Colorado HOA law guide.

The six Colorado pages behind this guide.

Complete statutory text, reproduced from the Colorado Revised Statutes, with a plain-language deep dive on each.

Homeowners associations.

CCIOA governs Colorado HOAs. An association must be organised no later than the day the first unit is conveyed to a purchaser, as a nonprofit, not-for-profit or for-profit corporation or a limited liability company, and its membership “shall consist exclusively of all unit owners” (§ 38-33.3-301). Its provisions may not be varied by agreement and the rights it confers may not be waived except where the article expressly allows (§ 38-33.3-104).

The date test. CCIOA applies in full to communities created on or after July 1, 1992 (§ 38-33.3-115). For earlier communities, § 38-33.3-117 brings forward an enumerated list in four waves — among them § 123 (enforcement and attorney fees), § 316 (the assessment lien), § 316.3 (collections), § 317 (records), § 308 (meetings), § 310(1) and (2) (voting and proxies), § 301, §§ 209.4 to 209.7 and § 401 — and § 38-33.3-117(1.9) applies the construction-defect procedure at § 303.5 to every community regardless of date. A pre-1992 community can also opt in wholesale by a 67 percent vote (§ 38-33.3-118).

Small communities are excepted, but not the way people assume. A cooperative or planned community created on or after July 1, 1992 with twenty units or fewer and no development rights, or a planned community of any age whose declaration caps average annual common expense liability at $400 as adjusted for inflation, is subject only to §§ 105 to 107 (§ 38-33.3-116); for pre-1992 communities the figure is ten units (§ 38-33.3-119). Both sections are written for “a cooperative or planned community” — a condominium never qualifies, however small.

Condominium associations.

A condominium is a common interest community in which parts are designated for separate ownership and the remainder for common ownership by those owners — and it is not a condominium unless the undivided interests in the common elements are vested in the unit owners (§ 38-33.3-103(9)).

The older Condominium Ownership Act was not repealed by CCIOA — it was split. Section 38-33.3-115 provides that §§ 38-33-101 to -109 do not apply to communities created on or after July 1, 1992, while §§ 38-33-110 to -113 “shall remain in effect for all common interest communities”. So a pre-1992 condominium gets the bylaw contents at § 38-33-106 — if it is residential, has more than ten units and was declared on or after January 1, 1976 (§ 38-33-106(5)) — the records right at § 38-33-107 with a misdemeanor behind it at § 38-33-108, and the owner-liability cap at § 38-33-109 — while every condominium in the state, of any age, keeps the time share provisions and the tenant-conversion notice at §§ 38-33-110 to -113.

One provision there is worth knowing only if your condominium predates 1992, and one whatever your date. Section 38-33-109 caps an owner’s liability in any suit or arbitration against the association at the damages or settlement multiplied by that owner’s percentage ownership — though where the association is incorporated, members’ liability is determined as any other corporate stockholder’s. It sits inside the §§ 101 to 109 block, so it reaches pre-1992 condominiums only. Section 38-33-112, by contrast, gives a tenant in a building being converted to condominiums ninety days’ notice, declared a matter of statewide concern that no county or municipality, home rule included, may conflict with.

Housing cooperatives.

A cooperative is a common interest community in which the real property is owned by the association, each member being entitled by their ownership interest in the association to exclusive possession of a unit (§ 38-33.3-103(10)). CCIOA governs cooperatives on the same footing as condominiums and planned communities, with adjustments where ownership differs: in a cooperative a unit owner’s interest is real estate for all purposes unless the declaration says it is personal property (§ 38-33.3-105(1)), and on non-payment an owner may be evicted in the same manner as an unlawful holdover by a commercial tenant (§ 38-33.3-316(10)).

How the lien is foreclosed depends on that same characterisation. Where the units are real estate, the lien is foreclosed like a mortgage and carries the same two conditions as a condominium — a balance of at least six months’ assessments and a recorded board vote authorising action against the specific unit (§ 38-33.3-316(11)(b)). Where the units are personal property, the lien is foreclosed as a security interest under the Uniform Commercial Code, and those two conditions do not appear (§ 38-33.3-316(11)(c)).

The corporation behind your association.

Most Colorado associations are incorporated under the Colorado Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act. CCIOA does not require that — § 38-33.3-301 permits a nonprofit, not-for-profit or for-profit corporation or a limited liability company — but where the association is organised under that Act, § 38-33.3-306(1) requires the bylaws to comply with it, and CCIOA borrows nine of its sections by number. Where the two conflict, CCIOA controls (§ 38-33.3-319).

The trap worth knowing before you cite it. That Act contains a set of protections for “residential nonprofit corporations” — open board meetings, agendas, a right to speak, limits on executive session — at § 7-128-203(3). They read almost word for word like CCIOA § 38-33.3-308. They do not apply to your association. Section 7-121-401(33.5)(b)(I) excludes from that term “a unit owners’ association or any other entity subject to” CCIOA, “regardless of whether it was formed before, on, or after July 1, 1992.” You have those rights — from CCIOA, and that is the section to cite.

What the corporate Act uniquely gives you is a way out when the association stops functioning. Where it is “impractical or impossible” to call or conduct a meeting or obtain consent, a director, officer, delegate or member may petition the district court, which may order a meeting and dispense with any quorum or voting requirement otherwise imposed by the Act, the articles or the bylaws (§ 7-121-601). A court may also order an annual meeting that was not held (§ 7-127-103), and may dissolve the corporation or appoint a receiver where directors are deadlocked, those in control act illegally, oppressively or fraudulently, the members are deadlocked in voting power and have failed across at least two consecutive annual meeting dates to elect successors, or assets are being misapplied or wasted (§§ 7-134-301(2), 7-134-303).

What your covenants cannot prohibit.

Section 38-33.3-106.5 opens “notwithstanding any provision in the declaration, bylaws, or rules and regulations of the association to the contrary” — so whatever your documents say, an association shall not prohibit:

Flags and signs

An association may not regulate a flag, or a window or yard sign, on the basis of its subject matter, message or content, though it may bar commercial messages and set reasonable content-neutral rules on number, size and placement — and it may not prohibit the installation of a flag or flagpole outright (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(a), (1)(c)). Religious items may be displayed on an entry door or door frame subject to five listed exceptions, the practical one being a combined area of no more than thirty-six square inches (§ 106.5(1)(c.5)).

Landscaping, gardens and water

Xeriscape and drought-tolerant landscaping are protected. Guidelines are allowed, but they may not prohibit nonvegetative turf grass in the back yard, may not unreasonably require hardscape on more than twenty percent of the landscaping area, must leave an option that is at least eighty percent drought-tolerant plantings, and may not prohibit a vegetable garden in the front, back or side yard. Each association must preapprove at least three water-wise garden designs for front yards. A knowing violation exposes it to a civil action for up to $500 or actual damages, whichever is greater, after forty-five days’ written notice to cure (§ 106.5(1)(i.5)). Read the applicability tail: (1)(i.5) reaches single-family detached homes only, while the older (1)(i) reaches attached single-family homes.

Rain barrels are protected too — but only “in accordance with section 37-96.5-103”, which means no more than two barrels totalling 110 gallons, on a single-family or four-or-fewer-unit building, used outdoors on the property where collected and never for drinking or indoor use (§ 106.5(1)(j)). Reasonable aesthetic requirements on placement and appearance still apply.

Work, childcare and vehicles

A home-based business run by the owner or a resident with permission may not be prohibited, subject to reasonable rules on architectural control, parking, landscaping, noise and nuisance (§ 106.5(1)(l)); nor may a licensed family child care home — except in a community qualified as housing for older persons (§ 106.5(1)(k)(III)) — with the association required to make reasonable accommodation for fencing requirements, though it may require liability insurance naming itself as additional insured (§ 106.5(1)(k)). An emergency-service vehicle required to be available at home as a condition of employment may be parked on a street, driveway or guest space if the occupant is a volunteer firefighter or works for a primary emergency fire, law-enforcement, ambulance or EMS provider, and the vehicle is rated at 10,000 lbs or less, bears an official emblem and does not obstruct access (§ 106.5(1)(d)).

Fire, energy and accessibility

Removing vegetation to create defensible space under a written plan from the Colorado State Forest Service, a certified planner or the local fire authority cannot be prohibited (§ 106.5(1)(e)); nor can fire-hardened building materials — any provision prohibiting them was void and unenforceable as of March 12, 2024 (§ 106.5(3)) — and an association may not require cedar shakes or other flammable roofing (§ 106.5(2)). Reasonable modifications to a unit or the common elements needed to afford a person with disabilities full use and enjoyment cannot be prohibited (§ 106.5(1)(g)). And an association may not fine you for failing to water while local water restrictions are in force and you are complying with them (§ 38-33.3-302(1)(k)(II)).

Access to the common elements you pay for

An association regulating common-element use must preserve and protect owners’ ability to use and enjoy them, including during maintenance and repair, and may restrict access only to the extent and for the length of time necessary to protect safety or preserve the work. If a restriction will last more than seventy-two hours it must notify every owner with the reason, an estimated end date and a contact, and post the same notice at every physical access point (§ 38-33.3-302.5).

Renewable energy, efficiency and EV charging.

CCIOA says an association “shall not effectively prohibit renewable energy generation devices, as defined in section 38-30-168” (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1.5)). Read that carefully — CCIOA borrows only the definition. The operative rules are in § 38-30-168 itself, and they are stronger: the covenant is void and unenforceable; an aesthetic restriction survives only if it does not raise cost by more than ten percent, cut performance by more than ten percent, or require review beyond sixty days; “if an application… is not denied or returned for modifications within sixty days, it is deemed approved”; and whoever prevails on whether a cost increase is significant is entitled to reasonable attorney fees. Because it voids the covenant on its own terms, it reaches pre-1992 communities and small communities that CCIOA barely touches.

Energy efficiency measures may not be effectively prohibited either — a closed list covering shade structures marketed for reducing energy use, garage and attic fans, evaporative coolers, energy-efficient outdoor lighting, a retractable clothesline and a heat pump system (§ 38-33.3-106.7). Reasonable aesthetic provisions and bona fide safety requirements survive.

Electric vehicles get their own section. An association may not prohibit a level 1 or level 2 charging system installed at your expense in your unit, an assigned or deeded space, or a space accessible to owners generally; may not charge a placement or use fee for one in your unit, except reimbursement for the actual cost of the electricity it supplies (including any network fee) or, alternatively, a reasonable fee for access; and may not restrict parking on the ground that a vehicle is a plug-in hybrid or electric (§ 38-33.3-106.8(2)). On a limited common element space it shall consent where you meet the conditions in § 106.8(4) — design specifications, a licensed electrician, the cost of installation and restoration, and a certificate of insurance within fourteen days.

One limit runs through the first two: neither confers a right to install on property owned by another, leased without the lessor’s permission, or on a limited or general common element (§ 38-30-168(3); § 38-33.3-106.7(3)). The shared roof of a multi-unit building is a common-element question. The EV section is the exception — § 38-33.3-106.8(4) requires the association to consent on a limited common element parking space, carport or garage assigned to you, on the conditions that subsection sets.

Rental restrictions.

This is where Colorado differs sharply from states like California, and the honest answer is the useful one: CCIOA does not limit an association’s power to restrict renting or leasing. There is no rental cap, no minimum percentage, no grandfathering provision and no short-term rental rule anywhere in the Act. Article 33 goes the other way — § 38-33-106(3)(q) requires a covered condominium — residential, more than ten units, declared on or after January 1, 1976 — to state its restrictions on sale or lease, in its bylaws or its declaration (§ 38-33-106(4), (5)) “including rights of first refusal on sale and any other restraints on the free alienability of the unit”, which assumes such restrictions exist.

The real limits come from fair housing law. A “restrictive covenant” includes any specification limiting the transfer, rental or lease of housing because of a protected characteristic, or limiting rental or lease because of source of income (§ 24-34-501(4)) — and it is an unfair housing practice to honor or exercise or attempt to honor or exercise such a covenant (§ 24-34-502(1)(c)(II)). Refusing to rent, refusing to show, discriminating in terms, advertising a limitation or lying about availability because of source of income are separately unlawful (§ 24-34-502(1)(l) to (1)(p)), subject to a full exemption for a landlord with three or fewer units (§ 24-34-502(1.5)(a)) and a narrower rule relieving a landlord who owns five or fewer single-family rental homes and no more than five rental units in total from having to accept federal housing choice vouchers for those homes (§ 24-34-502(1.7)).

Two smaller provisions touch leasing. Where the declaration requires votes on specified matters to be cast by lessees rather than owners, those lessees get notice, record access and voting rights as if they were owners on those matters (§ 38-33.3-310(3)). And in some mountain communities — a county under one hundred thousand people containing a licensed ski lift, and not a declarant-controlled community — an association may not prohibit a deed restriction specifying the permissible sale price, rental rate or lease rate of a unit for affordable or workforce housing (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(h)).

Approvals, denials and deadlines.

CCIOA sets the standard rather than the procedure: decisions approving or denying an application for architectural or landscaping changes must be made in accordance with standards and procedures set out in the declaration or in duly adopted rules or bylaws, and “shall not be made arbitrarily or capriciously” (§ 38-33.3-302(3)(b)). The association must also keep records of board or committee actions approving or denying design requests (§ 38-33.3-317(1)(m)) — which is what makes an inconsistency argument provable.

Three subject areas carry hard deadlines that override the committee’s pace. A renewable energy application not denied or returned for modifications within sixty days is deemed approved, the review must be transparent, and the basis for any denial described in reasonable detail (§ 38-30-168(2)(a)(I)). Fire-hardened fencing works the same way — standards may not raise the cost by more than ten percent against other fire-hardened options, an application not denied or returned within sixty days is deemed approved, and denial “must not be arbitrary or capricious” (§ 38-33.3-106.5(3)(c)). And a water-wise garden design the association has preapproved must be treated as complying with its aesthetic guidelines, with reasonable substitute plants allowed where one in the design is unavailable (§ 38-33.3-106.5(1)(i.5)(II)).

Getting the documents.

Section 38-33.3-317(1) lists eighteen categories the association must keep — receipts and expenditures, minutes, the owner list, governing documents and responsible governance policies, three years of financial statements and seven years of tax returns, board contacts, the schedule of transfer-related fees, the most recent reserve study, current contracts and any from the previous two years, records of architectural approvals and denials, ballots and proxies for a year, and three years of general communications.

All of it is inspectable and copyable by an owner or their authorised agent. The association may require a written request describing the records with reasonable particularity at least ten days ahead — but, notwithstanding anything in the declaration or bylaws, it may not condition production on your stating a proper purpose (§ 38-33.3-317(2)(a)). It may withhold architectural drawings, deals under negotiation, privileged communications, executive-session records and other owners’ unit records (§ 317(3)); it must withhold personnel, salary and medical records and personal identification and account information (§ 317(3.5)).

The penalty is the leverage. Failure to allow inspection or copying within thirty calendar days of a written request sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, with any fee paid, makes the association liable for $50 per day from the eleventh business day, up to $500 or your actual damages, whichever is greater (§ 38-33.3-317(4.5)). Note the form requirement — the penalty attaches to a certified-mail request, not an email. Separately, § 38-33.3-209.4 requires an annual disclosure package including the budget, current assessments by unit type, financial statements and reserves, the most recent audit or review, and a list of every insurance policy with limits, deductibles and expiration dates.

The corporate Act adds a second, independent right: principal-office records on five business days’ written demand with no proper purpose required, other records on a good-faith proper-purpose showing, and only by a member of at least three months’ standing or one holding at least five percent of the voting power, and a right that “may not be abolished or limited by the articles of incorporation or bylaws” (§ 7-136-102). Its remedy is different — if a court then orders inspection it shall award your costs including reasonable counsel fees unless the corporation proves it refused in good faith because it had a reasonable basis for doubt about your right (§ 7-136-104).

Open meetings and executive session.

Members meet at least annually, and twenty percent of the votes — or any lower percentage in the bylaws — can call a special meeting. Notice goes out not less than ten nor more than fifty days ahead, must be physically posted where feasible in addition to any electronic notice, and must state the agenda including any proposed amendment, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove an officer or board member (§ 38-33.3-308(1)).

Board meetings are open. All regular and special meetings of the board or any committee are open to every owner or a designated representative, and agendas must be reasonably available (§ 308(2)(a), (2.5)(a)). Before the board votes on an issue, owners must be permitted to speak on it, subject to reasonable time limits, and where views are opposed the board shall provide for a reasonable number of speakers on each side (§ 308(2.5)(b)).

Executive session is limited to six subjects — employee and manager matters; consultation with counsel on pending or imminent proceedings or privileged matters; investigations of possible criminal misconduct; matters protected from disclosure by law; anything whose disclosure would be an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy, including a disciplinary hearing or delinquency referral; and review of communications from counsel. The chair must announce which subject before going in, no rule may be adopted in executive session, and the minutes must record that one was held and its general subject (§ 308(3) to (7)). An owner who is the subject of a disciplinary hearing or delinquency referral may request and receive the results of any vote taken (§ 308(4)(e)).

Voting, quorums and removing directors.

Quorum is low by design — unless the bylaws say otherwise, twenty percent of the votes present in person or by proxy at the start, or ten percent in associations with more than a thousand owners (§ 38-33.3-309(1)). Contested board elections are by secret ballot, ballots are counted by a neutral third party or by volunteer owners who are neither board members nor candidates, and results are reported without identifying who voted how; twenty percent of owners present or represented by proxy can force a secret ballot on any other matter where a quorum exists (§ 38-33.3-310(1)(b)). A proxy terminates eleven months after its date unless it says sooner, and is void if undated (§ 310(2)(b)).

Removing a director. Notwithstanding anything in the declaration or bylaws, sixty-seven percent of those present and entitled to vote at a meeting with a quorum may remove any board member with or without cause — other than one appointed by the declarant or elected by class vote (§ 38-33.3-303(8)). The corporate Act offers a different route: voting members may remove a director they elected with or without cause unless the bylaws require cause, at a meeting called for that purpose with the notice saying so (§ 7-128-108).

Conflicts of interest. Section 38-33.3-310.5 imports § 7-128-501 wholesale, substituting “association” for “corporation” and extending “officer” to reach a managing agent, attorney or accountant the board delegates to. That section defines a conflicting interest transaction broadly enough to catch a deal with an entity in which a director has a financial interest, or with a party related to a director, and bars corporate loans to directors or officers outright, with any assenting director personally liable for the amount (§ 7-128-501(2)).

Budgets, dues and the veto most owners never use.

Assessments are made at least annually, based on a budget adopted at least annually (§ 38-33.3-315(1)), and allocated as the declaration provides (§ 315(2)). No owner may escape liability by waiving use of the common elements or abandoning the unit (§ 315(6)). Past-due assessments bear interest at a rate the association sets, not to exceed eight percent per year (§ 315(2)) — the same ceiling § 38-33.3-209.5(8)(a) applies to unpaid fines and fees.

The budget veto. Within ninety days of adopting a proposed budget the board must deliver a summary to all owners — by mail, other delivery, or posting on the association’s website — and set a meeting to consider it. Unless the declaration requires more, the budget does not need owner approval and is deemed approved unless vetoed at that meeting by a majority of all unit owners — though that deemed-approval rule does not apply at all in a community formed before July 1, 1992 whose declaration caps assessments or annual budget increases (§ 303(4)(a)(II)(B)), whether or not a quorum is present; if vetoed, the last non-vetoed budget continues (§ 38-33.3-303(4)(a)).

Audits are conditional. An audit is required only where the association has annual revenues or expenditures of at least $250,000 and owners of at least one-third of the units request one; a review is required whenever one-third request it, and the audit or review must be made available on request to any owner beginning no later than thirty days after it is completed — that is the association’s deadline to produce it, not a window in which you must ask (§ 38-33.3-303(4)(b)(IV)). Unless the declaration says otherwise, surplus funds go back to owners or reduce future assessments (§ 38-33.3-314).

Before you buy or sell. On written request delivered personally or by certified mail to the association’s registered agent, it must furnish a written statement of unpaid assessments within fourteen calendar days, binding on the association, the board and every owner — and if none is furnished, “the association shall have no right to assert a lien upon the unit for unpaid assessments which were due as of the date of the request” (§ 38-33.3-316(8)). It may not charge a fee for telling you what you owe (§ 209.5(8)(b)).

Fines, cure periods and the $500 ceiling.

This is the part of Colorado law most often out of date in older summaries. An association may not impose late fees or covenant fines on a daily basis (§ 38-33.3-209.5(1.7)(b)(I)).

Ordinary violations. Written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, giving thirty days to cure. Only after an inspection confirms no cure may a fine issue — and total fines for that violation may not exceed $500. The association must grant two consecutive thirty-day cure periods before it may take legal action (§ 209.5(1.7)(b)(III)).

Violations the association reasonably determines threaten public safety or health. Written notice giving seventy-two hours; if an inspection then shows no cure, fines may be imposed every other day and legal action may follow (§ 209.5(1.7)(b)(II)).

Proving the cure. If you notify the association and include visual evidence, the violation is deemed cured on the date you sent the notice. Without it, the association must inspect as soon as practicable; hearing nothing, it must inspect within seven days of the cure period ending (§ 209.5(1.7)(b)(IV), (V)). Once you cure it must notify you — in English and in any language you have said you prefer — that no further fines will follow and state any outstanding balance (§ 209.5(1.7)(b)(VI)).

Underneath all of it is a due-process floor. Whatever your documents say, an association may not fine any owner unless it has adopted and follows a written fining policy including a fair and impartial fact-finding process guaranteeing notice and an opportunity to be heard before an impartial decision maker — someone with no direct personal or financial interest in the outcome (§ 209.5(2)). If that process finds you not responsible, the association shall not allocate its costs or attorney fees to your account (§ 209.5(3)). And any action to enforce a building restriction, or compel removal of an improvement, must begin within one year of when the plaintiff knew or should have known of the violation (§ 38-33.3-123(2)).

When the association can take your home.

An association that is incorporated or organized as a limited liability company has a statutory lien on a unit for assessments and fines, and recording the declaration is itself notice and perfection — no separate claim of lien is filed (§ 38-33.3-316(1)(a), (4)). But read the first subsection: fees, charges, late charges, capped attorney fees, fines and interest may be secured by the lien yet are “not subject to a foreclosure action under this article 33.3.” The lien is prior to a first mortgage to the extent of six months’ common expense assessments (§ 316(2)(b)(I)) and is extinguished unless enforcement begins within six years (§ 316(5)).

Foreclosure generally requires a money judgment first. Under § 38-33.3-316(10.5) the association must have obtained a personal judgment — or have tried and been prevented by the owner’s death or incapacity, been unable to serve within 180 days despite reasonable attempts, or be dealing with the owner’s bankruptcy. That protection applies exclusively to a unit occupied by its individual owner as a principal residence, and to workforce housing (§ 316(10.6)).

Two further conditions, both checkable. The balance must equal or exceed six months of common expense assessments, and the board must have formally resolved, by a recorded vote, to authorise action against that specific unit. That duty cannot be delegated, and “any legal action filed without evidence of the recorded vote authorizing the action must be dismissed” — with no fees or costs from the dismissed action assessable against you (§ 316(11)(a)). And an association may not foreclose at all where the debt consists only of fines, or only of collection costs and attorney fees tied to fines (§ 209.5(8)(c)).

Three separate thirty-day notices come first — your right to credit counselling (§ 316(10.3)), your right to mediate before litigation (§ 316(10.7)), and the association’s intent to foreclose, sent by certified mail plus two other means, in your preferred language, spelling out that you could lose some or all of your equity (§ 316(10.8)). Within five business days of filing, the association must give written and electronic notice of your right to cure and your right to move to stay the sale — but read who gets it: the notice runs to all lienholders identified in the property records, not to you (§ 316(11.2)). The stay motion is yours to file, and nobody is required to tell you so.

The stay is the provision worth knowing. After the association files but before the auction, you or your designated representative may move the court to stay the sale on notice that you intend to list the unit yourself at fair market value — or at a price still exceeding all liens and advanced costs. The stay runs nine months, extendable for good cause, proceeds are escrowed and distributed by lien priority, and the buyer takes title free and clear of encumbrances relating to the foreclosure filing (C.R.S. § 38-38-109.5). In practice that is what lets an owner sell into the open market and keep the equity.

And nobody on the inside may buy the house. A foreclosed unit may not be purchased by a board member, an employee of the management company or law firm, an immediate family member of any of them, or the management company itself — reaching back five years and extending to affiliated entities (§ 38-33.3-316(12)).

Payment plans, and what changes when a collector takes over.

Before referring your account out, the association must first contact you — by the certified-mail notice of delinquency plus two of a phone call, a text or an email — regular mail only if you have given the association none of those — and keep a record of it (§ 38-33.3-209.5(1.7)(a)(I)). It may refer the account to a collection agency or attorney only after a majority of the board votes to do so in a recorded vote; a management company cannot make that call alone (§ 209.5(1.7)(a)(II)). Every month, any owner carrying a balance must be sent an itemised list of all assessments, fines, fees and charges owed (§ 209.5(1.7)(c)).

The payment plan is a right. The association — or anyone holding or assigned its debt — must make a good-faith effort to coordinate one, and it must let you pay off the deficiency in equal installments over at least eighteen months (§ 38-33.3-316.3(1), (2)). While you comply with it, the association may not foreclose (§ 316.3(3.5)). Where you owe both assessments and fines, any payment is applied to the assessments first (§ 316.3(4)) — which matters, because only assessments support a foreclosure. If the association has violated any foreclosure law you have five years to sue for up to $25,000 plus costs and fees (§ 316.3(5)).

Once the file leaves the association, a second statute switches on. The Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not reach an association collecting its own assessments in its own name (§ 5-16-103(3)(b)(I)) — but it does reach one collecting under a borrowed name (§ 5-16-103(3)(c)), an outside management company regularly collecting debts owed to another (§ 5-16-103(3)(a)(II)(A)), the association’s collections attorney (§ 5-16-103(3)(e)(I)), and anyone who bought the debt (§§ 5-16-103(8.5), 5-16-134.5).

From that firm you are owed a validation notice within five days stating the amount and the creditor, and telling you that a written dispute within thirty days obliges it to obtain verification or a judgment and mail it to you — and that it “shall cease collection” until it does (§ 5-16-109). It may not contact you outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., once it knows you have a lawyer, or at work where the employer forbids it; it may not discuss the debt with your neighbours or your tenants (§ 5-16-105). It may not collect “any amount… unless… expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law” (§ 5-16-108(1)(a)). And it owes you actual damages, up to $1,000 more, and your costs and reasonable attorney fees if it breaks the rules — within one year, and with the risk that an unsuccessful claim leaves you liable for its costs and fees (§ 5-16-113).

One cap that does not apply to you. Section 5-16-111.5’s eighteen percent ceiling on fees and costs of collection governs only debt “due to the state, or due to any political subdivision within the state.” An association is neither. Your ceiling is CCIOA § 38-33.3-123.

Discrimination, accommodations and service animals.

The provision aimed squarely at associations is § 24-34-502(1)(c)(II): it is an unfair housing practice “to honor or exercise or attempt to honor or exercise any restrictive covenant pertaining to housing.” A discriminatory covenant is not merely unenforceable — enforcing it is a separate unlawful act. Section 24-34-502(1)(e) adds that it is unlawful to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce an unfair housing practice, to retaliate, or to “coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of” a protected right.

Disability duties run on two tracks at once. Section 24-34-502.2(2) defines discrimination to include refusing to permit reasonable modifications necessary to afford full enjoyment of the premises, and refusing reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Independently, CCIOA § 38-33.3-106.5(1)(g) forbids an association prohibiting reasonable modifications. A refusal is exposed under both. A person with a disability may sue for a compliance order plus actual damages or a statutory fine of $3,500 per violation, with attorney fees and costs (§ 24-34-802(2), (3)).

Service animals in housing, at no extra charge — extending to a service animal in training and its trainer, with the handler liable for damage the animal causes and exempt from licensing fees (§ 24-34-803).

The 55-and-over exemption has conditions an association must actually meet. Familial status is protected, but not in “housing for older persons” — which requires published policies demonstrating the intent, at least eighty percent of occupied units with an occupant fifty-five or older, and compliance with the commission’s verification-of-occupancy rules (§ 24-34-502(7)(b)). Personal immunity for relying on the exemption requires no actual knowledge of ineligibility and a formal written statement of compliance from the owner or operator — a verbal assurance from the board will not do (§ 24-34-502(7)(d)).

Three different deadlines, and missing one bars the charge. A housing charge must be filed with the commission within one year (§ 24-34-504(1)). A public accommodation charge: sixty days (§ 24-34-604). A discriminatory advertising charge: sixty days (§ 24-34-706). The private lawsuit runs separately — two years, in “an appropriate United States district court or state district court”, excluding any time an administrative proceeding was pending, and available whether or not a charge was ever filed (§ 24-34-505.6(1) to (3)).

Suing the builder.

Your board cannot simply file. Before instituting a construction defect action it must mail notice to every owner and to each construction professional, hold a meeting ten to fifteen days later at which the builder may speak, make ten specific written disclosures — including the fee arrangement and the risk that owners may end up paying the other side’s costs — and then obtain the approval of owners holding at least sixty-five percent of the votes, with declarant-affiliated, non-responsive and certain lender votes excluded. The whole process is capped at ninety days, during which limitation and repose periods are tolled, and any net recovery must be used first to repair the defect (§ 38-33.3-303.5). This section applies to every Colorado community regardless of creation date, for events occurring on or after September 1, 2017 (§ 38-33.3-117(1.9)).

Then the Construction Defect Action Reform Act takes over, and it applies to an individual owner’s claim as much as an association’s. A written notice of claim must go by certified mail or personal service seventy-five days before filing — ninety for commercial property. The builder may inspect within thirty days, and may offer to settle or remedy within thirty days after that; an offer is deemed rejected unless accepted in writing within fifteen days (§ 13-20-803.5). Filing without complying does not end the case — it stays it until you comply, and the limitation clock is tolled until sixty days after the process completes (§§ 13-20-803.5(9), 13-20-805).

Two things worth knowing before budgeting a claim. By the earlier of an offer or sixty days after actual notice, the builder must disclose plans, specifications, soil reports, maintenance recommendations, the name and scope of work of every professional involved and every related insurance policy — and failing to identify those professionals bars blaming them as nonparties at fault later (§ 13-20-803.5(3.5)). And “actual damages” is the lesser of fair market value without the defect, replacement cost, or reasonable cost to repair, plus relocation and certain other costs — with recovery capped at that figure (§§ 13-20-802.5(2), 13-20-803.5(12)).

Fees, small claims, mediation and arbitration.

Attorney fees are capped, and the cap cuts one way. An association may seek reimbursement of collection costs and reasonable attorney fees — and only the attorney fees are capped — at $5,000 or fifty percent of the assessments and money owed for unpaid assessments (§ 123(1)(a)(II)), or fifty percent of the actual costs incurred for any other non-compliance (§ 123(1)(b)(II)), whichever is less. Actual collection costs are not capped at all. In a civil action the court shall award fees and costs to the prevailing party, in an action to collect money owed, subject to the same ceiling against an owner unless it finds you were financially, physically and reasonably able to comply but willfully did not (§ 123(1)(c)). Since August 1, 2025 those caps adjust annually for inflation (§ 123(1)(g)).

If you win because you did not commit the violation, the asymmetry flips. The court shall award you fees and costs, shall not award any to the association, and the association is precluded from allocating its own to your account (§ 123(1)(d)). You are also never deemed to have confessed judgment to fees or collection costs (§ 123(1)(e)).

Small claims court was rewritten for these disputes. It has jurisdiction over assessment, fine and fee disputes up to $7,500 (§ 38-33.3-209.5(9); § 13-6-403(1)(b)(I)) and to enforce a restrictive covenant on residential property where the cost of compliance stays under that figure. Crucially, although small claims courts have no injunctive jurisdiction, enforcing an association’s governing documents “and including actions seeking declaratory relief” is an express exception (§ 13-6-403(2)(h)). No district court filing required — and it is built to be used without a lawyer: an individual represents themselves, an association appears through an active member or full-time employee, and a nonprofit corporation through “a duly elected nonattorney officer or an employee” (§ 13-6-407(2)(a)). If an attorney does properly appear, you may bring counsel too (§ 13-6-407(4)), and an assignee who is not a real party to the transaction cannot commence the action at all (§ 13-6-407(1)).

Mediation. Every association was required to adopt a written policy for handling disputes with owners and to give any owner a copy on request (§ 38-33.3-124(1)(b)) — ask for it first. Any controversy may be submitted to mediation by agreement, and an agreement reached may be presented to a court as a stipulation (§ 124(2)). Colorado’s Dispute Resolution Act applies to all mediation conducted in the state, so its confidentiality rule reaches a private mediation — but note that a fully executed final agreement is not a “mediation communication” and so is not confidential by default, and that no party may be denied the right to proceed in court for failing to pay the mediator (§§ 13-22-302(2.5), 13-22-311(4), 13-22-312).

Arbitration. A declaration may send specified disputes to binding arbitration (§ 38-33.3-124(3)). If yours does, a set of protections cannot be waived or varied before a controversy arises — among them the right to be represented by a lawyer and the arbitrator’s duty to disclose (§§ 13-22-204(2), 13-22-212, 13-22-216) — and the right to move to vacate an award cannot be waived by agreement (§ 13-22-204(3)(a)) — the only carve-out, at § 204(3)(b), is for governmental parties and “any commercial entity”, a phrase the statute never defines. A neutral arbitrator who fails to disclose a known, direct and material interest, or a known, existing and substantial relationship with a party, is presumed to act with evident partiality (§ 13-22-212(5)). A motion to vacate must be filed within ninety-one days (§ 13-22-223(2)).

Two filings, two offices, two consequences.

The Division of Real Estate. Every association must register annually, giving its name, its manager or designated agent, its address and contact details and its unit count (§ 38-33.3-401(2)). While it is unregistered or expired, its right to impose or enforce a § 316 assessment lien, or to pursue any § 123 remedy, is suspended — a lien already recorded survives, but a pending enforcement proceeding is suspended and the time limit tolled (§ 401(3)). Registration also now requires reporting how many owners were six or more months delinquent, how many judgments were obtained, how many payment plans entered, and how many foreclosures filed (§ 401(3.2)).

The Secretary of State. Separately, the corporation files a periodic report — entity name, jurisdiction, registered agent and principal office, current as of delivery (§§ 7-136-107, 7-90-501). A lapse there is visible in the public record: after four hundred days of delinquency the entity name itself “shall include the word ‘delinquent’” with the date, and a dissolved entity’s name must include “dissolved” (§§ 7-90-601.6, 7-90-601.5). A search of the Secretary of State’s business records tells you at a glance whether the corporation collecting your assessments is in good standing. A dissolved association can usually be reinstated, with existence deemed to have “continued without interruption” (§§ 7-90-1001 to 7-90-1005).

Where to get help. The HOA Information and Resource Center, inside the Division of Real Estate, is the free resource CCIOA’s delinquency and pre-foreclosure notices are required to point you toward (§ 38-33.3-209.5(5)(a)(V)(E); § 12-10-801). Its information officer must be independent of the industry, publishes reference material on open meetings, executive sessions, board removal, owners’ right to speak and collections, and tracks inquiries and complaints and reports them annually.

Four things people expect to find, and will not.

These are absences we checked rather than assumed — each verified by searching the full text of every section hosted here, not inferred from a statute’s silence.

There is no statutory limit on rental restrictions

CCIOA contains no rental cap, no minimum percentage, no grandfathering rule and no short-term rental provision. Article 33 assumes the opposite — § 38-33-106(3)(q) requires a covered condominium — residential, more than ten units, declared on or after January 1, 1976 — to state its restrictions on sale or lease, in its bylaws or its declaration, including rights of first refusal. The limits that do exist come from fair housing law: see rentals above.

There is no pet provision

Neither CCIOA nor the Condominium Ownership Act says anything about pets or animals. Your pet rules come from your declaration. The one place animals appear in Colorado law for these purposes is fair housing — a service animal in housing at no extra charge (§ 24-34-803), and, where an assistance animal is necessary, the general reasonable-accommodation duty at § 24-34-502.2(2)(b) — Colorado addresses assistance animals in housing directly at § 24-34-309(2). Those are disability rights, not pet rights.

There is no smoking provision

Neither statute addresses smoking in units or common elements. It is a declaration and rulemaking question, subject to the ordinary limits — adopted under the association’s rulemaking power (§ 38-33.3-302(1)(a)) and enforced through the fine procedure at § 38-33.3-209.5.

Community association managers are not licensed

Colorado had a manager licensing regime and repealed it. Section 38-33.3-402, “Manager licensing — condition precedent for enforcement of contract terms,” was repealed effective June 30, 2020. It is kept on the CCIOA page with its repeal history so an older citation still resolves. A manager acting for your association is still bound by CCIOA to the same extent the association is (§ 38-33.3-302(3)(a)), may not refer a delinquent account without a recorded board vote (§ 209.5(1.7)(a)(II)), and is reached by the conflict-of-interest standard (§ 38-33.3-310.5).