Last night during the 10:00 pm newscast, CBS 4 News Consumer Investigator Jodi Brooks reported on a meeting she held with a group of disgruntled residents who live in a handful of HOAs in Colorado. While there’s no question that residents are sometimes treated poorly by their HOAs, Ms. Brooks made no attempt to interview the associations that allegedly mistreated these individuals. Instead, she took the time-honored approach of many reporters by giving a one-sided account of their complaints.Continue Reading Will HOAs Ever Be Treated Fairly By the Press?
Myth of the Poop Fairy is Dead in Jeffco!
Phantom dog poop is not just a problem in HOAs! Colorado’s Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with local park districts and HOAs, has launched the “There is No Poop Fairy” campaign to bring attention to the problem of dog waste. This campaign has already received national attention from Rachel Maddow and the Huffington Post.
Join Us for the CAI Rocky Mountain Chapter Legislative Update!
The Rocky Mountain Chapter of Community Associations Institute (“CAI”) is hosting The Calm Before the Storm on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. This legislative update class will be held from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm at Dave & Busters which is located at Colorado Boulevard & I-25.
David Graf and I will be presenting the class
Independent Contractors vs. Employees: What HOAs Need to Know
Associations often contract with individuals for bookkeeping, landscaping, or building maintenance services, among other things. The status of these service providers as either independent contractors or employees can have important tax and legal consequences for associations.
The IRS initiated a crackdown in 2010 concerning the classification of independent contractors and employees. The IRS will randomly audit 6,000 companies through 2013 and will generate about $7 billion for state and federal governments from employers that misclassified employees as independent contractors.Continue Reading Independent Contractors vs. Employees: What HOAs Need to Know
What are Solar Gardens and What Can They Do for Me?
While owners of individual houses and townhomes in homeowners associations may install solar panels on their rooftops (subject to prior association approval), roofs of condominiums are a different story.
We often receive questions from condominium associations regarding owners’ rights to install solar panels on the roofs of the condominium buildings. Condominium roofs are common elements and, as such, individual owners do not have the right to place solar panels on them. Solar gardens offer condominium owners an option for receiving many of the same benefits of solar panels otherwise reserved for single family homeowners and townhome owners.
Continue Reading What are Solar Gardens and What Can They Do for Me?
HOAs Going the Way of the Dodo? Not Likely
Yesterday Mainstreet.com reported on a new book that Evan McKenzie has written about the future of HOAs in the United States. Professor McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been studying the political structures of HOAs for years and previously authored Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government.
In his recently released follow-up entitled Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government, Professor McKenzie “explores the latest issues and trends in common interest developments and opposing viewpoints as to how they should be managed.” Mainstreet.com reports that “McKenzie’s larger point is that once consumers gain some leverage against homeowner groups, these associations will begin to lose power, and eventually fade away.”Continue Reading HOAs Going the Way of the Dodo? Not Likely
HOA Information Office and Resource Center Publishes Consumer Brochures
The Colorado HOA Information Office and Resource Center ("Center"), housed within the Division of Real Estate, has published the following consumer brochures:
One of the purposes of the Center is to provide information to consumers on the rights and responsibilities
Alligator Alert: Putting Pet Problems in Perspective
It’s that time of year when homeowners’ associations in Colorado see complaints about pets begin to escalate. Whether it’s barking dogs, stray cats, phantom poop or dogs playing in the common areas without a leash – these complaints are problematic but usually not life-threatening.
To put our challenges with pets into perspective, check out this notice posted in a Florida HOA: Continue Reading Alligator Alert: Putting Pet Problems in Perspective
CPSC Announces Recall of Pool and In-Ground Spa Drain Covers
Just as homeowners’ associations are opening their pools for the summer season, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) announced a recall of pool and spa drain covers produced by eight manufacturers. According to the CPSC, the “recalled drain covers were incorrectly rated to handle the flow of water through the cover, which could pose a possible entrapment hazard to swimmers or bathers.”
The recall involves various pool and spa drain covers that can be identified by the manufacturers’ name and model information listed below: Continue Reading CPSC Announces Recall of Pool and In-Ground Spa Drain Covers
Sometimes Covenant Enforcement is a No-Win Situation
Homeowners associations are often faced with the challenge of enforcing covenants when that enforcement is not politically popular. Recently, an association in Louisiana directed a couple to remove a large, bright banner from their front yard. The association’s covenants only permit the display of real estate signs.
Unfortunately for the association, the banner expresses support for the couple’s son, who is a Marine in Afghanistan.
Continue Reading Sometimes Covenant Enforcement is a No-Win Situation