DENVER – Attempts to reach a resolution to the construction defects battle and to rejuvenate the condo market in Colorado just hit a major stumbling block.
The Homeownership Opportunity Alliance, which is a group of community leaders backing efforts to reform construction defects litigation, has pulled its support on two bipartisan measures aimed at easing the problem.
Assistant House Minority Leader Alec Garnett, D-Denver, said the alliance voted Tuesday night to pull its support from House Bill 1279, which would require a homeowners association gather a simple majority of votes from unit owners in order to pursue litigation for defects.
A dispute concerning the period of time available for HOAs to gather votes and how it would affect the time frame when litigation could be brought forward by homeowners caused the alliance to pull its support.
The bill had been scheduled for committee hearing Wednesday, but it was postponed after the alliance’s decision. The measure would pause legal maneuvers for 120 day while votes for moving forward with litigation were gathered from homeowners.
This would extend the period when contractors would be liable for defects by an additional four months, Garnett said. “You’re willing to say: ‘We don’t want anything; this is worse than having significant reform moving forward because of 120 days.’ That makes me suspect.”
The alliance’s withdrawal of support comes after months of negotiations with various stakeholders, and it has dire implications for individuals looking for an affordable house, Garnett said.
“There may not be a solution for Coloradans who desperately want to see for-purchase condos being built in their communities,” he said.
Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, said throughout negotiations the alliance had continually increased what it was asking for.
“All we have seen through this process is the goal posts continue to change over and over again,” Duran said.
The continual movement, she said, has led House Democratic leadership to question what the end goal of the organization is and where the negotiation goes next.
But this doesn’t mean the construction defects legislation is going away, and leadership in the House intends to continue to support the bills that lost the alliance’s support, which includes HB 1279 and Senate Bill 45. Both bills would change the sequence litigation goes through to allow contractors not involved in the defects to reduce their financial obligation.
“This process isn’t over; the committee hearing is next week. I guess I’m just frustrated,” Garnett said.
The Homeowners Opportunity Alliance did not immediately return request for comment.
lperkins@durangoherald.com
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