Annual Meeting: Notes on Covenants

Seems like every Annual Meeting of the Members brings out misinformation and rumor. Before Saturday’s meeting I would like to address two of this year’s crop of misstatements:

1) The board has no authority to enforce covenants that were not approved by vote of current homeowners. FALSE.

Facts:

The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of Wissler Ranch was recorded on August 9, 1996, in the El Paso County Clerk and Recorders Office at reception no. 961044450 (The Declaration) pursuant to the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (CCIOA). Section 38-33.3-115 of that Act states that all common interest communities created after July 1, 1992 will fall under these rules.

Wissler Ranch is governed by CCIOA rules. You should know that there are multiple statutes and other laws that make it clear that HOAs have the authority to adopt Rules, Policies, Procedures, Resolutions and Design Review Guidelines and the responsibility of enforcement. These documents help bind us together as a community.

The 1996 WRHOA Declaration itself provides that, “the Property is and shall be held, transferred, sold, conveyed, and occupied subject to the covenants, conditions, restrictions, easements, charges and liens…set forth in the Declarations, all of which shall be covenants running with the land…shall be binding on all parties having any right, title or interest in the property.”

As such, the WRHOA Declaration concerns the land and all property and must be adhered to. The notion that the HOA does not have the authority and responsibility to enforce covenants is nonsense.

2) The WRHOA Design Review Guidelines are “just guidelines” and need not be strictly adhered to by any homeowner wanting to make changes to the home subject to those guidelines. FALSE.

Please see the notes above. Wissler Ranch Design Review Guidelines are fully enforceable and are enforced by the HOA. Any claims to the contrary, are, as stated above, nonsense.

Thank you for bearing with me on correcting these misconceptions.

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