Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal decided two cases on unpaid assessments on September 23, 2026. Both carry a lesson for any condo or HOA board, and any manager, collecting from an owner who is behind.
In the first, a Broward County condominium association lost a $66,704.03 award because it never filed a counterclaim asking for the money. In the second, a Palm Beach County homeowners association won its attorney's fees after an owner paid the dues but refused to pay the collection costs.
Read together, they cover both halves of condo assessment collections and HOA collections. One is what the owner has to pay. The other is what the association has to ask for.
This article reports what the two opinions and the statutes behind them say. It is not legal advice. Your association's own documents and facts decide how any of this applies, so confirm with association counsel before you change how you collect. Each opinion also states that it is "not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing."
Built Green v. Environ Condominium: a $66,704 award with no counterclaim
The first case is Built Green Corp. v. Environ Condominium II Association, Inc., No. 4D2025-1055, an appeal from the circuit court in Broward County.
Built Green Corp. bought a condominium unit at a tax deed sale in October 2019. According to the opinion, it soon failed to pay special assessment installments that came due in the following months. The association began collecting, including a demand for rent directed to the unit's tenants.
The two sides disagreed about what the tax deed wiped out. In February 2020, Built Green filed a quiet title action. The judgment in that case cleared debts from before the tax deed. It expressly preserved the association's claim to assessments and other charges that came due after the tax deed.
The dispute kept going. The association kept sending statements of what it said was due, and the owner kept disputing them. In November 2021, Built Green sued the association again. It asked the court for a declaration about the amount owed and for an accounting.
The association answered with affirmative defenses saying the owner had been delinquent. The answer closed with a general request for judgment in the association's favor, attorney's fees, and other relief the court deemed just and proper. The opinion notes what the answer did not include: a counterclaim, or any other claim for a money judgment.
After about three years of litigation, both sides moved for summary judgment. The trial court ruled for the association. It found the owner owed $66,704.03 in assessments, interest, attorney's fees and costs, after crediting payments received.
What the appeals court decided
The Fourth District reversed the money award. The opinion, written by Judge Klingensmith, turns on the difference between two kinds of filing. An affirmative defense defeats or avoids the other side's claim. A counterclaim is the defendant's own claim, asking the court for relief.
The association's defenses could defeat the owner's request for a declaration that nothing was owed. They could not produce a judgment ordering the owner to pay. In the court's words, "A general prayer for judgment cannot substitute for the ultimate facts and demand for affirmative relief required of a counterclaim."
The court also closed two other routes to the money:
- The owner's own lawsuit. The association argued that Built Green put the balance at issue by asking for a declaration. The court said a plaintiff who seeks a declaration about an account does not, by doing so, consent to an unpleaded collection claim.
- The summary judgment motion. "Nor does a summary judgment motion enlarge the pleadings," the court wrote. Summary judgment "does not create a cause of action that the movant never pleaded."
The court called this distinction "not a mere technicality." Pleadings tell the other side which claims it has to defend against, and what relief is at stake.
The appeals court did not decide whether $66,704.03 was the right number. It said it did not need to reach the owner's other challenges to the award. It sent the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
The association did win one point. Built Green argued the trial court should not have held the summary judgment hearing after its lawyer withdrew. The appeals court affirmed that part. The company had 20 days to find new counsel, and the hearing came about a month after the withdrawal.
Villages of Palm Beach Lakes: HOA attorney fees after the owner paid
The second case is Villages of Palm Beach Lakes Property Owners' Association, Inc., No. 4D2025-3413, an appeal from the county court in Palm Beach County. The opinion, written by Chief Judge Gerber, describes an owner of multiple units who owed an unpaid yearly maintenance assessment.
Before the association sued, the owner offered to pay. The offer did not include the attorney's fees the association had already incurred trying to collect, and the owner refused to pay them. The association filed a breach of contract suit to recover the assessment.
After suit was filed, the owner paid the delinquent assessment in full, plus virtually all the interest that had accrued. The association filed a notice of voluntary dismissal. It also moved for prevailing party attorney's fees under section 720.305(1), Florida Statutes.
The county court denied the fee motion. It found "it was not necessary [for the association] to file suit to begin with." The reason it gave was that the owner had "persistently offered the entirety of the amount" the association sued for.
What the appeals court decided
The Fourth District reversed. It relied on the payment order in section 720.3085(3)(b), Florida Statutes. Under that paragraph, a payment an association receives and accepts is applied in this order:
- Interest accrued
- Any administrative late fee
- Costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred in collection
- The delinquent assessment
Because of that order, the court held, the association "was legally entitled to demand its attorney's fees be paid along with the assessment and accrued interest." Until then, the collection effort was not resolved in full. An offer that left out the fees did not resolve it, so the association could decline the offer and file suit.
The voluntary dismissal did not cost the association its fees either. The court cited its 2025 decision in Mooney v. Color Le Palais of Boynton Beach Homeowners Ass'n. There, the association was the prevailing party "because the Homeowners voluntarily complied with the requested relief sought by the Association in the litigation."
The case went back to the county court with directions to grant the association's fee motion. The county court is to hold an evidentiary hearing to set a reasonable amount.
What boards can take from both rulings for unpaid assessments
The two cases point at different parts of the same file. Built Green is about the court papers. Villages of Palm Beach Lakes is about the ledger and the demand.
When the owner sues first, the money claim still has to be filed
Florida law lets an association bring an action for a money judgment on unpaid assessments without waiving its lien. For condominiums that is section 718.116(6)(a). For HOAs it is section 720.3085(1)(c).
Built Green shows that the right has to be used in a pleading. A detailed ledger and solid defenses were not enough to produce a judgment. When an owner sues first, the association is the defendant. In Built Green, the court said the money had to be requested "by counterclaim or other pleading."
A board cannot tell from the case caption whether its lawyer has filed a claim for the money. It can ask. The question for counsel is short: are we asking the court for a money judgment? If so, where is that claim in our pleadings?
A dues-only offer does not close an account that owes collection costs
Owners sometimes send the assessment amount and nothing else. The statute tells the association where that money goes: interest first, then late fees, then collection costs and attorney fees, then the assessment.
The 2026 text of section 720.3085(3)(b) says that order applies "notwithstanding any restrictive endorsement, designation, or instruction placed on or accompanying a payment." Section 718.116(3) sets the same order for condominiums, with similar language.
That makes the owner ledger the evidence. The Villages case turned on collection fees the association had incurred before it sued. A ledger that shows those fees, when they were charged, and how each payment was applied is what supports the demand.
The fee right starts with the notice of late assessment
The Villages opinion does not discuss it, but the statute sets a condition on attorney fees. Under section 720.3085(3)(d), an HOA "may not require payment of attorney fees related to a past due assessment" without first delivering a written notice of late assessment. Condominiums have the same rule in section 718.121(5).
The notice must state the amount owed and give the owner a chance to pay it without attorney fees. The statutory form gives the owner 30 days. It goes by first-class mail to the owner's address in the association's records, and to the unit or parcel address if different.
A sworn affidavit of mailing from a board member, officer, agent or licensed manager creates a rebuttable presumption that the notice was mailed. For the full sequence of notices, see our guide to what boards must do before a lien notice.
A collections file checklist for condo and HOA boards
This is a records list for the board and manager. The legal steps belong to association counsel.
- For each delinquent account, a copy of the notice of late assessment, the date it was mailed, and the mailing affidavit.
- An owner ledger that separates each charge by type: assessment, interest, late fee, collection costs and attorney fees.
- For each payment, the date, the amount, any note the owner wrote on it, and how it was applied.
- Every written payment offer from the owner, and the association's written reply.
- The attorney invoices behind any collection costs on the ledger.
- When an owner sues the association, counsel's answer on whether the association is asking for a money judgment.
When to confirm with association counsel
Call counsel before acting when:
- An owner sues the association over an account balance or asks a court for an accounting.
- An owner offers the assessment but not the interest, late fees or collection costs.
- A payment arrives marked "paid in full" or "dues only," especially on a disputed balance.
- The association plans to dismiss a collection case after the owner pays.
- A unit changes hands through a tax deed or foreclosure sale while money is owed.
Royale's in-house association accounting team handles dues collection and delinquency reporting for the condominiums and homeowners associations we manage. If your receivables need a second look, ask us.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Fourth District decide in Built Green v. Environ Condominium?
It reversed a $66,704.03 award to the association, because the association never pleaded a counterclaim or other claim for a money judgment. It affirmed the decision to go ahead with the summary judgment hearing, and sent the case back to the trial court.
Can an association recover attorney's fees if the owner pays after the lawsuit is filed?
In Villages of Palm Beach Lakes, the Fourth District said yes on those facts. The owner paid after suit was filed, and the association dismissed its case. The court still directed the county court to grant the association's prevailing party fee motion.
Do these rulings apply to condominiums?
Built Green was a condominium case. Villages of Palm Beach Lakes was decided under Chapter 720, the HOA statute. Condominiums apply payments in the same order under section 718.116(3), but that opinion did not address condominiums. Ask association counsel how it applies to yours.
Are the two rulings final?
Not yet. Each opinion states that it is "not final until disposition of timely-filed motion for rehearing." Check with association counsel before relying on either one.
Sources
- Built Green Corp. v. Environ Condominium II Association, Inc., No. 4D2025-1055, Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, opinion filed September 23, 2026, flcourts.gov (PDF).
- Villages of Palm Beach Lakes Property Owners' Association, Inc. v. Daniil Shoyfer and Unknown Tenant, No. 4D2025-3413, Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal, opinion filed September 23, 2026, flcourts.gov (PDF).
- Florida Statutes, Section 720.3085 (2026), payment for assessments and lien claims, including (1)(c), (3)(b) and (3)(d), flsenate.gov.
- Florida Statutes, Section 718.116 (2026), condominium assessments, including (3) and (6)(a), flsenate.gov.
- Florida Statutes, Section 718.121 (2026), condominium liens, including the notice of late assessment in (5), flsenate.gov.
- Florida Statutes, Section 720.305 (2026), the prevailing party fee provision in (1), flsenate.gov.
