Ryan Sanford Grazi’s Answers

You need to seek counsel from an attorney in NJ. The likely result may be a partition action (at least it would be in Florida) However, other alternatives may be available in NJ.

The bar says you can only charge reasonable fees for work done regardless of what the retainer says. You need to tell the attorney that you no longer wish to use their services.

You would need to check the governing documents. The statute permits late fees and interest if it is provided in the governing documents. I would recommend hiring counsel to review your documents and verify that the association documents permit such charges.

Yes, but you may be required to give an extra five days for mailing prior to filing the eviction suit. You also have the option of retaining counsel to do the eviction for you, then you could use the attorney's address that presumably would be local. It would avoid the five days for mailing.

Your landlord is prevented from evicting you for unpaid rent pursuant to Florida Statute section 720.3085(8). If you can not afford an attorney you need to file a written response to the court with the documentation showing that you were demanded by the association to pay it the rent and that you did. Ask the court to dismiss the eviction complaint. If you can hire an attorney they may be able to recover their attorney's fees from your landlord after the case is dismissed.

Generally an HOA can do it's foreclosure much faster than the banks for multiple reasons. Such as, they are not in the foreclosure backloged courts, there are few if any defenses to the HOA foreclosure action. The HOA would have to follow the same procedures, such as service of process of the complaint to get the action started, followed later by a judgment and a foreclosure sale. The HOA would take the property "subject to" the bank's mortgage. Meaning that the bank could continue it's...

Your question doesn't say how long ago you moved out and when you purchased the property. Your question may be better posed to a qualified CPA. Whenever the bank forgives debt in a short sale the IRS treats the forgiveness of debt as income. The mortgage tax relief act was extended to the end of 2013, which under some circumstances can avoid the treatment of the forgiveness as income. The most important factor is that the property being sold is the debtors primary residence. I would...

The lawsuit to foreclose must foreclose all interests in the property including any tenants' interests. If you did not sign the note you will not have any personal liability on the debt.

The way your question is phrased leads me to think you are a property manager. If that is the case you may need an attorney to be present at the hearing to represent the owner of the property. You should advise the owner's not to cash the check if the intent is to evict the tenant. Then they should mail the check to you. You are correct, the failure to deposit the money into the registry waives all defenses other than payment. I doubt that the judge would grant the eviction with the motion if...

The answer is maybe and it depends on several factors. Your question didn't state that you owned the property, but assuming you do you may have some liability to the person that fell even if you didn't do anything wrong. Most insurance policies contain a clause that provides for them to pay for counsel in case of litigation. If you are being threatened ask them to provide you with counsel to investigate your liability, or you can always hire your own counsel to protect your rights. Sometimes...