March 18, 2015 10:37 AM UTC

Help us protect homeowners from shoddy construction

•  
• by: ProgressNow Colorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: 7NEWS’ John Ferrugia with a hard-hitting report last night:

Jennifer Seidman is a lawyer with a major national law firm that has filed many suits against builders for defective work. While conceding that changes in the law affect her business, she says homeowner sometimes have no alternative to suing.

“With arbitration, the homeowners have to pay a private judge and the person that they are paying often times has a relationship with the building industry,” she said.

That’s because the bill makes it clear that people, such as Harris, would not only be prohibited from suing for defective work, they would be limited in the hiring of experts to advise them about defects.

And, they would have to accept the builder’s arbitrator, and pay for the proceedings.

Original post follows.

—–

I need your help to stop what may be one of the worst bills of the year in the Colorado legislature. Today, a bill will be heard that will weaken the ability of homeowners to hold developers accountable for construction defects.

Contact your senators right now to tell them to vote NO on this bill.

Senate Bill 15-177 would force homeowners and homeowners associations into arbitration over construction defects to multifamily construction. We’ve all heard horror stories about new condo projects in Colorado, like the Beauvallon in Denver, where avoidable defects in construction hurt homeowner property values, caused public safety issues, and turned the condos into money pits. In the case of the Beauvallon, the only way homeowners were able to get help was to have access to the courts to fight the developers of this shoddy construction.

If Senate Bill 177 had been the law when the Beauvallon started leaking, those homeowners wouldn’t have had the power to get justice. The fact is, for most middle class Colorado families, buying a home is the biggest investment they will ever make. Why would anyone want to give up their rights to hold developers accountable for negligence in the construction of their home?

Take a second right now to contact members of the Colorado Senate Business, Labor, and Technology Committee, and tell them to vote NO on Senate Bill 177.

Sen. David Balmer, Chair Phone: 303-866-4883 E-Mail: david.balmer.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Chris Holbert, Vice-Chair Phone: 303-866-4881 E-Mail: chris.holbert.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Irene Aguilar Phone: 303-866-4852 E-Mail: irene.aguilar.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Tim Neville Phone: 303-866-4873 E-Mail: tim.neville.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Randy Baumgardner Phone: 303-866-5292 E-Mail: randy.baumgardner.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Linda Newell Phone: 303-866-4846 E-Mail: linda.newell.senate@gmail.com
Sen. Rollie Heath Phone: 303-866-4872 E-Mail: rollie.heath.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Laura Woods Phone: 303-866-4840 E-Mail: laura.woods.senate@state.co.us
Sen. Cheri Jahn Phone: 303-866-4856 E-Mail: cheri.jahn.senate@state.co.us

There is a lot of misinformation floating around about this legislation, but the bottom line is this: we shouldn’t take away the rights of homeowners to protect their property. Recent studies indicate the lack of condo construction in Colorado is due to the recession, not the law in Colorado. Developers don’t need to be protected from accountability for shoddy work, they need to stand behind their work. And when Colorado families buy their first home, they deserve peace of mind, not arbitrary limits on their rights.

Thanks for making your voice heard. We’ll be in touch soon with next steps.

Sincerely,

Amy Runyon-Harms

P.S. It will just take a moment. Call or email your senator now!