Press Release: Construction Defect Bill Passes House Committee
HB 1272 includes minor improvements but still falls short for homeowner rights
March 18, 2025
Today the House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee passed HB 25-1272 to decrease builders’ liability for shoddy condominium construction in new homes, amending it to improve some homeowner protections yet falling short in other areas. HB 25-1261 sponsor Jennifer Bacon postponed indefinitely that bill to expand homeowner rights to hold builders responsible for construction defects in the homes they build.
While Build Our Homes Right members share the goal of increasing affordable housing – and were pleased with some improvements to protect homeowners – they are concerned about HB 25-1272’s broad language expanding builders’ immunity from having to repair construction problems and creating warranties and third-party inspections that leave big loopholes for builders to get out of repairs.
“Poor workmanship and substandard drainage led to several cracks in my foundation, ceiling, compromised door jambs, and moulding popping out of place. Aside from a few superficial fixes, my builder refused to address the underlying problems and ran out the clock on having to do any other repairs,” said Janine Musser, a Westminster homeowner and Build Our Homes Right member. “Coloradans need protections from builders of shoddy homes, so it’s essential to strengthen warranty, third-party inspection, and provisions that provide broad builder immunity from having to ensure quality construction or repairs on new homes.”
While lawmakers improved the bill with provisions to incentivize builders to offer repairs and prevent builders from inserting language contradicting current law into HOA declarations, Build Our Homes Right believes it will still disadvantage homeowners. For example, extending absolute immunity to builders through broad catch-alls like requiring undefined homeowner maintenance obligations will allow builders off the hook for shoddy construction defects, shifting repair costs to homeowners due to this expanded immunity.
There are also deceptive elements of the bill that look reasonable but will harm homeowners, including failing to require qualified and experienced third party inspectors – who are completely independent of builders – to vouch for construction quality. The bill also fails to strengthen the required warranties to actually cover the construction defects; homeowners are concerned that there’s no protection that the warranties will be required to be in compliance with Homeowner Protection Act and that they could leave homeowners responsible for the cost of repairs.
“Even though my house passed all mandated inspections by the local government, my home had many construction problems, which led to a black mold infestation, flooding in the garage, and other issues,”
said Kathy Eckert, a Fraser homeowner and Build Our Homes Right member. “Since I’ve bought my home, I have learned more than I ever wanted to about how hard and expensive it is to repair construction defects. We need to find a way to build more homes in our state without requiring homeowners to give up the right to the quality construction that will ensure those homes are safe, sound, and secure for Coloradans and their families.”
Colorado’s existing construction defect laws are among the weakest in the nation for homeowner protection, including our short six-year statute of repose (time frame to find a construction problem) and short two-year statute of limitations (time frame to take legal action from the moment of discovering the symptom of a construction problem, like flooding, even if the owner does not know the cause is faulty waterproofing).
HB 1272 will advance next to the House floor for second reading.
Build Our Homes Right is a coalition of homeowners and legal advocates dedicated to protecting homeowner rights and opposing attempts to weaken legal protections for consumers who buy a defective home.