Hoa Issues Resulting In $8000 Assessment Due In Less Than A Month

Location: Aurora, CO

Hi! Hopefully this is okay to post here, my community of townhouses is in a really difficult situation and I am looking to get opinions from professionals or anyone who may have experience with situations similar to this! Also, I’m sorry this is long or if it is confusing, if there is anything I can clarify I will do my best!

The townhouse community that I live in is being hit with an $8000.00 per unit assessment that is due on July 1st. The process leading up to this seems really fishy and a lot of people are questioning the legality and ethics of everything.

Here is a rundown of what has happened/is happening.

1. In 2023? (I think) our community got new roofs.

2. In 2024 we got hit with a fairly large hail storm. We were not the worst off by any means and the community was mostly fine. Nothing came of this until now.

3. It is now 2026, we have a new property management company, and we are being hit with an $8000 assessment per unit to fix the roofs. Roughly 250 units, a total of 6 are leaking.

4. On Thursday we had an HOA meeting over zoom to vote on the assessment. The property management company told us we need 133 votes for the assessment to not go through.

5. During the meeting a lot of questionable and confusing things took place. The people leading the meeting were 3 people from the property management company, the management companies lawyer (which we were only told about after the meeting had started, not sure if we’re supposed to receive a heads up on that),and the roofing company that was already hired. We were also told during this meeting our typical point of contact for the management company is no longer there.

This is everything that I can remember currently that was said during the zoom meeting that has raised concerns.

-One member of the HOA board had a chance to speak at the beginning of the meeting. I believe he was the only person from the board to speak at all. He told the homeowners that this assessment was not supposed to go this far, because all 5 of the board members were not in agreement. They proceeded anyway.

-The property management company filed an insurance claim without notifying the homeowners. They also accepted the money without notifying the homeowners that they even filed a claim or that it got approved.

-The property management company did not receive multiple estimates and they will not get any others. They have one company they work with, who was present during the zoom meeting. The price that one company gave them is over 2 million dollars.

- The estimate included nearly $200,000 that goes directly to the HOA as in “oversight” fee. I may be wrong but I thought that they were already paid for oversight, and I don’t believe they have the proper qualifications or licenses to actually overview this project. This feels like an illegal kick back, but I’m biased.

- The HOA is counting absentee votes as yes votes.

-The roofing company said that our previous roofs were not up to code (but they’re not creating issues), even though the roofs were inspected, had permits pulled, and approved by the city.

-The management company refused to answer any questions regarding anything we can do to have the other company fix the issues and warranty the roofs.

-They refused to answer any questions about whether the previous management company can be held liable for any of this mess.

-At the beginning of the meeting the management company refused to allow homeowners to record the meeting, even though the company was recording. When they were asked if the recording would be emailed, they said it’s at the discretion of the HOA.

-For vote counting, they said 3 of their employees will count the votes. They recieved significant pushback before they said they will have “someone else” verify the vote.

-They said that if we vote no, they’ll have to give the money back to the insurance company, but it was said in a weird way. They were stammering, got defensive and said that they’d have to figure out a way to pay for this anyway. It sounds like they maybe already signed a contract with the company or maybe used the money in some way?

-The management company said that they know a lot of the homeowners are delinquent/ haven’t paid their dues, they know people are behind on their mortgage, and that it’s a lot of money. They then told people to put it on credit cards, get a loan for it, get your insurance to pay for it. After they were pushed on payment plans and the legality of not offering one, they said or you can apply for a payment plan of up to 18 months, more than $400 a month on top of $330 monthly dues.

-people asked what would happen if they did not pay it, they just said they would follow their collections policy. They refused to elaborate on what that is, but did have a PowerPoint slide on the screen that said they’d charge interest.

- a homeowner brought up that the roofing company said they would finance this project for I believe 12 months interest free. They asked why that is no longer being discussed or acknowledged. The property management company did not have an answer and after silence said that because they need money to start. I work in construction and own my own construction business. I know you do not need the entire balance up front to start and if someone requests that, it is a red flag.

-The roofing company was asked about the quality of material, gave a long winded politicians answer and ultimately lied about the quality. They did not answer questions about warranty, or longevity of materials.

-There are a lot of homeowners who have purchased after the 2024 hail storm. Multiple people said that they got an inspection, and there were no issues at all noted with their roofs. The property management company and the roofing company either ignored those statements, or said they were wrong because the roofing company inspected it and the found issues and despite all inspectors being licensed and insured professionals, everyone else who looked at it was wrong.

-Homeowners said their insurance said they would not cover this because there was no damage to their unit/building, because the event leading to the claim was 2 years ago, or they won’t cover it because they did not own it/insure them yet.

-The management company said that they will “help” people go after the previous owners to make them pay for it.

This meeting was 2 hours long. It felt like we were eavesdropping on someone practicing a sales pitch.

Last bit of backstory and then I’m done, I’m sorry this is so long!
A few months ago, after we hired the current management company, it was discovered that there were new bylaws from 2017. When I purchased my townhouse in 2020, I was given the original bylaws from when the complex was built in the 80’s, as were the majority of the other homeowners. They were not able to provide evidence of the HOA board voting in the bylaws, and homeowners who have been here awhile have no memory of these bylaws.
The new bylaws state that you need an HO6 insurance policy, instead of just wall in. When I purchased, and a lot of other people purchased, the documents we were given stated that the HOA covers everything exterior and we are only to be insured for wall to wall coverage.

During the zoom meeting, people kept asking about how they will pay for it, they were told to file with their insurance. A lot of people said they already asked and it was declined.
My thought process is if this incident occurred in 2024, and you start a new homeowners insurance policy in 2025 after the incident, would it not be covered because they weren’t your insurers at the time? Is it like stating a health insurance policy with a pre existing condition?

A lot of the homeowners feel like there is some level of fraud happening, and during the meeting they were trying to scare us or placate us into complying so they can get their $200k. They used scare tactics like if we don’t do this assessment you’re never going to be able to sell your house in this condition, the community will fall into disrepair, the water damage from leaks will ruin everything, your insurance will go up, etc.

Does it sound like something wrong or illegal is happening here?
Can they make us pay $8000 (per unit) by July 1st? Most of us don’t even have that kind of money, we are not a wealthy community.
Can they count absentee/non voters as yes votes?
How can they ignore the HOA board vote and proceed anyway?
Out bylaws state they must get 3 estimates, the have not and will not. Why can they do that? How are they allowed to over ride the bylaws?

It feels like they don’t care about who is going to lose their home or what happens to our community as long as they get their additional $200,000 oversight fee. I’m sure I’m missing details, but this is the gist. If you made it this far, thank you so so so much, I’m really grateful for any advice or insight.