Should all homeowners associations be legally dissolved?

February 14, 2005

By Jan Jackson (View author info)

The following is a response to the Colorado Springs Gazette editor who wrote the following in the Gazette's Opinion column. He should be taken to the woodshed and given a good "talking to" about what homeowners associations are REALLY all about . My comments are in the blue brackets in the column's text below.

An Opinion - Colorado Springs Gazette editor
Feb. 11, 2005
Our View - Friday

Guilt by association

State should butt out of covenant conflicts

[Perhaps if the state hadn't butted IN to the way Colorado's homeowners want to live by enacting the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (CCIOA), the state wouldn't now be in a position of defending the indefensible, and widespread voter unhappiness with the way our state legislators do business for We The People.

That unhappiness (actually widespread anger) has resulted in We the People who are ready to throw a good many of them out on THEIR butts in order to stop the special interest groups (some of which are: the developers, the building industry, and all of the lawyers who protect [I]THEIR[/I] butts) from destroying this state.]

We, too, have heard the same kind of homeowner's association horror stories presented to the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday. Panel members are weighing the merits of Senate Bill 100, authored by Sen. Bob Hagedorn, D-Aurora, that would water down the power associations exercise over property owners, prevent associations from banning displays of the American flag and ensure that homeowners are made aware of association rules.

[Water down? Not hardly! What it WILL do, if it isn't gutted by the CAI (Community Associations Institute) attorneys/lobbyists, is give the HOA/CIC homeowner back his right to live in his own private property the way he wants to live. Under CCIOA, the state let loose a fascist monster that is devouring HOA/CIC homeowners -- socially, economically and ecologically.]

But we don't think these are matters that demand the Legislature's or state's intervention. There's no question that some associations go too far in dictating decisions best left to property owners. Their occasional bans on the flying of American flags or other forms of free expression are hard to stomach. But membership in such associations is voluntary.

[Not any more! Read CCIOA ... ALL of it! Then take a good look around you. Do you see any new housing developments that are NOT HOAs, CICs, or something like them?]

Members can waive their speech or property rights if they choose to.

[No homeowner would KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY do such a thing. The homeowner in El Paso County/Colorado Springs waives his private property rights because he HAS to. HE HAS NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER!]

And there are at least four remedies already available to people who find themselves living under such petty tyrannies.

First, Coloradans can and should take the time to research any association rules or dues before buying into a development with covenants. Just as you wouldn't purchase a home without a thorough mechanical and structural inspection, you shouldn't buy one without knowing all you can about any association obligations that are part of the package.

[I would agree wholheartedly with that. But, I repeat, EL PASO COUNTY HOMEOWNERS/WORKERS HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER, EVEN IF THEY ARE FULLY AWARE OF WHAT THEY'RE MOVING INTO. The only choice they have is to LIVE OUTSIDE OF EL PASO COUNTY and commute many hours a day to get to and from their workplace.]

That just seems like common sense to us.

[That's not "common sense." What that is is mouthing the lies of the power-and-money seekers, i.e., venal local politicians, developers, and all their ilk, who care nothing about the residents of El Paso County. What they care about -- and ALL they care about, is how much power and money they can get, and how quickly can they get it.]

The vast majority of home shoppers already do it and enter into such agreements with their eyes wide open. And it's not the state's duty to intervene on behalf of the tiny minority of homebuyers who don't look before they leap, or move in and only then object to rules they understood in advance.

[I repeat, the state should have stayed out of the way homeowners want to live their lives in their communities in the first place. The only reason they enacted CCIOA, as far as any intelligent and rational person can tell, was to MANDATE the way Coloradans live their lives in their own homes and communities. The word that fits that kind of political thinking is usually called "fascism."]

Second, people can choose to buy somewhere without an association, or somewhere with an association that lays down more reasonable ground rules.

[As all HOA/CIC homeowners know, they are only one vote away from UNreasonable "ground rules" in their associations. What that means is that in any homeowners association, it's just a matter of time before they will be ruled by a dictatorial HOA board of directors. In HOAs, the boards of directors are the "bad guys." They've even been called "Little Hitlers."]

Third, people can rally association members to re-write the covenants, get elected to the board themselves or oust board members who are extreme or heavy-handed in enforcing the rules. In short, homeowners have no one to blame but themselves if their association board to be taken over by neo-fascists.

[I believe that's what all fascists -- "neo" or otherwise -- say about the populations they rule over. They never tell anyone outsid their fascist states the rest of story, which is that their populations live in fear of what will happen to them -- socially, economically, and yes, even physically -- if they "cross" their fascist rulers in any way.]

If all else fails, you can always move away.

[And go where? Do your homework and then come and then tell us where in Colorado or this country a home buyer can go these days without having to buy into an HOA.]

In short, there are a variety of ways to deal with association conflicts short of running to state regulators for help. And as a matter of principle, we don't think the state has any more business dictating terms to homeowners associations than associations do to property owners, except by their consent.

These are private organizations, run by elected boards. Joining is voluntary, since no one is forced to buy in a development where such covenants exist.

[All pure and utter nonsense, as I've stated above.]

Plus, there's only sporadic and anecdotal evidence of association abuses; most of the estimated 1.6 million Coloradans who choose to participate in one of the state's 12,000 associations find them to be more beneficial than detrimental.

[Again, do your homework. Don't just mouth CAI mutterings.]

And it's always regrettable, and dangerous to our liberties, when the state steps in to do for individual citizens what they can and should do for themselves.

[Then REPEAL CCIOA !!!!!!]

Senate Bill 100 should be defeated because it invites government intrusion into a realm in which it simply doesn't belong.

[REPEAL CCIOA !! That's the only constructive solution to Colorado's HOA/CIC home-owning miseries.]

Jan Jackson
Florissant, Co 80816