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DENVER, CO - The House today passed legislation sponsored by Representatives Jennifer Parenti and Jennifer Bacon to protect homeowners from construction defects that are covered under warranty. The bill passed by a vote of 35-27.
"Buying a home is the biggest investment that most Coloradans will make, and there needs to be protections for homeowners when there are significant problems with how their homes were built,” said Rep. Jennifer Parenti, D-Erie. “Homeowners shouldn’t have to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket to fix builders' mistakes or obtain legal representation just to make their home a safe place to live. Our bill brings more accountability to homebuilders who refuse to honor their warranties and gives Colorado homeowners more tools and leverage when negotiating with their builder on defect claims.”
“Communities across our state are building new, affordable housing quickly to combat the housing crisis, but the quality of these homes should not be compromised just to provide more housing,” said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver. “Coloradans buy homes to build equity and generational wealth, and they typically don’t have the disposable income on hand to pay for large and unexpected repairs caused by faulty construction. Our bill is crucial in allowing homeowners to pursue legal avenues to remedy construction defect issues.”
HB24-1230 would improve protections for homeowners in construction defect lawsuits by:
Increasing the statutory limitation period for construction defect actions from six years to ten years,
Allowing a claim for relief to arise at the time that either the physical occurrence of the defect or the cause of the defect is discovered,
Voiding any contractual provision that limits a property owner’s right to bring or join a legal action against a construction professional,
Voiding any HOA governing document that conflicts with the bill’s provisions, and
Requiring a residential property owner to include specific disclosures related to protections and claims in a contract for the sale of property.
Colorado has some of the weakest homeowner protections in the country, with only four states having a shorter statute of limitations for construction defects.