CAI Issues Call to Action to Oppose Lakewood Construction Defect Ordinance
October 6, 2014
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
CALL TO ACTION: OPPOSE LAKEWOOD CONSTRUCTION DEFECT ORDINANCE
- Call and e-mail the Lakewood City Council members
- Attend the City Council meeting on October 13, at 6:30 p.m. at 480 S. Allison Pkwy, Lakewood
HELP STOP LAKEWOOD CONSTRUCTION DEFECT ORDINANCE 21 WHICH STRIPS AWAY THE ABILITY OF HOMEOWNERS TO RECOVER FOR CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS!
As you probably know by now, Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy has introduced Ordinance 21 which will enable shoddy construction and limit the recourse that homeowners living in HOAs will have against builders for defective construction. While the ordinance is intended to spur the construction of condominiums, it eviscerates all consumer protections for homeowners living in HOAs. If this ordinance passes in Lakewood, other cities are sure to follow Lakewood’s lead.
The Lakewood City Council will vote on this ordinance at their meeting on October 13. If passed, the ordinance would do the following:
1. Redefine “construction defects” to a much more restrictive definition.
2. Grant builders unilateral authority to determine the scope of defects and perform repairs themselves, and prohibit owners from refusing band-aid repairs or having any say in the repair process.
3. Prevent HOAs from amending their declarations to remove declarant-imposed roadblocks concerning how construction defect claims are procedurally handled, including mandatory arbitration provisions drafted by the declarant.
4. Require HOAs, in only a 30 day period, to receive written consent from a majority of owners prior to bringing an action for construction defects, without the use of proxies.
5. Require HOAs to provide extensive disclosures to homeowners that relate to construction defect claims.
CAI needs as many people as possible to call and email Lakewood City Council Members and to attend the Lakewood City Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 13 at 480 S. Allison Pkwy., Lakewood, CO 80226. Please RSVP for the City Council meeting by clicking here.
Please immediately call and email the Lakewood City Council members. You can e-mail them all at once by clicking here.
When you call and email these City Council Members, tell them the following:
HOAs, and the folks who own homes in them, should not be punished for bringing legal action against developers for defective construction. If developers are not held legally responsible for defects, homeowners are the ones who will have to pay to repair the defects.
Homeowners should have a right to say what repairs should be made on their homes, and who should be able to make the repairs. Homeowners should not be forced to have shoddy repairs to their homes made by incompetent contractors.
The answer to construction defects is quality construction — not stripping away essential consumer protections and leaving homeowners to pay for repairs.
Mandatory arbitration provisions put in declarations by developers are self-serving and unfair. Arbitration panels are also notorious for providing low awards to HOAs for defects. In addition, the costs associated with arbitration can be extremely high. This generally means that there is not enough money to repair the defective construction and special assessments may be needed to make repairs.
Boards of directors of HOAs are elected by the membership to represent their interests in construction defect claims and other important matters. If the members of an HOA do not like the actions their boards are taking, they can remove their boards with or without cause. There is no reason for HOAs to go through the expense of obtaining membership consent when the boards are elected by members to make these decisions.
Requiring the written consent of owners holding at least a majority of the votes in the HOA will be extremely costly and make it impossible for homeowners living in HOAs to hold builders responsible for their defective construction:
This requires HOAs to pay their lawyers to draft the written consent form. This form must then be mailed to all of the members in the HOA. For large scale communities, these costs could be astounding.
For large scale communities and communities with military personnel who can be deployed — obtaining the required written consent could be impossible. These communities should not be left without recourse for defective construction.
After contacting the Lakewood City Council members, please plan to attend the Lakewood City Council Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, October 13 at 480 S. Allison Pkwy., Lakewood, CO 80226. The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m., but we need everyone to be there by 6:30 p.m. to organize and let our voices be heard. Please RSVP for the City Council meeting by clicking here.
Thank you for strongly supporting HOA and homeowner rights!
CAI Government Affairs represents the interests of the 65 million people living and working in America’s community associations on legislative and regulatory issues at the local, state, and federal level of government.