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Yet another homeowners association has found itself in hot water for potential violations of federal fair housing laws.  East of San Francisco, the Tennis Villas at Blackhawk association barred children from trick-or-treating at Halloween.  While the community is gated and "upscale," an upscale community does not have the right to adopt policies that have a…

A recent Fox News article brought to light a danger many people had not considered when looking to install solar panels on their roofs – the weight and electricity of solar panels can put fire fighters in danger when they try to put out flames.  While solar panels and alternative energy are encouraged in Colorado, and covenants that effectively prohibit or restrict installation of solar are void and unenforceable, associations can impose reasonable restrictions for safety and aesthetics. 

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Continue Reading Solar Panels and Safety

Last Friday afternoon an Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission issued revised proposed towing regulations. The Towing Carrier Rules start on page 57 of this document. This updated version of the proposed regulations is not nearly as onerous for community associations as the first version that was introduced back in January. For example, this latest version of proposed regulations does not require associations to post signs every 10 feet in their parking lots and allows associations to continue making towing carriers their authorized agents. In fact, the ALJ’s revisions to the proposed rules seem to have accounted for most of the concerns expressed by members of the Community Associations Institute. As an added bonus, these new regulations will clarify the proper signage for giving notice prior to authorizing nonconsensual tows from residential parking lots.

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Continue Reading Move That Car! Final Proposed Towing Regulations Clarify HOA Towing Authority

I think I’m pretty spoiled.  I only have to deal with bad weather when I choose to.  My garage at home is attached, and my garage at work occupies the lower levels of the building.  Sometimes I forget a jacket on winter days and don’t realize it’s a problem until I have to go outside.…

Governor Hickenlooper signed SB13-126 into law today, requiring community associations to permit owners to install Type 1 and Type 2 electric vehicle charging stations on their lots and on limited common elements designated for an individual owner’s use. SB13-126 adds Section 106.8 to the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act and states the following reason for the legislation:

The primary purpose of this section is to ensure that common interest communities provide their residents with at least a meaningful opportunity to take advantage of the availability of plug-in electric vehicles rather than create artificial restrictions on the adoption of this promising technology

By M.O. Stevens (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Continue Reading Get Charged Up! Electric Vehicles Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

I’ll admit it, I’m something of a Grinch.  I’m just not very good at putting up the holiday decorations that so many other people do so well.  My neighborhood is having a holiday light competition.  I haven’t managed to put up any lights, but if I were to put up anything, it would look like the house on the right:

The Armstrong family of Wellington’s house would look more like the one on the left – if they decided to go "low key."   The Armstrongs have a tradition of an extraordinarily elaborate display, combined with holiday cheer for passersby and charitable giving for those less fortunate.  The Fort Collins Coloradoan recently reported on their struggle to keep their light display in spite of their homeowners association’s objection.

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Continue Reading How to be a Grinch

I recently worked with a client who had purchased a property at the sheriff’s sale on a homeowners association lien.  We frequently take properties through this kind of judicial foreclosure, and so from my perspective, everything was pretty cut and dry.  The client had a lot of questions, and I found myself discussing some basic rules of real property law.  Today, I found this article about a purchaser of a property foreclosed on by an HOA, and decided it might be appropriate to set out some general information about liens and the effect of foreclosure.

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Continue Reading Foreclosures and Liens – Some Basics

After the shooting of Travon Martin in February, association lawyers discussed the possibility that the Retreat at Twin Lakes Homeowners Association could face liability for the actions of George Zimmerman, a member of the HOA’s neighborhood watch.

It appears that Martin’s family will be making a claim against the HOA’s insurance policy, asserting they are owed at least $75,000.00.  This indicates the Martins may intend to file a federal court suit against the insurance company.  The policy’s limit is $1,000,000.00, but the big issues will be whether the policy provided coverage at the time of the shooting, and whether it covers the shooting at all.

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Continue Reading After a Tragedy, the Inevitable Search for Deep Pockets

The Denver Post ran a Guest Commentary this morning from Chris Pacetti the Co-Chair of the Manager Licensure Task Force of CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee ("CLAC"). The Guest Commentary outlines the reasoning behind the submission of the Sunrise Application for manager licensure and makes the case for the regulation of community association managers. 

We expect…