Summary : Authorize and direct the consumer protection division of the Attorney General’s Office to protect consumers of H.O.A.-burdened housing.
Since the consumer protection division of the Attorney General’s Office is an agency that already exists, the additional cost to the State would be zero. And could even save money if the worse-than-useless H.O.A. Information Office were eliminated. By comparison, an out-of-court H.O.A. dispute resolution process would cost over $ 2 million per year and require 20 additional employees under the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).
A Man’s Home Is His Castle
Colorado Homeowners Protection Act
Attorney General Protection
In Colo. Rev. Stat. § XXXXX add the following :
(1) Legislative Declaration.
(a) Because homeowner associations are creatures of statute that have been granted authority and power by the Legislature, the State of Colorado has a special duty to take an active role in protecting homeowners and residents governed by them rather than acting as a neutral arbitrator between two non-equal parties.
(b) Because homeowner associations collect billions of dollars in assessments from homeowners every year with very little oversight by any level of government, the continuation of the economic prosperity of Colorado is dependent on actively protecting H.O.A.-burdened homeowners from the abusive, fraudulent, predatory, and criminal business practices of the H.O.A. industry.
(c) The Attorney General and the Department of Law, collectively referred to as the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, represents and defends the legal interests of the people of the State of Colorado and its sovereignty. The Attorney General exercises the responsibilities given to the office by the Colorado Constitution, statutes enacted by the Colorado General Assembly, and the common law. The Attorney General has primary authority for enforcement of consumer protection laws.
(d) The consumer protection division of the Attorney General’s office is more appropriate and much better suited to protect consumers of H.O.A.-burdened housing from the abusive, fraudulent, predatory, and criminal business practices of H.O.A. corporations – including their Directors & Officers, managers, attorneys, and other vendors – than the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and the Division of Real Estate (DRE) are.
(2)(a) The consumer protection division of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office is hereby authorized and directed to take over from the H.O.A. Information and Resource Center the function of collecting complaints from H.O.A.-burdened homeowners as currently set forth in Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-10-801.
(b) The Colorado Attorney General’s Office consumer protection division has jurisdiction over homeowner associations to assist homeowners making complaints by ensuring compliance with applicable laws.
(c) Homeowner associations shall comply with all requests by the Attorney General’s Office in the discharge of its duties, including furnishing association records to the Office. The Attorney General’s Office can remedy violations by means it deems necessary.
(d) The Attorney General’s Office consumer protection division shall be available to assist a homeowner governed by an H.O.A. corporation to
(I) determine whether the H.O.A. corporation is acting in accordance with all applicable laws and
(II) remedy any violation the Office determines to have been made by the H.O.A. corporation by taking all steps the Office deems necessary, including commencing legal proceedings against the H.O.A. corporation.
(3) The Department of Law shall adopt rules, or amend its rules, to implement the requirement set forth in this section.
Author’s note : North Carolina House Bill H.B. 311 (2023) by NC State Representative Frank Iler (Republican) would have created a new Community Association Oversight Division in the Office of the Attorney General. Unfortunately and for whatever reason(s), Iler’s bill was watered down to instead create an H.O.A. task farce to study homeowner associations. You can compare the initial submitted version of the bill to the final version that was adopted.