It has been quite some time since the HOA industry in Colorado has seen as much legislation as we saw this year! Of the 13 bills signed by the Governor, three pertain to public policy, which is a clear trend in legislative goals: HB24-1091 – Fire-hardened building materials, HB24-1152 – ADUs (accessory dwelling units), and SB24-134 – home-based businesses.
HB24-1091 makes it unlawful for associations to prohibit or restrict the use or installation of fire hardened building materials. Although associations are allowed to adopt reasonable standards concerning design, dimensions, placement, and external appearance of fencing constructed with fire hardened materials. However, such standards cannot increase the cost of the fencing by more than 10%. The biggest concern with this bill is that the definition of “Fire Hardened Materials” is unclear and confusing and will likely cause disputes down the road.
Next Steps: Review your current rules, policies, and guidelines to ensure they do not contain language violating this new law. You may also want to update your current rules and/or guidelines to deal with the fencing issue.
HB24-1152 makes it unlawful for associations in ADU Supportive Jurisdictions and/or within ADU subject jurisdictions to prohibit owners of single family detached homes to construct ADUs (between 500 and 700 square feet) on their lots. Counties such as Jefferson, Denver, Boulder, Douglas, Arapahoe, and Broomfield all fall under Subject Jurisdictions, so if your community lies in one of these counties, you are subject to this restriction. It is also important to note that this bill prohibits associations from requiring ADUs to be owner occupied or requiring construction of new off-street parking.
Next Steps: Review your current rules, policies, and guidelines to ensure they do not contain language violating this new law. Revise any documents conflicting with the new law. You can also consider amending your declaration allowing the association to separately assess for ADUs given the additional load on common elements.
SB24-134 prohibits associations from banning in-home businesses by owners or their residents. However, the bill does allow associations to adopt reasonable rules governing architectural control, parking, landscaping, noise, and nuisances. The bill further requires in-home businesses to comply with applicable noise and/or nuisance ordinances.
Next Steps: Review your current rules, policies, and guidelines to ensure they do not contain language violating this new law. Revise any documents that conflict with the new law. You should also consider adopting a policy addressing home-based businesses.
Please contact an Altitude attorney, at 303.432.9999 or at [email protected] with questions about this year’s legislation.
For HB24-1091, does this pertain to HOA’s with ANY wood fences or just 6ft privacy fences? In our community, we have only 3 rail split rail fences. So do we still have to offer non-wood choices like Vinyl?
John
You do not have to affirmatively offer non-wood choices, but you do have to allow owners to construct fences using “fire hardened” materials when they submit applications.