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Lindsay S. Smith

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Lindsay Smith is a partner at WLPP Law, where she practices in general community association and real estate law. She provides legal representation in covenant enforcement, document amendment, and general association litigation; contract and document drafting and review; general business and governance advice for association clients; and meeting protocols.

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As regular followers of this blog are aware, Colorado homeowners associations cannot effectively prohibit the installation of renewable energy devices on individual homes and units, although they can impose reasonable restrictions on the devices.  Molly Foley-Healy addressed this matter in detail back in May.

Today, the Denver Post published a story about the Acres Green Homeowners’ Association and its fight against the Douglas County School District’s attempt to install solar panels on the ground near Acres Green Elementary.  The Association argued to the Douglas County Planning Commission that the solar panels would constitute a potentially dangerous eyesore, and the problem could not be effectively mitigated by screening the panels from view.  The School District could not install the panels on the school’s roof because, after contracting for this installation, it was determined the roof couldn’t support the project.

Not in your backyard? Hope your HOA agrees…Continue Reading Your HOA Can’t Stop You From Installing Solar Panels – But it Can Stop the School District!

A Florida homeowners association recently decided to waive $20,000 in fines accumulated by a homeowner who abandoned her property to her lender.  It appears that owner Linda Conti overestimated her ability to purchase the home, and planned to turn the property over to the bank with a deed in lieu of foreclosure.  She moved out before the bank took title, and as a result the property’s front lamp was left unlit for over a year.  This violated the association’s covenants, and the association levied a $50.00 fine every day, resulting in $20,000 in fines and several thousand dollars in attorneys’ fees.

 Continue Reading Dim-Witted HOA Finally Sees the Light

I don’t watch NASCAR, in spite of my vaguely southern roots.  I prefer sports with more action and bloodshed – like homeowners association meetings.  Todd Bodine is a NASCAR driver, an HOA member, and apparently a fan of tiki huts and pool houses.  Bodine constructed a tiki hut and pool house on his property, and after four years of dispute and litigation, the North Carolina Supreme Court sided with his Association.  The Association claimed the hut and house were not approved, and had to be removed.

Continue Reading Even NASCAR Drivers Don’t Get to Cut Corners for HOA Approval

Homeowners and condominium association Boards of Directors have extensive powers to act on behalf of the Association.  The actions a Board can take are broad and encompass all areas of Association governance.  However, with great power comes great responsibility.  Boards often take some or all of the following actions, but they need to do so with full consideration of the potential ramifications. Sure, you can do it…but should you?
Continue Reading Sure You Can Do It…But Should You?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on a new Florida law that allows condominium associations to essentially garnish the rent paid by tenants of a delinquent owner, without going through the process of obtaining a judgment against the owner and a writ of garnishment for the tenant.  The Florida law only permits the association to demand money from the tenant – it does not allow the association to evict a delinquent owner and find tenants of its own.

When an owner fails to pay assessments, the burden falls on his neighbors who often have to pay higher assessments to make up the difference.  Unlike Florida, Colorado associations are not permitted to demand money from a tenant, absent a court order and a writ of garnishment. Continue Reading Tenant Garnishment Without a Judgment? Really?

Homeowners associations are often faced with the challenge of enforcing covenants when that enforcement is not politically popular.  Recently, an association in Louisiana directed a couple to remove a large, bright banner from their front yard.  The association’s covenants only permit the display of real estate signs.

 

Unfortunately for the association, the banner expresses support for the couple’s son, who is a Marine in Afghanistan.

  Continue Reading Sometimes Covenant Enforcement is a No-Win Situation

I grew up in Boulder, but as I decided to attend college in Oklahoma, and have no chronic pain issues, I never participated in the annual “4/20 Day” festivities that occur on the CU campus. For those not familiar with the tradition, April 20 is the day when individuals either protest the illegality of marijuana by smoking in public, or smoke in public to, well, smoke in public.

When Colorado voters approved medical marijuana over ten years ago, the effects were not immediately felt. Everyone recognized that marijuana was still illegal at the federal level, even for pain management, but no one was quite sure how to handle distribution and enforcement at the local level.Continue Reading Down to Seeds and Stems (Again)?

9News recently published a story about a man in the Denver Highlands who is protesting the construction of a nearby duplex by putting multiple toilets and other items in his front lawn. According to the contractor constructing the duplex, the homeowner has resisted its construction from the beginning, and is now trying to discourage its sale.

The toilets and debris do not violate city ordinances or codes, and as the neighborhood was developed before common interest communities became commonplace, there is apparently no homeowners association to dictate lawn décor.Continue Reading Homeowners Associations: Keeping Property Values Out of the Toilet

I just got off the phone with the manager of one of my more “entertaining” associations. After discussing an upcoming meeting, I asked her if the association was registered with the HOA Information Office. For more information on this registration, click here. She said they were properly registered, but she had received a surprising bill from the…