One of the big obstacles to housing affordability in Colorado has been the reluctance of developers to build condominiums. Colorado has had a very litigation-friendly environment relative to condo construction defects. A simple majority of a condominium association’s board of directors could file a lawsuit against a developer for construction-related defects.
That changed during the recent legislative session with the passage of House Bill 1279, which requires a majority of condo owners to approve any legal action.
Even with that change, it was unclear whether developers would be more willing to build more condos. That’s because a majority of condo owners could still vote to take a developer straight to court rather than go through arbitration.
Then on June 5 that changed when the Colorado Supreme Court upheld the right of condominium developers to require disputes go to binding arbitration as an alternative to going into court.
Between passage of HB 1279 and the court ruling, we should now begin to see more condominium projects being proposed. That’s good news in that condos can be a more affordable path to home ownership for many people. As things now stand, the percentage of condo housing units in Colorado cities is far below the average in other cities around the nation.