We’ve written before about how the Fair Housing Act applies to common interest communities. Unfortunately, there are some (maybe many) homeowners associations and condominium associations that still don’t understand the importance of this federal law and its state counterpart, the Colorado Fair Housing Act, or if they understand, they don’t believe it applies to them. Here is a recent story of a condominium association in Hawaii that found out otherwise.

The consequences of failing to understand the act and its applicability not only required the association to pay a hefty settlement ($200,000), but also required the association to install a permanent wheelchair ramp, provide fair housing training for board members and the association’s agents, and maintain policies and procedures on dealing with reasonable requests for accommodation for disabled individuals.

If your association has concerns about what it should do to comply with either the federal Fair Housing Act, or the Colorado Fair Housing Act, please contact us.