February 2014

House Bill 14-1254 (“HB 1254”) has just cleared the Colorado House of Representatives and will soon be introduced in the Senate. HB 1254 was heard last Thursday in the House Business, Labor, Economic & Workforce Development Committee. After extensive testimony on the bill by CAI members and illuminating questioning led by Representative Chris Holbert (R-Douglas County), the bill was unanimously reported out of the House Business Committee with no amendments and with a favorable recommendation to the full House of Representatives. The House passed the bill on 2nd reading yesterday.  The full House passed HB 1254 on 3rd reading this morning with no amendments and a vote of 58 to 8 in favor of the bill, with 3 Representatives excused from the morning session and not voting. 

The original draft of the bill, that was not introduced, would have capped transfer fees charged by management companies at $50.00. Obviously, management companies have every right to be compensated for the services they perform that are related to the sale of a home in an HOA and the costs attributed to the sale of an individual home should not be charged to all of the homeowners in an HOA. Instead, these are closing costs related to the sale of a particular home. Had the original draft version of this bill been introduced and passed, it would have led to an increase in assessments for all HOAs in Colorado since management companies would have been forced to increase their management fees to recover the costs of work performed on the sale of individual homes. Continue Reading Rewritten Transfer Fee Bill Sails Through the House!

After extensive testimony in the House Business, Labor, Economic, and Workforce Development Committee this afternoon, the HOA transfer fee bill (HB14-1254) passed out of committee, with no amendments, for consideration by the House of Representatives. The HOA transfer feel bill is sponsored by Rep. Labuda (D-Denver) and Senator Balmer (R-Centennial) and received bipartisan…

House Bill 14-1125 (“HB 1125”), introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Diane Mitsch Bush (D-Steamboat Springs), has cleared the House with no amendments and was introduced just yesterday in the Senate and assigned to the Senate Local Government Committee. Senator David Balmer (R-Centennial) is the Senate sponsor of the bill. 

As you will recall, HB 1125 permits an association to publish email addresses and telephone numbers of members and residents of the association, if those members or residents first provide written consent to their association to publish this information. Owners and residents may withdraw this written consent, but such withdrawal of consent does not require their association to go back and “change, retrieve or destroy” previously published telephone numbers or email addresses. Also, the bill permits owners and residents to electronically provide or withdraw their consent to their associations.Continue Reading HOA Records Bill Clears Colorado House of Representatives

When we hear the term “burden of proof”, many of us think of the television crime shows we all watch such as Law and Order or CSI, and how we always hear that the prosecution has to prove the defendant’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt”.  This “reasonable doubt” standard is the burden of proof in criminal cases.  In general, the burden of proof, or burden of persuasion, is the duty placed upon a party to prove or disprove a disputed fact.  Depending on the case and the arguments, either party can bear this burden. 

In civil cases, however, the burden of proof is a lower standard and only requires that the party who bears the burden prove or disprove a disputed fact by a preponderance of the evidence or by clear and convincing evidence.  Colorado courts define “preponderance of the evidence” as proving that it is more probably true than not, and have defined “clear and convincing evidence”  as proving that it is highly probable and there exists no serious or substantial doubt. It is up to the judge or jury hearing the case to decide whether a party has met its burden.

 Continue Reading Burden of Proof

For many folks, Valentine’s Day is traditionally thought of as a day of roses, chocolate, stuffed bears, hugs and kisses. I would like to get a bit off the traditional track of Valentine’s Day and wonder aloud if you are feeling the love in your HOA. So are you?  

As homeowners, residents, board members and managers in…

This afternoon, House Bill 1125 (“HB 1125”) was taken up by the House Business, Labor, Economic & Workforce Development Committee (“House Business Committee”) for consideration. As you will recall, HB 1125 is intended to fix an inadvertent oversight in the association records law which was overhauled during the 2012 legislative session and went into effect on January 1, 2013. Currently, the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”) prohibits associations from publishing the telephone numbers and email addresses of members. Obviously, this limits the information associations may publish in membership directories. 

HB 1125 permits an association to publish email addresses and telephone numbers of members and residents of the association, if those members or residents first provide written consent to their association to publish this information. Owners and residents may withdraw this written consent, but such withdrawal of consent does not require their association to go back and “change, retrieve or destroy” previously published telephone numbers or email addresses. Also, the bill permits owners and residents to electronically provide or withdraw their consent to their associations.Continue Reading HB 1125 Unanimously Clears House Business Committee

Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis & Payne, LLP, is pleased to announce that Doug Stallworthy will join the firm on February 10, 2014.  Doug previously focused his practice on real estate, commercial leasing, corporate law, civil litigation, community associations, and employment law.  At Winzenburg, Doug will focus on the transactional and business needs of community associations throughout…

 I have to admit, I’m not a fan but was intrigued when I discovered that Porscha Williams from the hit show ‘The Real Housewives’ was hit with a Judgment of nearly $18,000.00 for failing to pay association assessment fees and other charges. Apparently, a garnishment was authorized to attempt to collect the outstanding debt.  http://rollingout.com/tv/reality-tv-tv/porsha-williams-accused-owing-18000-homeowners-association/Continue Reading Even ‘Real Housewives’ Must Pay Assessments!

While folks were understandably concerned about an onerous transfer fee bill proposed by Representative Jeanne Labuda (D-Denver), and some even publicly announced that introduction and passage of the bill was a foregone conclusion, CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee (“CLAC”) is pleased to announce that Representative Labuda has completely rewritten her proposed transfer fee bill to instead require managers and management companies to disclose the fees they charge and funds they receive related to their relationship with the HOAs they manage.

HB 14-1254 (“HB 1254”) was introduced today in the Colorado House of Representatives with Representative Labuda as the House Sponsor. Senator David Balmer (R-Centennial), who has been a champion of fair and balanced HOA legislation which also provides important consumer protections, has signed on as the Senate sponsor of the bill. Continue Reading Proposed Transfer Fee Bill Rewritten to Require Transparency