Colorado SB 15-177 UPDATE: Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee Refers Construction Defect Reform Bill to Full Senate

On March 18^th, following a lengthy hearing with testimony and questioning for and against Senate Bill 15-177, the Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee voted 6 to 2 to refer the bill, with new amendments, to the full Senate.

While the main points of the bill remain strongly intact (check here for Senate Bill 177’s particulars), bill sponsors Senators Scheffel and Ulibarri offered four amendments, designed to bring additional compromise and clarity to the bill. The committee ultimately adopted these amendments, described below.

Amendment 16 removed a prior prohibition in the bill that would have prevented attorneys from assisting in the preparation of the notice required to be provided to all homeowners before the commencement of a construction defect claim.  Amendment 19 complemented 16 by providing further clarification regarding the contents and specificities required in said notice, including a disclosure of projected attorneys’ fees, costs, duration, and financial impact of pursuing construction defect claims. Amendment 17 permitted homeowners to approve the pursuit of construction defect claims through written consent.  Lastly, Amendment 18 provided clarification regarding the bill’s requirement that mediators and arbitrators be selected and approved through mutual agreement of the parties.

Senators opposing the bill sought to include several less clear amendments, including one which supported a homeowner’s purported “right” to a jury trial (a belief that actually runs contrary to Colorado’s and the United States’ Constitutions).  Although none of the opponents’ amendments were adopted, significant hurdles still remain for SB 177 on the Senate floor and beyond.  We will continue to monitor the progress and update you accordingly. 

For additional information regarding Colorado construction litigation, please contact David M. McLain at (303) 987-9813 or by e-mail at mclain@hhmrlaw.com.

Press Release From the Colorado State Senate Regarding Senate Bill 91's Passage Out of Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2015

Contact: Sean Paige
Phone: (719) 337-0355

Construction Defect Fixes Advance in the Senate

Lawmakers last night took the first bipartisan step toward addressing Colorado’s affordable housing and starter home crunch, when the Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee passed Senate Bill 177, the so-called construction defect reform law, by a 6 to 2 vote.

The bill aims to clear-away barriers and disincentives to affordable and multi-family home construction in Colorado, by providing pathways to dispute resolution that don’t necessarily end in court. It does not prevent or discourage legal action by individual homeowners who choose that course of action. An ever-present threat of lawsuits has been cited by homebuilders and local officials as a major contributor to Colorado’s affordable housing crunch.

“This bipartisan bill is the end result of extensive study and deliberation by stakeholders, and between members of both parties, who share a common interest in removing barriers to affordable and multi-family housing construction in Colorado,” said Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel (R-Douglas County) after the bill’s passage. “The hands-on involvement of Sen. Jessie Ulibarri and other Democrats shows that this represents a reasonable modification of Colorado’s counterproductive construction defect laws.”

“Colorado’s economy is dependent on a strong housing market that includes diverse and attainable options. Despite strong demand, communities across Colorado face a growing shortage of one of the most critical options – condos and town homes. This shortage is due in part to concerns about the inconsistencies of how disputes are resolved that involve homeowners and developers,” said Sen. Jessie Ulibarri (D-Westminster). “Senate Bill 177 ensures that construction issues within a condo or town home community are addressed quickly and fairly for individual homeowners, while at the same time respecting each member of the condo community.”

Currently, if a handful of unit owners in a condo, apartment, or other multi-family housing community notice construction defects, the entire Homeowners Association can take legal action against the builder, dragging other unit owners, who may not have a problem, into a costly or risky legal battle that leaves their property in a lengthy state of limbo. This bill, if it becomes law, will require associations to get majority approval before taking such actions. It also creates easier and speedier methods for dispute resolution, short of taking the matter to court.

“If we want to keep Colorado an attractive place to live and work, we can’t be pricing people of modest means out of the housing with laws that make building those starter homes harder to find,” added Senate President Bill Cadman. “This bipartisan bill, if we can get it passed, will help make the dream a home ownership a little easier for Coloradans to achieve.”

The bill next will be heard by the entire Senate. Passage means it will move to the House of Representatives for action.

SB-177 isn’t the only construction defect-related bill being weighed by lawmakers at the moment. Senate Bill 91, authored by Sen. Ray Scott of Grand Junction, passed the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday, further bolstering prospects that construction defect reform could happen this session.

The bill would help reduce homebuilder uncertainty by shortening by two years the period of time in which owners of their homes can request a fix. That still gives homeowners a six-year window in which to detect and report a potential problem, but doesn’t leave builders in the prolonged period of uncertainly they face now.

“This bill still offers homeowners plenty of protection against construction defects, but helps reduce some of the prolonged uncertainty and risk that now discourages the construction of multi-unit projects,” said Scott. “It’s hard for companies to offer affordable housing when the state’s flawed construction defect laws just add to the delays, uncertainties and costly risks these builders already face.”

SB-91 now moves to the Senate as a whole for debate.

Senate Bill 15-091 Passes Out of the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee

As previously reported, Senator Scott's SB 91, as originally introduced, would have reduced Colorado's statute of repose for construction defect actions from eight years to four years.  Yesterday, the Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee heard Senate Bill 91 and, before passing the bill on a party line vote sending it back to the full Senate for consideration, made two substantive amendments. By one amendment, the Committee excluded any multi-family developments. The second amendment was to reduce the statute of repose from six years, currently on the books, to five years plus one more if the defect becomes manifest in the fifth year. 

If passed in its current form, the bill would only apply to single family homes and, with respect thereto, would reduce the statute of repose for construction defect claims from six years, plus two more for defects which become manifest in years five or six, to five years, plus one more for defects which become manifest in the fifth year.  

The First Hearing on SB 177 Has Been Scheduled - Call to Action!

SB177 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee (Room 271) on Wednesday, March 18^th, at 1:30 p.m.  

Please take a moment to urge your State Legislators to SUPPORT SENATE BILL 177 and help fix the defect in Colorado’s construction law.

A big hurdle to building more entry-level housing is a defect in state law that exposes homebuilders and homeowners to a high risk of expensive, time-consuming litigation. It is referred to as the construction defects law. It has created a climate that puts the chill on new construction of affordable, multi-family housing, scaring off investment in the affordable-housing market. 

Senate Bill 177, sponsored by Senators Scheffel & Ulibarri and Representatives DelGrosso & Singer, would begin to fix this problem and foster conditions that encourage builders to construct more affordable housing, provide increased homeownership opportunities for all Coloradans and stimulate our state's economy.

Click Here to Take Action

Another Municipality Takes Action to Address the Lack of Condominiums Being Built in its Jurisdiction

     

Whether you are in the market to downsize or are looking to be a first time home buyer, you have likely noticed that your housing options in Colorado have become extremely limited over the course of the last several years.  If you are a contractor and have worked on multi-family projects in the recent past, you know why the housing options are limited in the State of Colorado.  In the past two years, there have been studies commissioned and articles published in local periodicals investigating the extreme slowdown seen in the construction of owner-occupied multi-family housing, namely condominiums and townhomes.  Those of us involved in and with the construction industry are intimately familiar with the lengthy, complicated, and incredibly expensive construction defect litigation that has plagued multi-family construction in the State of Colorado and brought it to a virtual halt.

     

And now, local municipalities and elected officials are starting to take notice.  Most recently, the City of Lone Tree passed Ordinance No. 15-01, to become effective on April 1, 2015.  According to the City of Lone Tree, Ordinance No. 15-01 is “aimed at encouraging the development of owner-occupied, multi-family residential projects through the adoption of regulations designed to balance the risk and exposure to builders and developers of such projects, while still protecting homeowners from legitimate construction defect claims.” 

The Lone Tree ordinance functions very similarly to the current state laws concerning construction defects.  Under the Lone Tree ordinance, a homeowner who discovers a construction defect must send written notice of the defect via certified mail or personal delivery to the responsible builder, contractor, or design professional.  The homeowner is required to provide dates and times within 28 days for the builder to access the property for inspection and/or testing purposes.  The builder is required to acknowledge receipt of the notice within 14 days, or the protections of the ordinance do not apply, and the homeowner may file suit.  Similar to the state law, the builder may offer to repair the defect within 30 days after the initial inspection, or 28 days after notice of the claim.  Under the Lone Tree ordinance, however, the homeowner may deliver a written objection to the builder’s offer to repair “if the claimant believes in good faith that the proposed repairs will not remedy the alleged defect.”  The builder is then allowed ten days within which to modify the repair proposal in accordance with the homeowner’s objections or propose alternatives.  The Lone Tree ordinance precludes a builder from making any repairs while an objection is pending.  A homeowner may still file a lawsuit if not satisfied by the repairs or the offer of repairs. 

Under the Lone Tree ordinance, a condominium owners association must obtain the written consent of 51% of the homeowners to commence legal action, and such consent must be obtained within 60 days after notice of the alleged defect is sent to the builder.  The ordinance also touches on amendment or deletion of the alternative dispute resolution provisions typically found in the homeowners association’s governing documents.  The ordinance provides that any subsequent amendment to the declaration that removes or amends the arbitration or mediation requirement is not effective for any construction defect claim based on an act or omission already discovered.            

The City of Lone Tree should be applauded for having the courage to take action to address the lack of owner-occupied condominium units, particularly in its transit-oriented zones around light rail stations.  For additional information regarding Colorado construction litigation, please contact David M. McLain at (303) 987-9813 or by e-mail at mclain@hhmrlaw.com.