The Colorado Senate this morning amended Senate Bill 12-038 (“SB 38”) to exclude HOAs from the definition of “roofing contractor” and to provide HOAs with the protections provided under the bill.
SB 38, which is intended to provide protections from unscrupulous roofing contractors, requires “residential roofing contractors” to sign a written contract with customers that includes among other things: Continue Reading Roofing Contractor Bill Amended to Protect HOAs
This morning the Denver Post published an article about House Bill 1237, the bill intended to clarify records disclosure requirements for homeowners associations. Suzanne Leff and Molly Foley-Healy have previously discussed the substance of House Bill 1237, and we are pleased to see legislation that will help associations with everyday governance.
Many of the problems…
CAI National made the following announcement regarding a HUD ban on sellers paying assessments at closing:
"The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has acted to ban the practice of sellers agreeing to pay a set amount of association assessments for a buyer when closing on a FHA-insured mortgage. The ban is included in …
Yesterday I attended and testified at a hearing before the House Local Government Committee on House Bill 12-1237 (“HB 1237”) relating to the production of association records to homeowners. While an amended version of HB 1237 was reported out of Committee and seems to be on its way to passage in the Colorado House of Representatives, that is not what really caught my attention.
What made me sit up and take notice were the comments made by Representative Balmer when he made a motion to refer the bill out of Committee to the full House with an “extremely” favorable recommendation. Representative Balmer is a Republican from Centennial and as a general rule Republicans do not favor regulation. However, when it comes to HOA legislation that has not been the case. Continue Reading Concerns Over HOA Accountability in Colorado Crosses Party Lines
House Bill 12-1237 passed out of the House Local Government Committee on a 9-0 vote this afternoon. The Committee adopted an amendment to the original bill language that does the following:
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On January 16th, I blogged on House Bill 1057 which would have required the Insurance Commissioner to adopt the following rules relating to homeowner’s insurance: (1) the criteria and requirements for estimates of replacement value of insured property; and (2) educational requirements for insurance producers related to homeowner’s insurance – including estimating replacement values. The…
Yesterday, CBS News 4 ran a segment on the 6:00 pm news addressing the failure of HOAs to produce records to owners as highlighted in the 2011 Annual Report of the HOA Information and Resource Center. While we can always count on news outlets to run a sensationalized “HOA horror story,” the good news is the story they recounted ended with the HOA ultimately doing the right thing by producing records. Continue Reading CBS News 4 Covers HOA Records Bill
This morning, the Denver Post ran a front page story entitled HOA house may get put in order. While the story opens with a sensationalized account of a foreclosure which was not tied to manager misconduct, the story recognizes CAI as the leader in promoting the competent management of community associations in Colorado. As Chris Pacetti was quoted as saying, “We are trying to establish a level of professionalism and performance in the industry.” The article further highlights the need for criminal background checks, training and licensure.
Brian Tobias, the Senior Policy Analyst at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (“DORA”) who is conducting the Sunrise review, boiled down the review process as follows: “A key question that the state is asking is whether community association managers cause harm, and, if so, would regulation fix it.” Continue Reading Denver Post Covers Manager Regulation
This at least should be a rule through the letter-writing world: that no angry letter be posted till four-and-twenty hours will have elapsed since it was written. ~ Anthony Trollope
In my life outside of community association law practice, I volunteer with Denver Public Schools (“DPS”). On more than one occasion, my work with DPS, and in other volunteer roles, has allowed me to better relate to the challenges that association board members experience in their roles as community leaders – whether it’s the time commitment, strong emotions, opposing views, an unclear governance model, or thousands of e-mails flooding my inbox, I’ve experienced it.
Most recently, I served as co-chair for a large community committee that participated in a year-long process of monthly, and sometimes weekly, meetings. At the committee’s inception, a member of the general public submitted a Colorado Open Records Act (“CORA”) request to DPS, asking for all documents related to the committee’s work. DPS administration informed me and the rest of the steering committee of this CORA request to make us aware that the contents of our e-mails would get released to the constituent.Continue Reading Association Records: Navigating the Electronic “Paper” Trail
Today House Bill 12-1237 (“HB 1237”) was introduced in the Colorado General Assembly to address the issue of the retention and production of community association records. CAI’s Colorado Legislative Action Committee (“CLAC”) worked with Representative Angela Williams to draft this bill which seeks to provide clarity to management, executive boards and owners on exactly what records must be retained by an association and produced to owners upon request.
Given the fact that the current records provision of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”), C.R.S. 38-33.3-317, is the provision that received the most complaints by the HOA Information Officer – introduction of this bill is very timely.
HB 1237 is substantially based upon revisions made to a similar provision of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (“UCIOA”) by the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. UCIOA is the model act which our CCIOA is based upon. In addition to substantially adopting the revisions made to UCIOA, the bill also inserts key provisions of the Colorado Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act into CCIOA.
Here are some highlights of HB 1237:Continue Reading Bill Introduced to Address Association Records
