Colorado has a busy legislative calendar for those interested in condominiums in general and Colorado timeshare relief legislation specifically. Here’s the quick rundown:
SB 182 is the first of the ARDA-sponsored bills regulating relief companies to make it out of the legislature. Kudos to the lobbying team, which was able to secure a House vote of 62-0. A couple of interesting notes to this bill. First, it applies to both timeshares located in Colorado and timeshares owned by Colorado residents. Second, the bill ties into the remedial provisions of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act. This author believes Colorado HOAs can make claims under the CCPA, even if they aren’t direct parties to a relief agreement.
HB 1277 would create a fairly robust licensure regime for managers of “common interest communities” (a/k/a condominiums). At 28 pages, the bill is a lot to digest. But in a nutshell, anyone who gets paid to perform management services would have to pass a competency examination, undergo a criminal background test, and maintain professional malpractice insurance by July 1, 2014. Passed out of the House committee on a close 6-5 vote.
HB 1276 would place limitations on the collection activities of an HOA. Most notably, an HOA would not be allowed to pursue foreclosure remedies until the owner owed an amount equal or exceeding 6-month’s worth of assessments and the Board of Directors specifically approved legal action. Passed out of the House committee on a 7-3 vote.
In its original form, HB 1134 would have greatly expanded the responsibilities of the HOA Information Officer to include investigatory powers. Thankfully for those of us who actually think through such things, the bill was amended to authorize a study to see if this would be a good idea. Nonetheless, the bill would still effectuate a “technical” fix so that all HOAs would have to register with the state. Existing law inadvertently exempts pre-1992 HOAs from this requirement. Passed out of the House on a 6-4 vote.
