INDEPENDENT OWNER CAMPAIGNPUBLIC RECORDS REVIEW
EMERALD COVEOWNERS FOR CHANGE

DOCUMENTS. DATES. OUTCOMES.

The public record.
What the filings show.

Seven assessment liens. Two HOA foreclosure notices. Four recorded lien releases. Here is the evidence behind the campaign’s questions about collection practices.

Reviewed October 16, 2026Bay County, Florida2019 nonprofit association

What this review establishes: the recorded actions described below were taken in the name of Emerald Cove Villas Homeowners Association, Inc. The reviewed documents do not establish unlawful conduct, the correctness of a claimed debt, or that an owner lost a home. A settlement or dismissal is not a finding that a lien was improper.

01

APRIL 4, 2025

Seven liens recorded in one day.

The HOA recorded seven claims of lien for asserted unpaid regular assessments and additional charges, including interest, late charges, costs and attorney fees. These are the association’s claims, not court judgments confirming the amounts.

The one-page lien filings do not itemize those components. Five state the same total of $2,145.22 despite different stated assessment periods. That raises a question for an itemized ledger; the repeated total alone does not establish overcharging.

All seven liens recorded April 4, 2025. CFN = Clerk’s File Number; OR = Official Records book/page.
Assessment lienLater record located in the review
CFN 2025018551 Official Records 4900 / 635Released May 11, 2026 — CFN 2026028112; OR 5033 / 251.
CFN 2025018552 Official Records 4900 / 636Released August 26, 2026 — CFN 2026052954; OR 5072 / 820. Related foreclosure action voluntarily dismissed; notice recorded August 27, 2026.
CFN 2025018553 Official Records 4900 / 637Released July 28, 2025 — CFN 2025042293; OR 4936 / 1183.
CFN 2025018556 Official Records 4900 / 651No later release located in the reviewed results; current balance and status unverified.
CFN 2025018557 Official Records 4900 / 652No later release located in the reviewed results; current balance and status unverified.
CFN 2025018564 Official Records 4900 / 661Released December 16, 2025 — CFN 2025073505; OR 4984 / 943.
CFN 2025018615 Official Records 4900 / 860Later foreclosure notice in case 26000917CA. No release located; current case outcome unverified.

Four releases were located. For the other three liens, “no release located” means only that no release appeared in the reviewed results. It does not establish a present debt or an active lien.

02

TWO RECORDED FORECLOSURE NOTICES

What happened after the liens.

A lis pendens is a recorded notice of litigation affecting property. These notices identify the HOA as the plaintiff seeking assessment-lien foreclosure. They are not foreclosure judgments.

SETTLEMENT & DISMISSAL RECORDED

Case 26000857CA

  1. Assessment lien recorded.

    CFN 2025018552 Official Records 4900 / 636

  2. Lis pendens recorded for the HOA’s foreclosure action.

    CFN 2026044866 Official Records 5059 / 1624

  3. Release of the assessment lien recorded.

    CFN 2026052954 Official Records 5072 / 820

  4. Voluntary dismissal with prejudice recorded. The notice, dated and e-filed August 26, says the dispute was settled and resolved and releases the lis pendens.

    CFN 2026053147 Official Records 5072 / 1497–1498

Known outcome: settlement, lien release and dismissal. The recorded notice does not disclose settlement payment terms or establish wrongdoing by either party.

OUTCOME NOT VERIFIED

Case 26000917CA

  1. Assessment lien recorded.

    CFN 2025018615 Official Records 4900 / 860

  2. Lis pendens recorded for another HOA assessment-lien foreclosure action. The notice was e-filed August 4.

    CFN 2026047842 Official Records 5064 / 885–886

Unknown outcome: no later release was located in the reviewed official-record results. The complete court docket was not retrieved, so a pending case, judgment, settlement, dismissal or sale cannot be inferred.

03

CHECK THE SOURCES

The follow-up recording register.

Use the CFN or book/page in the Bay County Clerk’s Official Records search. Source links open the search portal; they do not open a specific document automatically. Recording dates below can differ from signing or court-filing dates.

Recorded releases, litigation notices and dismissal located in this review.
Recorded / documentReferenceWhat it shows
July 28, 2025Release of lienCFN 2025042293 Official Records 4936 / 1183Releases assessment lien CFN 2025018553.
December 16, 2025Release of lienCFN 2025073505 Official Records 4984 / 943Releases assessment lien CFN 2025018564.
May 11, 2026Release of lienCFN 2026028112 Official Records 5033 / 251Releases assessment lien CFN 2025018551.
July 23, 2026Lis pendensCFN 2026044866 Official Records 5059 / 1624Notice of HOA assessment-lien foreclosure action, case 26000857CA.
August 5, 2026Lis pendensCFN 2026047842 Official Records 5064 / 885–886Notice of HOA assessment-lien foreclosure action, case 26000917CA; notice e-filed August 4.
August 26, 2026Release of lienCFN 2026052954 Official Records 5072 / 820Releases assessment lien CFN 2025018552, associated with case 26000857CA.
August 27, 2026Notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudiceCFN 2026053147 Official Records 5072 / 1497–1498Case 26000857CA: says the dispute was settled and resolved and releases the lis pendens. Dated/e-filed August 26.

NOTICE & FINING PRACTICES

$100 per day.
Communication should keep up.

The HOA has used postal-mail violation notices without email, text, or app alerts, while charging $100 per day for a continuing violation.

Our position

Owners should have the option to receive email or text alerts alongside formal notices, with a clear description of the violation, how to correct it, and how to challenge a proposed fine. Communication should help resolve a problem before it becomes an expensive dispute.

THE RECORDED DECLARATION

Daily fines have limits.

Section 4.11 permits reasonable fines up to $100 per violation, including each day of a continuing violation with one notice and hearing opportunity. It sets a $1,000 aggregate limit unless otherwise provided in the declaration.

Recorded June 14, 2019 · §4.11
CFN 2019055913 Official Records 4134 / 1314–1315

THE RECORDED DECLARATION

Mail is one permitted method.

Section 12.07 allows owner notices by hand delivery, verified overnight courier, or first-class mail. It does not require that all notices use only postal mail, and it does not itself promise email, text, or app alerts.

Recorded June 14, 2019 · §12.07
CFN 2019055913 Official Records 4134 / 1327

Florida’s notice and hearing requirements still apply.

The 2026 statute generally caps fines at $100 per violation and $1,000 for a continuing violation, unless the governing documents provide otherwise. A continuing violation can carry daily fines with one notice and hearing opportunity.

Before a fine is imposed, §720.305 requires at least 14 days’ written notice of the right to a hearing at the owner’s designated mailing or email address, a committee hearing, and committee approval. The notice must explain the alleged violation and how to cure it, if applicable. A fine may not be imposed if the violation is cured before the hearing or in the manner specified in the required written notice.

Read Florida Statutes §720.305(2), (b)–(e)

Postal mail is notice; an additional digital alert is the communication improvement this campaign seeks. The recorded lien review does not establish how often this practice occurs or whether a particular fine met every legal requirement. The assessment liens listed above do not establish that those debts arose from violation fines.

THE QUESTIONS BEHIND THE CAMPAIGN

Owners deserve a clear accounting.

These are questions raised by the filings, not findings that records are missing or that the HOA broke the law.

01

How were the charges calculated?

Itemized ledgers and invoices could distinguish assessments from interest, late charges, collection costs and attorney fees.

02

What authorized each collection action?

Collection policies, relevant nonprivileged board records, and notices with mailing records could explain the process used.

03

What did enforcement cost the community?

Nonprivileged financial records could clarify legal spending, amounts recovered and the financial effect of settlements.

04

METHOD & LIMITS

A review owners can check.

Entity: Emerald Cove Villas Homeowners Association, Inc., Florida nonprofit N19000006762, incorporated June 18, 2019. The older Emerald Cove Villas, LLC is a different entity; its developer litigation is not attributed to this HOA.

Search: Bay County Official Records, name “EMERALD COVE,” both parties, all book and document types, January 1, 1987 through October 16, 2026. The search returned 83 index entries; relevant document images were reviewed. The portal’s index verification date was October 15, 2026. This is a dated review, not a live case-status feed.

Court limitation: the court docket portal’s CAPTCHA could not be completed during the review. The complete dockets, complaints, service records, defenses and orders were not obtained. The case summaries rely on documents recorded in Official Records.

Excluded from the count: a lender-initiated foreclosure naming the HOA as a defendant was not counted as an HOA-initiated action. A recorded filing alone does not prove unlawful fees, defective notice, selective enforcement or harassment.

Neighbor privacy: this summary omits owner names, home addresses and lot numbers. Recording references are supplied so readers can independently check the source documents. Nothing here establishes whether a household currently owes money.

Bay County Official Records Bay County court search

READ THE RECORD. DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.

Your home. Your voice.

Review the proposal & add your voice