HB 24-1337 — Real Property Owner Unit Association Collections

House Bill 24-1337 rewrote how a Colorado association collects a delinquent assessment and forecloses an assessment lien. At C.R.S. §38-33.3-316 it added subsection (10.5), barring foreclosure of an assessment lien unless the association first obtained a personal judgment against the unit owner, with alternatives for the owner's death or incapacity, an inability to serve within one hundred eighty days, and bankruptcy; subsection (10.6), confining that protection to a unit the owner occupies as a principal residence and to workforce housing; subsection (10.7), requiring written and electronic notice of the right to engage in mediation at least thirty days before initiating a foreclosure action, plus notice to identified lienholders; and subsection (13), taking a foreclosure purchaser subject to covenants and limitations that bound the previous owner. It amended subsection (12) to extend the bar on purchasing a foreclosed unit to the management company itself, to a five-year lookback, and to business entities owned by or affiliated with a prohibited party. At §38-33.3-316.3 it added subsection (3.5), barring foreclosure while the owner complies with a required payment plan. At §38-33.3-123 it capped recoverable attorney fees at five thousand dollars or fifty percent, whichever is less, and set the factors a court weighs on fees in a lien foreclosure. At §38-38-302 and new §38-38-305.5 it created an alternate-lienor redemption running from thirty-five to one hundred eighty days after an association foreclosure sale, ranking the former owner first. Signed June 5, 2024; effective August 7, 2024; applicable to debts accrued on or after that date.