Thank you to those who responded to my query about delinquent accounts. However, I believe you have misunderstood the problem I have experienced. No realtor participated in the sale.

You state the importance of “staying on top of the situation” of dealing with delinquent accounts, filing the notice of claim in a timely matter, etc.

The problem I have encountered is not that “I DID NOT FILE” the claim in a timely manner. The problem is that ”the statute prevented me from filing the claim prior to the sale of the property”.

The deadline for payment of the assessments was December 1, 2024. The property was sold on December 18^th, 2024. I would not be able to even send the 20-day Collection Notice until 60 days after the deadline and then would have to wait another 30 days after the 20-day Collection notice before I could file the Notice of Claim with the Register of Deeds. It has nothing to do with “staying on top” of the situation. It has to do with the time requirements of the statute not allowing me sufficient time to send the 20-day Notice and subsequently file the Notice of Claim with the registry prior to the sale.

I do understand your predicament - sorry if I answered in more general terms.  In your situation specifically, I would still contact the buyer with a friendly welcome and then inform them that the assessment is due.  Under the Disclosure laws, Title 33 section 173, subsection 6, the seller is obligated to make disclosure to the buyer as follows:

6.  Access to the property.  Information describing the means of accessing the property by:  

A. A public way, as defined in Title 29‑A, section 101, subsection 59; and   [PL 2017, c. 181, §3 (NEW).]

B. Any means other than a public way, in which case the seller shall disclose information about who is responsible for maintenance of the means of access, including any responsible road association, if known by the seller;   

If the buyer participated in a sale without a realtor involved, unfortunately they took their chances on whether proper procedures were followed.  As I said in my prior response,  After a friendly greeting I would let the buyer know that regrettably the seller was not up to date on road association payments; that payment is now due, and that in order to have a clear title they need to pay the assessment, but that they should then seek reimbursement from the seller. 

If they do not pay, I might offer them grace up to the full 60 days from when you contact them, (rather than from the original due date,) and then proceed with a Notice of Claim.