Molly Foley-Healy

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The Colorado Division of Real Estate has developed proposed rules for the licensure of community association managers. Those rules have just been published for public comment. That means that every citizen in Colorado has an opportunity to review the proposed rules and provide comment to the Division of Real Estate on them. 

The Manager Licensure Task Force ("Task Force") of CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee (“CLAC”), has prepared a communication that will be sent today to all members of CAI in Colorado. That communication will provide this link to the proposed rules and encourages members of CAI to provide their comments to the Division of Real Estate and the Task Force. The Task Force will be submitting comment on behalf of CAI to the Division and would like input from CAI members prior to submitting their comment.Continue Reading Proposed Manager Licensure Rules Published for Public Comment

Spring is in the air and I think it’s time to rethink the look of our home exterior and landscaping for the summer. Lately, I’ve been looking back a bit on my younger years when life was full of adventure and wonder. There’s no better way to recreate that feeling than to go with a retro theme for our house and yard. I’m inspired now and here’s what I’m thinking:

● Paint the house a lovely shade of pea green;

● Use recycled bowling balls as edging for the flower gardens;

● Hit yard sales this weekend and hunt down 6 or so of those “house butterflies” that were so popular in years past (make sure to spray paint them burnt orange, lime and gold before attaching them to the house in strategic locations to give our neighbors maximum enjoyment);

● Find a cute fountain that mimics a little boy peeing in the grass (that would be perfect for the front yard near the culdesac);

● Bury 1/3rd of an old claw foot bathtub in the ground and place a statue of the Virgin Mary in it (some might think that’s sacrilegious – so probably not a good option);

● Find weathered statues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and place along the edge of the yard near the culdesac for the neighborhood children to enjoy;

● Last, but not least, make sure to find a statue of Bambie to place by the tree in the front yard right next to the mooning garden gnome. 

 

"You know your neighbors will love me."

 

 Continue Reading Dreaming of My Younger Years and a Retro Landscape

On a vote of 53 to 11 (with one representative excused), the Colorado House of Representatives just voted to approve the Senate amendments to House Bill 14-1254 (“HB 1254”). The next stop for HB 1254 is Governor Hickenlooper’s desk where we fully expect he will sign the bill into law. Once that happens, HB 1254 will become effective on January 1, 2015.

HB 1254 is the rewritten transfer fee bill that:Continue Reading Management Company Transparency Bill Headed to Governor Hickenlooper’s Desk!

During a bill signing ceremony today, Governor Hickenlooper signed House Bill 14-1125 (“HB 1125”) into law. HB 1125 will go into effect on August 6th and fixes an inadvertent oversight in the HOA records law which has made it impossible for HOAs to include in membership directories the telephone numbers and email addresses of owners and residents. Continue Reading HOA Records Bill Signed Into Law

This morning, House Bill 14-1254 (“HB 1254”) was passed by the Senate on 3rd reading on a 32 to 3 vote. The bill, which was amended in the Senate to require that fees and charges be included in a management contract to be enforceable, is now headed to the House for concurrence with the Senate amendment. We don’t expect there to be any problems in the House with concurrence and the bill should be headed to Governor Hickenlooper to be signed into law sometime around mid-April. Continue Reading Management Company Transparency Bill Easily Clears the Senate!

House Bill 14-1254 (“HB 1254”), sponsored by Senator David Balmer (R-Centennial) in the Senate, was taken up this afternoon by the Senate Local Government Committee. With a slight amendment, the bill was passed with a favorable recommendation to the full Senate on a 6 to 1 vote. Senator Vicki Marble (R-Fort Collins) was the only Senator to vote against the bill in Committee.

HB 1254 requires managers and management companies to disclose during negotiations on management contracts, and thereafter on a yearly basis, the fees and charges imposed as part of their management of associations and any other remuneration received as a result of the relationship which managers and management companies have with their associations. In other words, managers and management companies would be required to disclose any funds they receive from third parties that are in any way related to the associations they manage. Managers and management companies who fail to make these disclosures would be subject to investigation and discipline by the Division of Real Estate. Continue Reading Management Company Disclosure Bill Clears Senate Local Government Committee!

Two bills that would have negatively impacted HOAs in Colorado are dead for the session. Here is what you need to know:

House Bill 1165

 

House Bill 14-1165 (“HB 1165”) was taken up last week by the House Business, Labor, Economic & Workforce Development Committee and was defeated by a vote of 1 Representative in favor of the bill to 9 against. 

 

HB 1165 would have capped the retainage permitted in construction contracts to 5% and rendered unenforceable provisions in these contracts with higher a retainage. This bill would have impacted construction contracts for all HOAs with more than 4 units. In other words, almost every HOA in Colorado could have been affected by this bill.Continue Reading Two HOA-Related Bills Dead For the Session

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!