April 11, 2013  

Colorado Property Managers collect, account for, and disperse nearly one-billion dollars a year in fees from nearly 800,000 H.O.A. Home Owners. They do this with no regulations, oversight, licensing, competence standards, or sanctions. The responsibility for accounting and books reside with the management companies. H.O.A boards of varying oversight ability depend on them to supervise their decisions and run their complexes. Malfeasance and violations of Colorado C.I.O.A. Laws are common place and remedy through courts is beyond the reach of most homeowners. Action has been too long delayed.

.Changes needed for Bill 13-1277 before being passed.

 1. A HOA that has over $50,000 annual assessments must retain the services of a Public Account to manager the monthly books for the Board of Directors.

A. Some Property Management Companies have the management of over 20 HOAs and they perform the accounting services for all HOAs.  This means the Community Association Manager aka “CAM” may have a total of $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 in association dues and does this accounting without any oversight by an accounting firm.  In this bill it must state all HOAs accounting records must be performed by a public accountant hired by the Board of Directors.  The CAM will have no accounting duties with the management and bookkeeping of the HOA’s assessments. The Bookkeeping function is where all the thief of HOA fund occurs.  A board of Directors are average members of the HOA community and do not understand how to read a financial statement as a businessman.

 B.  CPAs are the weak link in this operation.  A CAM will contact a CPA and offer the Auditing Services of 20 HOA contracted at $5,000 each.  The CAM will hold $2,500 for himself and pay the CPA the remaining $2,500.  This arrangement is on the condition the CPA agrees during his audit if he fines something out of order he will not report it in his audit. For $50,000, many CPAs will agree to this deal and this makes the Audit worthless. Most audits for an HOA are 5 pages or less. Very seldom are reserve funds flow and application reports included. 

 Transfer Certificates are a major means of theft by a CAM.  Most Bylaws now state that Transfer Certificate will be prepared by the accounting service and the Treasurer will sign the Certificate. This will be performed at a nominal fee ($15.00).   All money collected under the name of the HOA must be deposited in the Association General fund.  For years now the CAM bookkeeper researches the selling owner’s assessments records to determine if any money is owed. If no delinquent balance is noted a letter transfer certificate will be sent to the title company noting the seller owes no monies to the Association.  The document is signed by a clerk in the CAM’s office and a fee for this service will be charged the seller ranging from $150.00 to $500.00 and the money goes into the CAM’s pocket not the Association General Account. The Seller doesn’t receive this bill until closing and by this time can’t do anything about the fees without stopping the closing. It is suspected the CAM does not report his income to IRS since records are not maintained in the CAM’s books of the income.  

 2. Page 9. 5a. No certifications named from CMCA or AMS or PCAM are to be listed in this bill.  No certifications are to be required as means of circumventing the requirements of taking the test.  No school in the business of teaching how to pass the state test for receiving a “CAM license will be recognized by the agency to license applicants.  Schools for this teaching may exist but they are not authorized by the Real Estate Commission. One in particular is the CAI (Community Association Institute) whose past performance in this industry is not reputable. This is a means of having these organizatios set their own qualification standards   The CAI must be named ineligible of any involvement with teaching or testing applicants for this license.

 3. Page 12. No license from another state is acceptable by Colorado Real Estate Commission in lieu of taking the Colorado exam.  This date there is only 12 states that have license laws.  These states license laws are not the same as what Colorado laws will require. The blanket approval of all other state license laws which are unknown cannot be accepted as substantively equivalent to Colorado States future laws for Licensing. This State cannot afford the time and cost of reviewing all other state’s licenses to determine how equal they are.  A Real Estate license from another state does not wave the requirement to pass a Colorado license test.  

 4. Page 14 12-61-1006 must be deleted. All Licensed CAMs must be a resident to be licensed in the state of Colorado. There is no such classification called Nonresident Licensee. All licensees must maintain an office in this state. There is no purpose served to allow nonresident licensee without an office in this state.  An Office is not a PO Box address as CPA accountants get away with.

 5. A proposal to include a MANDATORY DISPUTE RESOLUTION in this bill is a brilliant move on the part of the CAI.  This inclusion will kill this bill and make it worthless.  The word Mandatory means a homeowner with a dispute can’t go to the Real Estate Commission with his dispute or complaint until he has what is called a (mediation) Dispute Resolution which has no guide lines of how it is run by who and what authority a decision rendered by the Mediator who in truth could be a member of the CAI.  This suggestion is based on the claim it saves litigation attorney fees in a court filing to resolve a dispute.  There are no legal fees when a Homeowner files a compliant against the CAM or Board of Directors with the Real Estate Commission. This suggestion comes from the fox in the chicken coop. It must not be approved or this bill is worthless and the citizens of Colorado which not get justice for this legislature. If C. C. I. O.A., after all of these years cannot be enforced in Small Claims Court,  how is mediation going to provide a better remedy?

 Democratic Party leadership and the Republicans must come together  with this bill to correct 15 years of malfeasance, fee-raping, and plundering the citizens of this State. The Democrats can lead as protectors of long victimized Homeowners in HOAs. If the HOA Lawyer-Property management lobby is again served, the Legislature will have failed to provide a law that really protects the more than 800,000 HOA Owners in this state.

James Burneson

11608 E Florida Ave

Aurora, CO 80014

303-750-1500

For further information visit my website at court-house.com

Also See: hoaowneradvocates.com

This blog has been established to tell my story to all home owners that live or are thinking about buying in an home owners association (H.O.A.). My ordeal started with a simple question about the motives and very secretive actions of my H.O.A. board at Dam East Homeowners Association.

That simple question started a long fifteen year battle with a dishonest home owner association board at Dam East, a criminal and complicit management company, Western States Management Company, a lawyer board member, Jeffery Lane, that charged my own Association $30,000 in fees (partly paid by me) to put me in jail and try to take my home. It is a battle that is still being fought.

I have learned the hard way that justice is hard to find in a court system and state that offers no protection to home owners, unevenly enforces laws that have been diluted by management company and lawyer C.A.I. (Community Associations Institute) members lobbying our Colorado Legislature. Justice has been denied me by a court system saturated with lawyer-judge nepotism and collusion that resulted in a jail term for me for trying to protect my home and basic rights. The State of Colorado offers no oversight or licensing of H.O.A.’s or management companies. Basically, in Colorado, your H.O. A. board or management company can do just about anything they want— up to taking your house and just plain theft, with little fear of adverse results.

Along the way, I have learned a few things about home owner associations, H.O.A. lawyers, and H.O.A. management companies that should be of great interest to all home owners that are thinking of buying or those currently living in an H.O.A.

This blogs on this site are divided into the following Linked topic Pages:

• Law (Justice Denied)
• H.O.A. Information
• Immigration
• Miscellaneous Subjects-mainly my experience in county jail 

In addition to listed  Chapters there are  transcripts published  that relate to trials and hearings tied  to each Chapter when available. These transcripts have been edited with comments by Jim Burneson and noted in red print. The transcripts can be reviewed and downloaded at no charge to verify the statements made in each Chapter.   All Chapters and statements offered by this website are based on the opinions of James W. Burneson or by the opinion of individual contributors.

WHAT IS THIS WEBSITE ABOUT ?  

The range of  subjects covered on this site are as follows:

WHATS WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM?   

LIST OF JUDGES WHO ROLLED OVER FOR   

JEFFREY LANE ESQ. OF SPRINGER AND STEINBERG   

Download Chapter 1 18th District of Arapahoe County

BEGINNING OF TRANSCRIPT OF ONE OF THE WORST MISTRIAL IN ARAPAHOE COUNTY THANKS TO JEFFREY LANE ESQ. AND JUDGE RUDDICK WHO WAS VOTED TO NOT BE REELECTED BUT WAS STILL ELECTED. RUDDICK RETIRED FROM THE COURT AND IS NOW A  ASSISTANT COUNTY ATTORNEY OF CITY OF AURORA.

When you click on this download then click on the adobe symbol to see the transcript.

Download Chapter 2

WITHOUT ACCESS TO A COPY OF AN AUDIO CD OF A TRIAL JUDGE RUDDICK AND JEFFREY LANE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CAUGHT HIDING THREE  AND A HALF HOURS OF THE TRIAL FROM THE TRANSCRIPT CASE NUMBER  B004042 Div B-2.

Click on download and review the documents that involve Chief Judge Leopold, Chief Judge Sylvester,  Governor Ritter.

DOWNLOAD CHAPTER 3

The 18^th District Court has no records of any Pro Se litigate ever winning a case in this District.   This District exists for the enrichment of lawyers and no justice for the public.  Mr. Burneson has tried unsuccessful to get the books opened so the membership can see why they are now paying $90.00 a month assessments caused by over $125,000 paid to lawyers without board approval.  The new Board of Directors is so embarrassed by the loss of this money they would rather protect the crooks than let the membership know what happened to their money.

Since all the judges in the 18^th District Court always find in favor of the Board of Directors in litigation against a pro se homeowner because the judge would have to find against a fellow attorney if he awarded a decision to the pro se homeowner.  This is not being impartial which is a requirement of the Code of Ethics for judges in Colorado. Judges don’t care about Ethics; they have to protect their fellow lawyers against the public.

Judge Samour has been on the bench under several months (At the time of this  writing) and he should not be a judge upon his first review 2 years from now. So as proof of my claims I have copied Judge Samour’s Order to deny and inserted comments of statute law that makes all claims for denial to be baseless and without any merit.  This judge like lots of judges didn’t know about the Internet and what can be done to Orders and transcripts for the public to read.  This is also an eye opener for lawyers who will be in front of this judge in the future.

A word of warning to all HOA members’ who are in the Arapahoe County of the 18^th District Court.  You don’t stand a chance of winning in this District so you will have to put up with the abuse of your Board of Directors until you can sell out and buy in a non-HOA community.   You as a homeowner in an HOA are there for the rape and plunder by the Association attorney and the property managers (Members of the Community Association Institute CAI) while the Board of Directors hides the books.  That’s what happens at the Dam East Homeowner Association with a President  who also is an attorney.

YOU CAN VIEW OR DOWNLOAD A COPY OF JUDGE SAMOUR’S ORDER TO DENY THE BOOKS WHICH HAS INSERTED COMMENTS BY JIM BURNESON IN BLUE TYPE.

DOWNLOAD CHAPTER 6

Motion to Vacate Order to Deny Request to Open the Books of the Dam East Homeowners Association

DOWNLOAD CHAPTER 7 STATE FARM AND OTHER INSURANCE COMPANIES INSURANCE PROVIDERS FOR BOTH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER’S HOME AND THE HOA BOARD OF DIRECTORS