Winter in Colorado is sure to bring cold weather, snow, and urgent phone calls about broken water lines and slip-and-fall accidents on common areas. The problems usually start when the temperature begins to warm up after a cold spell or heavy snowfall. Water suddenly streams out of broken pipes, or snow melts and then freezes when the temperature drops at night. Whatever the circumstances, managers and board members can attest to the amount of work involved responding to owners, sorting through damages and injuries, dealing with insurance, and trying to understand legal obligations for water and slip-and-fall incidents. Most of us would love to find a magic wand that we could wave to make these problems disappear. Unfortunately, magic is not a reliable solution.

Associations can best position themselves for dealing with slip-and-fall situations by planning ahead and communicating with owners along the way. If your association is not sure what responsibility it has to remove snow and ice hazards from common areas, here are some risk management steps to help.

Review the association’s governing documents to determine responsibilities for snow removal. Different communities have different responsibilities, and your documents give direction. A condominium community may have the general obligation to remove snow from the common elements, while townhome documents may only require the association to take care of parking lots. A failure to comply with the covenants could result in claims of breach by the association, so confirming responsibilities up-front is crucial.Continue Reading Frozen? Snow and Ice – Don’t Let It Go

Representative Kit Roupe (R-Colorado Springs) has introduced House Bill 15-1113 (“HB 1113”) in an attempt to protect HOAs in Colorado from the financial consequences of lenders continuing the sale dates of public trustee foreclosures. HB 1113 would require lenders who continue the foreclosure sale beyond the first required sale date, to pay the assessments of the individual they are foreclosing upon until the lender actually sells the home. However, in an attempt to be fair to the lenders, Representative Roupe has also built into the bill exceptions to this assessment payment requirement. 

Under Colorado law, once a lender commences a public trustee foreclosure on a home, the lender is required to set the foreclosure sale date within 110 to 125 days. The lenders are then permitted to continue the foreclosure sale date for up to one year. It’s common for some lenders to continue the sale date over and over. It’s also not unheard of that after the sale date has been continued for one year, some lenders will withdraw the foreclosure and start the process and continuances all over again. Continue Reading Bill Introduced to Protect HOAs from the Financial Consequences of Prolonged Public Trustee Foreclosures

Senator Jesse Ulibarri (D-Commerce City) has introduced Senate Bill 15-079 (“SB 79”) to create a statewide affordable housing investment fund to promote the construction of affordable housing across Colorado. This is an honorable goal.

SB 79 would raise funds through imposing a $2 surcharge on every document recorded with every county clerk and recorder in Colorado. To…

As predicted, the first construction defect bill of the session has been introduced in Colorado and it’s a real whopper! Senator Ray Scott (R-Mesa County) has introduced Senate Bill 15-091 (“SB 91”), which would cut the statute of repose in half for construction defects.   

While statutes of limitations and repose for construction defects can be very complicated to figure out in Colorado, the statute of repose governs the timeframe during which a homeowner can bring legal action for construction defects after substantial completion of their home has taken place. SB 91 reduces the 6 year period of time currently permitted under Colorado law to 3 years. In addition, if a defect is discovered in the second or third year after substantial completion of the home has occurred, the owner of the home will only have 1 year to bring their legal action. This provision provides a double whammy by cutting the current 2 year statute of limitations in half! Continue Reading First Construction Defect Bill is a Whopper!

You probably read plenty of articles on our blog in which we remind associations to ensure they have adopted and are enforcing their responsible governance policies and rules and regulations.  While owners have a legal obligation to comply with the covenants and rules, this may not extend to rules that are in violation of or contrary to local, state or federal law.

Continue Reading Hierarchy of Rules

Representative Dan Thurlow (R-Grand Junction) has introduced House Bill 15-1040 (“HB 1040”). The bill is intended to greatly reduce the individuals who are required to be licensed by the Division of Real Estate as community association managers. Frankly, if you look at the practical implications of the bill, HB 1040 would essentially destroy most of the manager licensure requirements which were intended to protect folks living in common interest communities and to elevate the profession of community association management. 

HB 1040 has been assigned to the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee (“State Affairs Committee”) where it is almost certain that this bill will die. In a nutshell, if passed, HB 1040 would provide:Continue Reading Manager Licensure “Modification” Bill Introduced

This morning, the first regular session of the 70th Colorado General Assembly will formally convene and is currently slated to adjourn on May 6th. Unlike last year when the Democrats controlled the House and Senate, this year the Republicans will control the Senate by 1 seat and the Democrats will control the House by 3 seats. These are very slim margins indeed for both chambers! 

The conventional wisdom of some is that split chambers are positive for the citizens of Colorado, because it forces both parties to cross the aisle to work together for the common good of Coloradoans. While some may argue that this is painfully naive, for now I’m signing onto this perspective. While I am hoping that I am not wrong, I will call myself out on this blog if extreme partisanship ultimately rules the 70th General Assembly!

 

Will this be a big legislative session for HOAs? As always, only time will tell. However, there’s no question that we will see a variety of bills addressing construction defects and the creation of more affordable housing stock. Since many of these bills are still on the drawing board, I cannot report on any specifics until they are formally introduced. In addition, I suspect we will see one or more bills intended to “clean-up” the community association manager licensure law and will report on the specifics of those bills when introduced. Continue Reading 2015 Colorado Legislative Session Gets Underway!

The Colorado Division of Real Estate has just published emergency interim rules on community association manager licensure.  The rules will go into effect today and will continue in effect through May 6, 2015.  Here is the notice from the Division of Real Estate with links to the emergency rules:

***Important Notice***


Notice of Emergency Rule …

The 2015 legislative session in Colorado is set to kick off tomorrow and it promises to be an interesting one. Following the November elections, the Republicans will control the Senate by a 1 seat margin and the Democrats will control the House by a 3 seat margin. Since by all accounts the Colorado General Assembly isn’t interested in replicating the gridlock and destructive partisan politics we have all witnessed in Washington, D.C., I’m feeling optimistic that both parties will work to find common ground on issues that are important to the citizens of Colorado.

Construction defects is one issue that is certain to be the subject of several bills. The implications of construction defects on homeownership should never be a partisan issue. For almost every Republican and Democrat in Colorado, the single largest investment we will ever make in our lives is in our homes. To provide immunity to builders for their construction defects and leave homeowners with no recourse should not be acceptable to either the Republicans or the Democrats. In Colorado, we don’t leave the little guy holding the ball! 

 

The Denver Chamber of Commerce has not received this message. Yesterday at their annual Legislative Preview, Kelly Brough, President and CEO of the Chamber, promised they would focus on “construction litigation reform.” She then promised a reintroduction of the construction defect bill introduced during the 2014 legislative session. 

 

The bill she was referring to is Senate Bill 220. There is no question about it, this bill would not have “leveled the playing field” between builders and homeowners. Instead, Senate Bill 220 would have provided absolute immunity to the construction industry for their defective construction. Continue Reading Denver Chamber of Commerce Focused on Destroying Homeowner Rights

I don’t typically make New Year’s resolutions because I believe that if something needs to be fixed, it should be fixed at that time – not on an arbitrary date.  However, many folks do like their resolutions, and I’ve heard several resolutions from my clients. 

We resolve to adopt our policies.  The responsible governance policies mandated by Senate Bills 100 and 89 have been required for nearly a decade!  Adopt your policies, already!Continue Reading New Year’s Resolutions