Evening the Playing Field

Recent legislation has tilted strongly in favor of protecting homeowners, especially those behaving badly, at the expense of HOAs, the vast majority of which govern responsibly. If the news reports are accurate, many of these new laws were inspired by actions taken by a few rogue HOAs that most would regard as unfair and overreaching. Yet the “one size fits all” approach adopted in ensuing legislation winds up punishing all HOAs, good and bad.

HB 22-1137 is a good example. Adopted following news reports about egregious enforcement and collection practices at one particular HOA, the law saddles all HOAs with new complex, expensive, and time-consuming enforcement and collection hurdles and reduces the incentive for violators to comply voluntarily, forcing HOAs to resort to even more complex, expensive, and time-consuming litigation.

Another example is HB 21-1310. News reports at the time suggest this law was inspired by an HOA that tried to enforce a non-discriminatory ban on all types of signs. The result is a law that prohibits HOAs from enforcing any restrictions on signs based on content, even those that espouse racist, homophobic, obscene, or other hateful messages.

There are certainly legitimate concerns that need to be addressed from time to time, but more careful thought needs to be given to the impact of remedial legislation on HOAs that govern responsibly. Most HOA homeowners rely on the protections afforded by their HOA governing documents, and do not want to see those protections taken away. When overly broad restrictions are placed on HOAs and their governing documents, the only winners in HOAs that govern responsibly are those few homeowners who choose to behave irresponsibly. More targeted legislation is needed to fix problems that impact a few homeowners without creating even bigger problems for all homeowners.