An owner paid HOA dues to a former manager or an old bank account. How do we get the money back?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 19, 2026

How an HOA board recovers dues paid to a former manager, closed account or another HOA: crediting the owner, demand letters, check conversion and deadlines.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The short answer

Work out where the money went before you decide anything about the owner's account. Then pick the tool that fits: a written demand to a former manager, a trace through the owner's bank for an electronic payment, a claim against the bank that cashed a check made out to the association, or a polite letter to the other association that received it by mistake. Most cases close within a month if the treasurer moves in the first week. The ones that drag are the ones nobody owned. This guide starts after you know a payment exists and landed somewhere other than your account. If you are still searching for a payment the owner says they made, start with our guide on what to do when an owner says they paid HOA dues but there is no record. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and this is general education, not legal advice.

Sort out where it went

Each destination has a different fix, so pin it down with the owner's proof in hand. A former management company. The most common case. Owners keep mailing checks or using the old portal for months after a board changes managers. An old or closed association account. Bill pay services and saved ACH payees keep sending to the account the owner set up years ago. A closed account usually bounces the payment back to the sender, but not always quickly. Another association. Owners in a master and sub-association setup, or in two communities with similar names, pay the wrong one. Sometimes another community's owner pays you. A fake payee. An owner who followed new payment instructions from an email the association never sent has been defrauded. That is a police report and a bank fraud claim for the owner, and a warning to every other owner from you, the same day. A check deposited by someone other than the association. The back of the cleared check shows who deposited it and at which bank. That image is the single most useful document in this whole process.

Decide whether the owner gets credit now

This is a board decision, and it should follow a written rule rather than how much the board likes the owner. A defensible line: if the owner paid where the association last told them to pay, or to a manager the association had hired, credit the owner's account on the date the payment reached that destination, reverse any late fees, and pursue the money yourselves. The owner did what they were told, and the gap was the association's notice or its former agent. If the owner paid somewhere the association never named, such as a typo in an account number or an email scam, the dues are still owed. Pause late fees while the owner's bank traces it, and give the owner a written statement that nothing arrived so they can use it with their bank. Record the decision in the minutes by account number, not name. Apply it the same way to the next owner.

Getting money back from a former manager

Send a written demand that lists each payment you know about: owner account number, amount, date and method. Ask for the funds, an accounting of every association payment received since the contract ended, and the date they will stop accepting payments for you. Colorado gives the board the strongest tool. Section 38-33.3-317(9) requires a former association management company to deliver all association property, including money and financial accounts, within 45 days after the contract ends, at no charge. A company that fails to comply owes the association $250 for each business day it is late, plus late fees and other damages the delay caused. Quote the section in your letter. Florida's manager statute, section 468.4334, sets a 20 business day deadline for returning official records, but its return rule does not mention money. Rely on the management contract and the manager's general duty to account for funds. Texas has no statute on this, so the contract governs. In both states, involve the association's attorney if the amount is large or the company stops answering. Our guide on how to get HOA records back from a former management company covers the rest of the handover. If a manager or anyone else kept association money, notify the association's crime or fidelity insurer promptly. Florida section 720.3033(5) requires HOAs to carry insurance or a fidelity bond for everyone who controls or disburses funds, sized to cover funds held by the management agent too, unless the members waive it.

Checks deposited by the wrong party

When a check payable to the association is cashed by someone else, the law treats it as conversion. Texas Business and Commerce Code section 3.420, Colorado section 4-3-420 and Florida section 673.4201 all say an instrument is converted when a bank makes or obtains payment for a person not entitled to receive it. The association can claim the amount of the check from the bank that took the deposit. There is a catch that decides who has the claim. The same sections bar a payee that never received delivery of the check, directly or through an agent. A check mailed to the association's manager was delivered to its agent, so the association has the claim. A check the owner mailed to an address the association never used was arguably never delivered to the association, and the claim belongs to the owner against the owner's own bank. Your attorney will sort out which applies. Move quickly. Texas section 3.118(g) and Colorado section 4-3-118(g) give three years to bring a conversion action. Florida section 673.1181 sends the question to the state's general limitations chapter. Banks resolve these faster when the claim arrives within weeks, with the check image, a letter on association letterhead and the board resolution naming who can act.

Electronic payments and other associations

For an ACH or bill pay payment sent to a closed or wrong account, the owner's bank runs the trace and requests the return, because it sent the payment. Give the owner a letter confirming the association's correct account details and that the payment did not arrive. Ask the owner to send you the trace result. If another association received the money, call that board's treasurer, then follow up in writing with the owner's name, the amount, the date and the payment method. Most boards return it within a few weeks once they can match it. When the mistake runs the other way and someone else's money lands in your account, return it promptly by check or reversal and keep a copy of the letter. Do not hold it against a debt or keep it because nobody asked. If you cannot find the rightful owner, it may become unclaimed property you have to report, which our guide on how to file an HOA unclaimed property report covers.

Stop the next one

Every recovery should end with a fix to the payment instructions. Send owners a payment instruction notice by mail and email whenever the bank account, address or manager changes, and again 60 days later. Put the current instructions on every statement and coupon. Ask the former manager to turn off the old portal and send a written reply to anyone who still pays there. Tell owners, in every notice, that the association will never change payment instructions by email alone, and that they should confirm by calling a number they already have. Sample notice: "Our payment address and bank account have changed. Starting [date], please send dues only to [new address] or pay through [portal]. Do not send payments to [former manager]. If you use bank bill pay, update the payee today. The association will never change these instructions by email alone. Call the treasurer at [number] with questions."

A sample timeline

Day 0: owner proof shows the payment went to the wrong place. Treasurer notes the account and pauses late fees on that amount. Days 1 to 3: treasurer identifies the destination, sends the demand or the bank claim, and tells the owner what happens next. Next board meeting: board applies its credit rule and records the decision. Day 30: follow up in writing on anything unpaid. In Colorado, track the 45-day clock from the end of the management contract. Day 45 to 60: unresolved cases go to the association's attorney, and the fidelity insurer hears about any money a former agent kept. Within the same month: send the corrected payment instructions to every owner, not just the one who was caught.

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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