Chapter 3 - § 3.9 • COMPLIANCE WITH THE CCIOA OR THE DOCUMENTS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 3.9 • COMPLIANCE WITH THE CCIOA OR THE DOCUMENTS

The Uniform Act makes clear that if anyone governed by it fails to comply with any of its provisions or any provision of the declaration or bylaws, any other person or class of persons adversely affected by that failure has "a claim for appropriate relief."²⁷⁴ While it also appears that under the CCIOA a declarant is bound by the provisions of the Act and the declaration that the declarant created,²⁷⁵ and must carry out the duties imposed by the CCIOA and "every contract" — presumably including the declaration — in "good faith,"²⁷⁶ Colorado did not incorporate the very specific mandate of the Uniform Act into the CCIOA. And while no one seems to doubt that the declarant is bound by, and must comply with, the CCIOA and the declaration,²⁷⁷ nowhere does the CCIOA say that directly. It does address recovery of costs incurred in an attempt to remedy any failure to comply with the Act, a declaration, bylaws, articles of incorporation, or association rules and regulations.²⁷⁸ It also decrees that any right or obligation established by the CCIOA is enforceable by judicial proceeding.²⁷⁹ Because the CCIOA imposes a host of obligations on declarants, the right to judicial enforcement of a declarant's statutory duties is clear. Of course, the declaration itself will ordinarily bind — and be enforceable against — the parties and their successors and assigns, meaning the declarant, the association, and the unit owners.

--------

Notes:

^[274] Uniform Common Interest Community Act § 4-117. The section also allows for punitive damages to be awarded for a willful failure to comply with the Act, and for a court to award costs and reasonable attorney fees in an appropriate case.

^[275] C.R.S. § 38-33.3-104 (except as expressly provided in CCIOA, its provisions may not be varied by agreement, and rights conferred by it may not be waived; declarant may not act under power of attorney or use any other device to evade limitations or prohibitions of Act or of declaration). See, e.g., Arrabelle at Vail Square Residential Condo. Ass'n v. Arrabelle at Vail Square LLC, 382 P.3d 1275, 1283 (Colo. App. 2016) (under statute, declarant could not use multiple levels of declarations to avoid specific obligations of CCIOA).

^[276] C.R.S. § 38-33.3-113 (every contract or duty governed by CCIOA imposes obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement). The Uniform Act has the same provision, and a comment to it says that good faith is...