Condominium education trust fund; payments by associations and developers

(a) [Repeal and reenactment on June 30, 2023, by L 2018, c 196, §9, as shown in the main volume, deleted by L 2020, c 57, §2.] Each project or association with more than five units shall pay to the department of commerce and consumer affairs: (1) A condominium education trust fund fee within one year after the recordation of the purchase of the first unit or within thirty days of the association's first meeting, and thereafter, on or before June 30 of every odd-numbered year, as prescribed by rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91; and (2) Beginning with the July 1, 2015, biennium registration, an additional annual condominium education trust fund fee in an amount equal to the product of $1.50 times the number of condominium units included in the registered project or association to be dedicated to supporting mediation or voluntary binding arbitration of condominium related disputes. The additional condominium education trust fund fee shall total $3 per unit until the commission adopts rules pursuant to chapter 91. On June 30 of every odd-numbered year, any unexpended additional amounts paid into the condominium education trust fund and initially dedicated to supporting mediation or voluntary binding arbitration of condominium related disputes, as required by this paragraph, shall be used for educational purposes as provided in section 514B-71(a)(1), (2), and (3). (b) Each developer shall pay to the department of commerce and consumer affairs the condominium education trust fund fee for each unit in the project, as prescribed by rules adopted by the director of commerce and consumer affairs pursuant to chapter 91. The project shall not be registered and no effective date for a developer's public report shall be issued until the payment has been made. (c) Payments of any fees required under this section shall be due on or before the registration due date and shall be nonrefundable. Failure to pay the required fee by the due date shall result in a penalty assessment of ten per cent of the amount due and the association shall not have standing to bring any action to collect or to foreclose any lien for common expenses or other assessments in any court of this State until the amount due, including any penalty, is paid. Failure of an association to pay a fee required under this section shall not impair the validity of any claim of the association for common expenses or other assessments, or prevent the association from defending any action in any court of this State. (d) The department of commerce and consumer affairs shall allocate the fees collected under this section to the condominium education trust fund established pursuant to section 514B-71. The fees collected pursuant to this section shall be administratively and fiscally managed together as one condominium education trust fund established by section 514B-71.