HOA Homeowners' Rights Task Force

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  CCIOA Unintended Consequences - Need to Delineate Some Requirements

  by MW, over 2 years ago

  Most folks don't realize the broad coverage of CCIOA when passing new HOA rules. There are quite a few small landowner associations that exist in rural areas with very simple missions. For example, ours is a landowners association in rural northern colorado (sagebrush country) that charges $3/acre PER YEAR. The vast majority of the budget is spent on maintaining 100 miles of private dirt roads in our association. Of the 350+ landowners, only 4 live up there year-round. These are mostly empty plots of land used for camping in the summer. The 1137 requirements have eaten up about a quarter... Continue reading

  Most folks don't realize the broad coverage of CCIOA when passing new HOA rules. There are quite a few small landowner associations that exist in rural areas with very simple missions. For example, ours is a landowners association in rural northern colorado (sagebrush country) that charges $3/acre PER YEAR. The vast majority of the budget is spent on maintaining 100 miles of private dirt roads in our association. Of the 350+ landowners, only 4 live up there year-round. These are mostly empty plots of land used for camping in the summer. The 1137 requirements have eaten up about a quarter of our annual revenue and taken a good deal of funding away from our road maintenance. Things like mailing out monthly statements that get returned to us each month because the county doesn't have a current mailing address for the owner. Another example could be an account that owes $120 (average annual HOA dues). The cost of certified mail, posting on a vacant parcel, etc. runs upwards of half that amount in overhead alone. The HOA is prohibited from charging these costs directly to that landowner. Can't we change the rules to allow the fundamental mailing and collection costs to be charged to that particular owner instead of everyone else paying for their decision not to pay their dues? Please consider refining the requirements of CCIOA between suburban HOA's that collect large sums of money, and rural associations that collect VERY small amounts of money.
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  WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

  by Jabberwocky, over 2 years ago

  My first experience with our property owner’s association occurred before we even began construction. The property is a somewhat secluded five acre parcel on which we intended to build our home. My builder happened to have the opportunity to obtain some free fill dirt, which we needed for the project. The truck dumped the load, which couldn’t even be seen from the road, and the association promptly fined me $100 for beginning construction without a permit. I paid the fine without discussion, as the builder informed me that we saved more on the dirt than the cost of the fine... Continue reading

  My first experience with our property owner’s association occurred before we even began construction. The property is a somewhat secluded five acre parcel on which we intended to build our home. My builder happened to have the opportunity to obtain some free fill dirt, which we needed for the project. The truck dumped the load, which couldn’t even be seen from the road, and the association promptly fined me $100 for beginning construction without a permit. I paid the fine without discussion, as the builder informed me that we saved more on the dirt than the cost of the fine, but it still bothered me that simply dumping a load of dirt on my own property would result in this sort of action. WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD!
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  A dream gone wrong

  by Jabberwocky, over 2 years ago

  This story is about my neighbor in Pagosa Lakes and how their dream to build a dream home turned into a nightmare, thanks to the local HOA.

  Both are retired. He's a former Denver firefighter, and she’s a sign language interpreter. The house is an ambitious project which includes a detached barn on their 5 acre lot. The couple lives full time in our community, and works on their house every day. . . or at least they did until the property owner's association issued a "stop work order".

  Prior to that, they’d managed to overcome the many obstacles one... Continue reading

  This story is about my neighbor in Pagosa Lakes and how their dream to build a dream home turned into a nightmare, thanks to the local HOA.

  Both are retired. He's a former Denver firefighter, and she’s a sign language interpreter. The house is an ambitious project which includes a detached barn on their 5 acre lot. The couple lives full time in our community, and works on their house every day. . . or at least they did until the property owner's association issued a "stop work order".

  Prior to that, they’d managed to overcome the many obstacles one would imagine comes with building one's own home. Before the stop work order, they'd already experienced a delay in construction because a subcontractor they hired to set adobe did such a poor job that they had to tear down the walls and start over. Several of the neighbors felt their heartbreak and chipped in to help remove and salvage hundreds of adobe blocks.

  But the meat of this story is how our own property owner's association went to battle with this family, and how the association tried to destroy them. This all came about when the association decided to change its regulations regarding building permits. The change, which occured in the middle of their project, caused the permit fees to skyrocket if the project were not completed on time. The new rule was evidently aimed at out-of-towners working only part-time on their project, perhaps only a few weeks a year. Many would argue that the rule change was a good idea, but this project was not being drawn out. This family was working diligently on their home, in fact working every day. The neighbors were supportive, and would have signed onto a variance had this been offered as an option, but the association wouldn't budge.

  The most absurd part was the issuance of the "stop work" order. It made no sense. If indeed the association's goal was to move the project along, why would they stop it? Then it became clear. Someone in the association had a personal vendetta against this family.

  The end result of all this has been months of heartbreak, worry, stress, and legal expense for this couple. It now appears they have thrown in the towel and are bearing the full brunt of these escalating fees, in addition to their own legal expenses. There's much more to the story, but it's telling that the neighbors are so upset over what the HOA is doing to these people, there's actually been talk about seceding from the association.

  There’s an interesting contrast just two lots away. A couple moved in recently and decided they would clear-cut their 5 acres. They did all this cutting, which included several mature Ponderosa pines, without a permit. The association's fine, after adding up all the stumps, came to well over $100,000.00. A little good ‘ol boy haggling between the property owner and the association brought the fine down to around $20,000, plus some re-planting. All of the neighbors were outraged over this irreparable act of vandalism to our neighborhood, yet no one from the HOA solicited anyone’s input when it decided on this “slap on the wrist”. How did they come up with this number? How can one family, who’s trying to do the right thing, get so beaten down by this association, yet another, who so callously disregarded the rules (and damaged the environment) get special treatment?

  What we have in this association is an out of control organization taking out personal vendettas against its own members. This is an organization that enforces its rules in an arbitrary manner, and displays discriminatory behavior toward its own members.
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  Only one legitimate organization representing Colorado homeowners

  by Kathleen MacKenzie, over 2 years ago
  Please appoint to the HB-1105 HOA Homeowners' Rights Task Force Stan Hrincevich of the Colorado HOA Forum. The Colorado HOA Forum is the only organization in the state working to protect the rights of the thousands of Colorado homeowners required to be part of a HOA. The Community Associations Institute masquerades as a homeowner advocate, when in fact it is the opposite. CAI represents the many unregulated entities who make money from volunteer HOA Boards, from management companies to attorneys. The interests of these groups will already be well-represented from what I can see of the HOA Task Force make-up... Continue reading

  Please appoint to the HB-1105 HOA Homeowners' Rights Task Force Stan Hrincevich of the Colorado HOA Forum. The Colorado HOA Forum is the only organization in the state working to protect the rights of the thousands of Colorado homeowners required to be part of a HOA. The Community Associations Institute masquerades as a homeowner advocate, when in fact it is the opposite. CAI represents the many unregulated entities who make money from volunteer HOA Boards, from management companies to attorneys. The interests of these groups will already be well-represented from what I can see of the HOA Task Force make-up. The lack of any state regulation of HOAs in Colorado is due to the effective lobbying of these business interests. For years, Mr. Hrincevich has been an intelligent, reasonable and steady advocate for homeowners in HOAs and he is the single best person in Colorado for this task force. His email is coloradohoaforum@coloradohoaforum.com. Thank you.