Transfer Fees.  SB 11-234, the Transfer Fee bill, passed out of its committee of origin with minor amendments today.  As we reported in our April 11, 2011 post, this bill is good for the community association industry because it would not affect fees collected by homeowners associations and condominiums and their managing agents.  Also, the bill would ban most transfer fees paid to developers and investors, so it is considered positive for the housing industry.

HOA Registration Act May Be Clarified.  Another positive bill for the community association industry was introduced today with the strong support of both chapters of Colorado’s Community Association Institute (CAI).  This bill is known as the HOA Registration Act “Clean Up”, SB 11-253.

As introduced, this bill would clarify the HOA registration requirements contained in last year’s HB 10-1278, by amending the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (“CCIOA”) sections 38-33.3-401 and 38-33.3-117 as follows:

  • Pre-CCIOA communities must register (as well as post-CCIOA communities)
  • Limiting the information HOAs need to provide to register
  • Clarifying that an HOA which failed to register will have its right to pursue legal remedies suspended, without prejudice, so that after validly registering the suspension is lifted and the
  • HOA will not have permanently lost its rights during the gap in registration
  • Clarifying that an HOA can prove it is registered by an electronic or paper confirmation issued by the Division of Real Estate
  • A registration may not be invalidated solely due to a technical or typographical error

Altitude Community Law believes each of these points is true under the current HOA Registration Act, HB 10-1278.  For example, we’ve advised all HOAs, whether pre- or –post-CCIOA, to register with the Department of Regulatory Agencies (“DORA”) – see our March 10, 2011 post on this topic.  We believe the HOA Registration Act “Clean Up” bill is not a CHANGE to the law, but instead simply makes the law easier for everyone to understand.

Unfortunately, this bill was necessary because some people do not agree on how the HOA Registration Act should be interpreted.  Differences in interpretation raise the risk that associations could end up in court arguing about what the Act says.  That’s why clarifying these ambiguities to reduce the risk of litigation is a high priority for leaders in Colorado’s community association industry, including Altitude Community Law, and that’s why we support this bill.

Identify Theft.  Finally, the Secretary of State Identity Theft Protection bill, HB 11-1095, also passed out of its committee of origin today.  As we reported in our February 24, 2011 post, this bill will require a password to change or file corporate information, so it should help protect homeowners associations, among other state corporations, from becoming targets of identity theft.

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