Fort Collins, CO HOA Rules: HOA Disputes (2026)
Key Facts
- Applies to
- common interest communities created on/after 7-1-2016
- Consent required
- majority of votes, excluding declarant's votes
- Notice timing
- 60+ days before CDARA service, § 13-20-803.5
- Disclosures required
- 7 items: deadline, cost, fees, financing risk
- Governing definitions
- Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, Title 38
Summary
Before a Fort Collins condo association can sue over construction defects, § 5-353 forces its board to get majority owner consent and give sixty days' advance notice spelling out the litigation's costs, odds, and risks to financing and property values.
Majority consent of unit owners required. A construction defect claim is not authorized unless the executive board of an association that includes residential units obtains the signed, written consent from owners, other than the declarant, of units to which at least a majority of the total votes, excluding votes allocated to units owned by the declarant, in the association are allocated, which written consent acknowledges that the owner has received the notice required under § 38-33.3-303.5, C.R.S., including the additional information set forth in Subsection (a) above, and approves of the executive board's proposed action.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 155 | Transitional Land Use Code (for project before May 17, 2024): Supplement 61 | Traffic Code: Supplement 27).
Full Breakdown
Article VIII of Chapter 5 (Ord. No. 030, 2016) governs construction defect claims for common interest communities with residential units created in Fort Collins on or after July 1, 2016. with seven specific disclosures: the statute of limitations deadline, the board's expected recovery range, any contingency-fee percentage and attorney arrangement, estimated litigation costs, the risk of paying the association's own and the defendant's fees if the claim fails, the possibility owners must pay for repairs themselves if there is no recovery, and the risk that affected units may be harder to sell, refinance, or insure while the claim is pending.
S. Subsection (c) then conditions the claim itself on majority buy-in: the board must obtain signed written consent from owners holding at least a majority of the association's votes (excluding the declarant's votes), acknowledging receipt of the expanded notice and approving the board's proposed action.
Violations & Fines
Section 5-353 does not itself set a fine; instead, obtaining a majority vote and providing the sixty-day disclosure notice are conditions precedent to filing suit, meaning a claim brought without them is not authorized under this Article. Separately, § 5-352(a) bars using any violation of Chapter 5's building regulations to prove a construction defect claim unless it actually caused property damage, loss of use, bodily injury or death, or a safety risk, and § 5-352(b) forbids basing a claim on strict liability or negligence per se.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Fort Collins HOA board sue a builder over defects without a vote?
What must the notice to owners include before an HOA files a defect claim?
How far in advance must Fort Collins HOA owners get this notice?
Sources & Official References
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