The starting point for your effort would be to contact/visit your county's Registry of Deeds.  Our association has filed numerous Notices of Claims and Notices of Extension with our county's (Cumberland) Registry; the county has a website for online research.  You can check by the name of the owner in arrears and determine the filing date, if any.  If the owner's name is not there, it means no filing has occurred and you would, almost certainly, have to start the NOC process from scratch.  Good luck -- glad to provide more details on the process if you have further questions.