By: Ernest Gurulé
Whatever one might think, we’re all a bit different. Some of us like to get things done quickly. Others might delay, sometimes more than is necessarily wise. But no one wants to pay surreal penalties for procrastination like the ones some residents of Green Valley Ranch are now paying for delaying and not acting soon enough on notices from their homeowners association. In fact, some are now paying with their homes. They’ve been foreclosed and others may soon find themselves in a similar predicament.
The role homeowners associations play in a community is one of enforcing agreements signed on to by the homeowners pledging to maintain certain standards that maintain the quality of the community, everything from maintaining a consistency in the landscaping to establishing colors that homes can or cannot be painted. The agreement, they say, it to ensure a good quality of community life and to enhance property values.
A violation of the agreement can be anything from a written warning to cash penalty for something as minor as the $200 fine Lori Worthman paid a few years ago. As much as she tried, Worthman said she could not get some brown spots on her lawn to blend with the green. She said she pleaded with the homeowners association but anything she said was unpersuasive. The fine occurred during a drought period in 2012.
By comparison, Worthman’s problem was minor compared to what some Green Valley Ranch homeowners are dealing with today as they find themselves in the crosshairs of their homeowners association.
One among many Green Valley Ranch homeowner who suffered the most extreme penalty for violating his HOA agreement is Gil Gonzalez Ramos. Gonzalez Ramos, a nearly twenty-year resident of the northeast Denver community, began receiving notices of fines for issues with his property a couple of years ago. Delays in addressing issues outlined in them ultimately multiplied from $5,000 to $20,000 (including lawyers’ fees). “I never thought that me, for our family not paying those fines, will lead to the point where we’re at now where we lost our home,” he told Denver’s Channel 7. Gonzalez Ramos also wondered if his eviction will also mean a total loss on the home equity earned over the period of its occupancy.
For its part, HOAGVR says it waited as long as it could to follow up on the notices to Gonzalez and others, even declaring a moratorium on enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. It released this statement on the current legal battle: “The Homeowners Association of Green Valley Ranch creates curb appeal and increases property values by enforcing promises that the homeowners made to one another about the condition and upkeep of their properties. The Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act authorizes the HOA to enforce fines and makes those fines an automatic lien on property.”
La Voz Bilingue contacted the Green Valley Ranch Homeowners Association for its most current statement and position on the matter, but so far has not heard back from the agency.
Denver City Council President Stacie Gilmore is angry that the situation has escalated to this level. “It’s heartbreaking to see families concerned about their homes going into foreclosure, especially after two years in a global pandemic.” But at the moment, she said, she sees little room for negotiation or flexibility with the group. She would like to see the Governor’s office or the Attorney General step in to keep the situation from getting out of hand and, at the same time, protect homeowners from this extreme form of policy enforcement.
Gilmore doesn’t ignore the role of the homeowners association but also thinks that there is room for compassion. As an example, Gilmore asked what if a homeowner had a disabled relative who required the construction of a ramp for access. The ramp, while essential, might not fit into the original homeowners agreement in which case the homeowner might be in violation of the agreement. “I can’t accept that.”
The Governor’s office, while understanding the extreme disposition of some homeowners situations, finds itself with few options beyond appealing to HOAGVR and other similar groups for more understanding. “We are monitoring this situation and evaluating what can be done at the state level, or in partnership with the attorney general and state legislature…We are also supportive of legislative efforts to reduce the power of HOAs to prevent cases like this.”
Denver’s Office of Housing Stability also finds itself in a similar situation, understanding but powerless. “HOA foreclosures are judicial in nature and are administered by the Sheriff’s Office, we play no role in the actual conduct of the HOA/Judicial foreclosure process,” it said in a prepared statement.
The city’s Office of Housing Stability said that in 2021 there were 119 homeowners facing foreclosure for failure to make good fines and/or fees for various HOA infractions. Nearly half of those matters involved the Green Valley Ranch South Homeowners Association.
While the situation appears bleak for homeowners like Gonzalez Ramos, Gilmore said that she won’t give up trying to find some form of relief for others in a similar situation. “We’re trying to come up with creative solutions, to fix it,” she said. “I’m concerned that without a fix, that this will happen over and over again.”
