteria, who approves, payment plans, TX, FL and CO rules, and wording for the reply and the minutes.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The short answer

Most boards can waive a late fee, and most should waive some of them. The problem is never the waiver itself. It is waiving one owner's fee because the treasurer likes them and refusing the next owner who asks in the same situation. Six months later the second owner hears about the first, and the board is defending a collection practice it cannot explain. So decide requests by a short written standard the board adopts in advance, let one person apply it to routine cases, send the rest to the board, and record every decision. When an owner is really asking for time to pay, offer a payment plan instead of a waiver. This guide covers how to set that up. Rules vary by state and by your declaration, bylaws and collection policy, and this is general education, not legal advice.

Check what the fee should have been first

Before deciding whether to forgive a fee, confirm it was allowed and correctly charged. A surprising share of waiver requests are really billing errors. Florida. Section 720.3085(3)(a) lets an HOA charge an administrative late fee only if the declaration or bylaws provide for it, capped at the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each late installment. Condominiums have the same cap under section 718.116(3). Interest is separate: the rate in the documents, or 18 percent simple interest if none is stated, and never compounded. Colorado. Section 38-33.3-209.5(1.7)(b) bars late fees imposed on a daily basis. Section 38-33.3-209.5(8) caps interest on unpaid assessments, fines or fees at 8 percent a year and bars charging an owner for a statement of what they owe. The collection policy required by 209.5(5) must state the late fees and interest the association charges, so a fee missing from the policy is a weak fee. Texas. Chapter 209 of the Property Code sets no late fee cap, so the amount comes from your dedicatory instruments. It does limit fees during a payment plan, covered below. If the fee was over the cap, posted before the grace period ended, or charged on an installment that arrived on time, remove it as a correction. Do not call that a waiver, and do not count it against the owner later. Our guide on HOA late fee and interest caps covers other states.

Understand why owners keep asking in Florida

Payment order drives many requests. Florida section 720.3085(3)(b) applies every payment first to interest, then to the late fee, then to collection costs and attorney fees, and only then to the assessment, regardless of any note the owner writes on the check. An owner who was late once and then pays the exact assessment each quarter stays short on the assessment, and the account keeps showing as delinquent. That owner is not trying to get away with anything. They are confused, and a one-time waiver with a clear explanation often closes the account for good. Texas and Colorado run the other way. Texas section 209.0063(a) applies payments to delinquent assessments, then current assessments, then attorney fees, then fines, then other amounts. Colorado section 38-33.3-316.3(4) applies payments to assessments first and then to fines, fees and other charges. In those states, an unpaid late fee sits at the bottom of the ledger and does not make the assessment look delinquent.

Write the criteria before the next request arrives

Adopt a short standard by motion at an open meeting and add it to the collection policy. Keep it to a few objective tests. A version many small associations can adapt: The treasurer may waive one late fee per account in any rolling 24 months if the owner asks in writing, the late payment was received within 30 days of the due date, and the account is otherwise current. The treasurer will remove any fee caused by an association error, such as a late statement, a bank processing delay on the association's side, or a payment posted to the wrong account, without counting it as a waiver. All other requests, including hardship requests and requests to waive more than one fee, go to the board. The board does not waive assessments, only late fees and interest the documents allow it to forgive. That last line matters. The board owes every owner the duty to collect the budget. Forgiving a $25 fee is a judgment call. Forgiving a quarter's dues shifts cost onto neighbors, and the governing documents rarely allow it.

Who decides, and how to record it

Routine first-time waivers should not wait a month for a board meeting. Delegate them to the treasurer or manager under the written standard, and require a monthly list to the board showing the account number, the amount waived and which criterion applied. The board reviews the list rather than each case. Hardship requests go to the board. Discuss the owner's circumstances in closed session where your state allows it, and identify the account by number rather than name. Then vote in open session on the outcome, recorded in the minutes in plain terms: a motion to waive late fees of $50 on account 1042 under the hardship provision of the collection policy. A director who is asking for a waiver on their own account should leave the discussion and not vote, and the minutes should say so. Apply the same standard to directors, their relatives and friends as to everyone else. That is the record you will want if an owner who was refused ever claims selective treatment.

When a payment plan is the better answer

Owners who ask for a waiver while still behind usually need time more than forgiveness. Offer a plan and leave the fees in place for now, or make the waiver conditional on finishing the plan. Texas section 209.0062 requires associations with more than 14 lots to adopt payment plan guidelines with a minimum term of three months, and during the plan the owner makes partial payments without accruing additional monetary penalties. Interest and reasonable costs of running the plan are allowed. The association need not offer a plan longer than 18 months, more than once in 12 months, to an owner who defaulted on a plan in the prior two years, or after the 45-day cure period in section 209.0064(b)(3) expires. Colorado section 38-33.3-316.3 requires a good-faith effort to set up a plan of equal installments over at least 18 months, with exceptions for some non-occupant owners and for owners who already had a plan. Missing three or more installments, or falling behind on regular assessments, breaks the plan. Florida's chapter 720 sets no plan requirement, so the terms come from your collection policy. A useful condition anywhere: late fees that accrued before the plan are waived when the final payment clears on time.

Wording you can copy

Approval: The board received your request dated March 4 to waive the $25 late fee on the January installment. Because this is the first late payment on the account in the last two years and it was paid within 30 days, the fee has been removed under the association's collection policy. Your updated statement is attached. This is a one-time adjustment, and future late payments will be charged as the policy provides. Denial: The board reviewed your request to waive late fees on account 1042. The collection policy allows one waiver in any 24-month period, and the account received one in August. The fees remain. If a payment plan would help, reply by April 15 and the treasurer will send the plan terms. Motion for the minutes: Moved that the treasurer report all late fee waivers granted under the collection policy, by account number, amount and reason, in the monthly financial report.

Mistakes boards make

Waiving by phone with no written request or record. Nobody can show later that the standard was followed. Waiving the fee but leaving the interest, or the reverse, so the owner gets a second bill for a balance they thought was settled. Treating a billing error as a favor. Owners notice when they are thanked for paying for your mistake. Waiving fees on an account that has already gone to the attorney without telling the attorney, which leaves two different balances in circulation. Putting a director's own request through the treasurer quietly. Send it to the board and record the recusal. Never reviewing the totals. If waivers run to hundreds of dollars a year, the due date, the grace period or the payment instructions may be the real problem. Our guide on the HOA board's timeline for collecting past-due dues shows where waivers fit in the larger collection process.

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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