Yep, the only time a lien has to be satisfied is when the property is either sold or, in some states, refinanced.
My HOA (OH GOD, THE EVIL HORRORS!) has filed liens against properties in our community when the owners get into significant arrears on fees owed to us. Every few months the attorney's office updates the lien to account for any additional fees, penalties, costs, etc.
Prior to that we had taken owners to court -- what a damned joke that was.
OK, HOA officer, you're saying that Owner X owes $5,000 in monthly assessments and hasn't paid in X years? OK, we find Owner X owes his HOA $1,000. Next case.
Yep, RARELY would courts in this area award the amount the owner actually owed. Any attorney's fees, interest, or penalties? Those were summarily tossed out no matter what, leaving everyone else in the HOA to foot that bill PLUS the monthly assessments that Owner X was excused from paying.
And, inevitably, Owner X would pay the court ordered money and then start the entire process all over again.
Liens, on the other hand? You get everything.
We had one notorious owner, basically a slumlord. She and her husband owned 3 properties in the community. Never maintained them, rarely, if ever, paid the assessments (which were NOT expensive, something like $60 a month at the time).
So, we automated the lien process. Hit X amount in arrears, it gets turned over to the attorney who files a lien for that amount PLUS interest PLUS penalties PLUS attorney fees. And every quarterly lien update brings a new round of fees.
Well, slumlady decides to either refinance or sell one of the properties, and the lien on it is rather substantial, in excess of $10,000 at that point. Despite getting quarterly updates on the status of the amount she owned, she professed to have no knowledge of it and was incensed at the concept of having to pay that money. Came to a board meeting and blew her stack. We very politely told her to go pound sand, that she knew what she owed because she got the regular account statements, and if she wasn't reading them, that was her problem, not ours.
Few weeks later, we got not only the pay off for the property that she was refinancing, we got the arrears on the other properties, too. And since then, as far as I know, she's not been an issue at all.
She was trying to game the system and she realized that the lien process made it impossible for her to win.
Liens are powerful tools.
In fact, liens were one of the preferred tools that the Montana Freemen nuts used to harass the crap out of their opponents, and it worked for awhile.
