Opinion ID: 1241225
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Failure to Pay Assessments

Text: The property in question is located in Interstate Industrial Park, Campbell County, Wyoming. The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of the Industrial Park requires that each lot owner become a member of the Interstate Industrial Park Property Owners Association and that the owner pay a monthly assessment: ... All such assessments that are not paid when due shall become a lien on the land and shall remain a lien until fully paid... . Tom Mikkelson testified that the monthly assessment was between $25.00 and $30.00 and that these assessments had not been paid. The record does not reflect the total amount of assessments due; however, appellees indicate in their brief that the amount owed is approximately $500.00. The trial judge found that the bank had funds with which to pay the assessments but ordered them paid by the Mikkelsons. While we recognize the general rule that courts will not declare a default if assessments are paid before the foreclosure suit is initiated, Kaminski v. London Pub, Inc., 123 N.J. Super. 112, 301 A.2d 769, 771 (1973), or that a mortgagee may waive a condition or because of some act be estopped from asserting the right, Cook v. Merrifield, Fla.App., 335 So.2d 297, 299 (1976), neither of these situations exists in the case at bar. The assessments were not paid at the time that foreclosure proceeding was instituted; nor did the bank indicate that these assessments need not be paid. They clearly constituted an encumbrance against the property within the language of the trust deed.