Opinion ID: 1839639
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Assessments

Text: Jones has not paid assessments since January of 1991. This suit was filed on May 4, 1993. The Amended Restrictions increased the maximum amount of assessments due and increased the amount of interest, attorneys' fees and costs. In its First Supplemental and Amending Petition filed on April 14, 1994, Brier Lake Estates alleged that Jones owes $1,086.00 in assessments due from January 1, 1991, plus thirty-five percent (35%) of that amount for reasonable attorneys' fees based on the Amended Restrictions. Jones claims that assessments are building restrictions and subject to the two-year prescriptive period of Article 781. Thus, he alleges that the petition for collection of any dues and assessments that have accrued for more than two years prior to the filing of the plaintiff's suit are perempted. The court of appeal found that assessments are a personal obligation and thus subject to the ten-year prescriptive period of Article 3499 relying on Mariner's Village Master Ass'n, Inc. v. Continental Properties, 93-1530 (La.App. 1st Cir. 5/20/94), 639 So.2d 1188 and Village Square Shopping Center Ass'n v. Nelson, 522 So.2d 163 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied, 526 So.2d 793 (1988). In Mariner's Village, certain individuals purchased property in which the Act of Sale specifically acknowledged the recorded building restrictions applicable to the property. These building restrictions included the duty to pay assessments. These individuals then sold the property to other individuals who, by counter-letter, stated that the property was purchased for the account of a partnership of which the buyers were the general partners. The partnership refused to pay assessments claiming that the partnership was not a member of the association. The appellate court concluded that by purchasing Parcel J-1 subject to the Master Deed [containing the building restrictions] defendants bound themselves personally for the assessments. (639 So.2d 1188, 1196). In Village Square, the court found that the [p]roperty in the subdivision was sold subject to building restrictions which included provisions for the Association to assess.... 522 So.2d 163, 164. There is no indication that these were not valid building restrictions. The court pretermitted the question of whether the provisions in the restrictions for the assessments is a building restriction, and found the obligation to pay assessments to be a personal obligation with a ten year prescriptive period as a matter of contract law. Id. at 168. There is no doubt that Jones has an obligation to pay assessments as such assessments were provided for in the Original Restrictions signed by the developer of Brier Lake Estates. As stated earlier, [p]rovisions that each purchaser of a lot in a subdivision shall automatically become a member of a corporation formed to provide maintenance of the common grounds, and that each member shall be subject to an annual assessment, have been enforced as reasonable and necessary. Yiannopolis, Predial Servitudes, § 196 at pp. 519-520 (2nd> Ed.1997). In addition, the duty to pay assessments has been characterized as an affirmative duty that may be imposed by a building restriction. Comment, Some Observations on Building Restrictions, 41 La. L.Rev. 1201, 1208 (1984). This obligation has also been recognized by the legislature in La. R.S. 9:1145 which establishes a procedure for recording a privilege on the immovable for which assessments are delinquent. [8] However, Jones' obligation cannot be classified as a personal obligation. See Tall Timbers Owners' Ass'n v. Merritt, 376 So.2d 586 (La.App. 4th Cir.1979) (obligation to pay assessments is a real obligation); see also La. C.C. art. 1764 [9] ; Yiannopolis, The Work of the Louisiana Appellate Courts for the 1975-1976 Term-Property, 37 La. L.Rev. 317, 329-330 (1977) (questioning whether the duty to pay assessments can be classified as a personal obligation without an express stipulation to that effect). Jones' property was, by virtue of the recordation of the validly enacted Original Restrictions, subject to the Original Restrictions requiring the affirmative duty of paying assessments, not to exceed $180.00 per year. We hold that this obligation is properly characterized as a building restriction and is subject to the two-year prescriptive period of La. C.C. art. 775 and is not a personal obligation under La. C.C. art. 3499. To the extent that Mariner's Village, supra, and Village Square, supra, held otherwise, they are overruled. Thus, Jones is not obligated to pay assessments that were due over two years when suit was filed. Brier Lake Estates filed suit on May 4, 1993, claiming assessments due since January 1, 1991. The assessments due from January 1, 1991, through May 1, 1991, are prescribed. Thus, Brier Lake Estates is entitled to assessments due from May 4, 1991 through June of 1995, at the rate of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per month, plus interest and costs, and twenty percent (20%) reasonable attorneys' fees. [10] We calculate that amount to be $735.00, plus interest, costs and twenty percent (20%) attorneys' fees.