Local HOA President Says Colorado HOAs Have Too Much Power
BRIGHTON, Colo. (CBS4) – After an HOA in Green Valley Ranch attempted to foreclose on nearly 50 homes in one community over covenant fees and fines, many have grown concerned over the considerable power HOAs have when it comes to punishing homeowners for relatively minor infractions. While Colorado lawmakers consider a new proposed law that would limit an HOA's enforcement powers, ridding of their ability to push for foreclosures, at least one local HOA president has joined the movement to weaken his own HOA.
Jason Pardikes was elected as HOA Board President of the Todd Creek Farms community at the end of 2019. The community, with several hundred homes under its covenant, is located north of E-470 and east of I-25 in Adams County.
Pardikes said he never realized how powerful HOA's are in Colorado until his HOA started assessing fees to him for violations. Before becoming a board member of his HOA, the organization was handing him fines for relatively minor infractions which started to stack. Pardikes was eventually in the middle of a lawsuit with his HOA.
"I suspect very few people realize you could actually have your home taken by an HOA," Pardikes told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
Pardikes said he was fortunate to be in a financial situation that allowed him to afford a legal fight with an HOA which was backed by the funds of his own neighbors. The lawsuit was eventually settled, and Pardikes was later elected as president of the very HOA which he had just finished a legal battle with.
Like many in the Green Valley Ranch community battling their HOA and fighting to avoid foreclosure, Pardikes said financial means to combat such organizations can ultimately decide if a family is homeless or not.
"If I hadn't (been able to afford the legal costs), we wouldn't be in this home today, I am certain of that," Pardikes said. "You have a tendency to run up against an entity that basically has unlimited resources because they can collect money from every one of your neighbors and apply that to you."
Since becoming the president of the Todd Creek Farms HOA, Pardikes and a few other board members have had discussions on how powerful they think the HOA should be when it comes to enforcing and collecting on violations. In the end, Pardikes said his board couldn't find a single HOA violation that qualified someone to lose their residence.
"There is not a violation so egregious, so terrible, that there would be a justification to take somebody's primary asset from them," Pardikes said. "At no point should an HOA have the ability to take anyone's home."
CBS4 has met with several homeowners in Colorado in recent weeks who have faced foreclosure over a list of minor violations. One man in Green Valley Ranch said he was facing more than $5,000 in fines for failing to bring his trash bin in, failing to repair a piece of siding and neglecting to remove yellow patches in his lawn.
He admitted that he failed to pay the fines over time. However, he didn't expect his HOA to successfully move for a court to then foreclose on his home over the unpaid and unaddressed fines.
"All of these (infractions) are petty at best," Pardikes said.
CBS4 recently reported on a new proposed law that would remove an HOA's ability to ask a court to foreclose on someone's home over unpaid fines and legal fees. The proposed law, HB22-1137, would force HOA's to collect on unpaid fines through civil court instead.
Pardikes said he advocated at the Colorado State Capitol recently for a similar measure, saying such law changes would allow HOAs to enforce the rules while also giving homeowners the ability to stay in their homes.
"Being kind, fair and equal is completely reasonable. Completely reasonable," Pardikes said.