DENVER — When your home is built poorly, it can be hard to hold builders accountable, or even get repairs done. A bill moving through the Colorado legislature would make it easier for homeowners to get the fixes they need.
"It's only about having the repairs done properly," said Janine Musser, a Colorado homeowner.
Musser spent the day Tuesday at the statehouse, waiting for her chance to tell the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee about her bad experience with the way her home was built.
"There was actually shoddy work done across the board," Musser said. "And my home was impacted. The drainage issues around my home on the back and on one side really was horrible."
Getting builders to fix the issues wasn't easy, she said.
"It had taken so long to go through the process that the money, the cost of living had gone up substantially and the issues got worse," Musser said.
She's not alone.
Jonathan Harris, a Denver homeowner and chairperson of Build Our Homes Right, has spent 10 years fighting to get a resolution from builders when issues arose at his condo's complex.
"Whenever it would rain, water would come in down the walls," Harris said. "On the second level of our condominium complex, there would be flooding, and instead of the courtyard draining properly, it would run into the homes on the courtyard level.”
They're advocating for a bill that would better protect homeowners from construction defects. HB24-1230 would prevent HOAs and purchase agreements from containing waivers or limitations of rights. It would also ensure buildings have to cover the interest on repair costs.
Harris said these are commonsense changes.
"And that's why I feel strongly that somebody needs to stand up. It's too late for me, but somebody needs to stand up and protect homeowners," Harris said.
Not everyone agrees.
Kelly Campbell with the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association testified to the Senate committee that it's already hard to insure builders and contractors in Colorado because of defective construction litigation. She said this would make it worse.
"House Bill 1230 will negatively impact the ability of construction professionals to obtain and afford insurance coverage for multi-family affordable housing. Expanding litigation to address construction defects rather than focusing on ways to address the defects directly will impact consumers for years down the road," Campbell said to the committee.
Musser said she hopes lawmakers realize this bill is needed to make sure homeowners aren't on the hook for paying for shoddy construction work.
"It will allow us homeowners and HOAs to make us whole again. In other words, our damages will be repaired," Musser said.
The committee voted 4-3 to approve the bill. It now heads to the Senate floor.
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