Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Colorado is the only one of these states with a statutory right to an 18-month payment plan before collections, and since July 1, 2024 an association with major shared components must obtain a reserve study, not merely adopt a policy.
Key statute: C.R.S. §§ 38-33.3-303, 38-33.3-315, 38-33.3-316, 38-33.3-316.3 and 38-33.3-209.5 (Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act), plus § 38-33.3-307.5, the reserve-study section added by House Bill 22-1387
How Colorado lets an association approve it
The executive board proposes the budget, and ratification works by owner veto, not owner approval. Under § 38-33.3-303, the budget “is deemed approved by the unit owners in the absence of a veto at the noticed meeting by a majority of all unit owners,” or a larger percentage if the declaration specifies one. This is the same owner-veto model used in Alaska, applied to special assessments funded through the budget; Colorado’s Common Interest Ownership Act does not create a separate special-assessment vote category in the sections that govern this.
The notice you’re owed
Colorado gives associations more time than Alaska or Arizona. Under § 38-33.3-303, the board must deliver a budget summary to all owners and set a ratification meeting within 90 days of adopting the proposed budget, a materially longer window than Alaska’s and Arizona’s 30-day-summary and 14-to-30-day-meeting structure.
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
Colorado stands out here: it is the only one of these states with an explicit statutory payment-plan right. Under § 38-33.3-316.3, the association must “permit the unit owner to pay off the deficiency in equal installments over a period of at least eighteen months” before referring a delinquent account to an attorney or collection agency, and § 38-33.3-209.5 requires the pre-collection delinquency notice to specify “[w]hether the opportunity to enter into a payment plan exists.” On interest, § 38-33.3-315(2) caps a past-due assessment’s interest “at the rate established by the association in an amount not to exceed eight percent per year,” notably lower than Alaska’s and Alabama’s 18% caps.
Under § 38-33.3-316, the association “has a statutory lien on a unit for any assessment levied against that unit or fines imposed against its unit owner,” extinguished “unless proceedings to enforce the lien are instituted within six years after the full amount of assessments become due.”
Does Colorado require a reserve study?
Yes, since July 1, 2024. House Bill 22-1387 added C.R.S. § 38-33.3-307.5, “Reserve study requirements.” Subsection (1), at page 7 of the enrolled act, reads: “AT LEAST EVERY THIRTY YEARS, AN ASSOCIATION WITH MAJOR SHARED COMPONENTS SHALL OBTAIN A LEVEL I FULL RESERVE STUDY FOR THE MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, AND REPLACEMENT OF THE MAJOR SHARED COMPONENTS. THE RESERVE STUDY SHALL BE REPLACED BY A LEVEL I FULL RESERVE STUDY OR UPDATED BY A LEVEL II UPDATE OR LEVEL III UPDATE AT LEAST EVERY FIVE YEARS.” The capitals are the enrolled act’s own drafting convention for newly added statutory language, not emphasis we added. Section 2 of the same bill amended § 38-33.3-117 (1.9) so that “SECTION 38-33.3-307.5 APPLIES WITH RESPECT TO EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES OCCURRING ON OR AFTER JULY 1, 2024,” and Section 7 sets the act’s effective date at July 1, 2024.
Two subsections of § 38-33.3-307.5 bear directly on special assessments. Subsection (6): “NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ARTICLE 33.3 OR THE ASSOCIATION’S GOVERNING DOCUMENTS, THE EXECUTIVE BOARD MAY AMEND THE ASSOCIATION’S ANNUAL BUDGET OR IMPOSE SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS IF NECESSARY TO FUND GOVERNMENT-IMPOSED REQUIREMENTS OR TO ADDRESS EMERGENT LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES.” Subsection (4): “RESERVE EXPENDITURES MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH A RESERVE STUDY OR UPDATE OR TO ADDRESS EMERGENT LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE NOT SUBJECT TO VETO BY THE UNIT OWNERS.” So the owner-veto route described above does not reach a reserve-driven or emergency special assessment.
Honest gaps
The reserve-study rule on this page is quoted from the signed enrolled text of House Bill 22-1387, read at the Colorado General Assembly on September 6, 2026. Sections 1 through 6 of that act amend C.R.S. §§ 38-33.3-103, 38-33.3-117, 38-33.3-201, 38-33.3-209.5 and 38-33.3-303, and add § 38-33.3-307.5; those six are the only sections of the Common Interest Ownership Act it changes. An earlier version of this page attributed the requirement to a section the act does not change, and quoted a reserve-study sentence that does not appear anywhere in the act; both have been corrected here and in this page’s search-result description. The payment-plan, interest, lien and budget-ratification passages are quoted from the codified sections listed below and are unchanged.
Source note. Read from https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-38-property-real-and-personal/co-rev-st-sect-38-33-3-303/ ; https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-38-property-real-and-personal/co-rev-st-sect-38-33-3-315/ ; https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-38-property-real-and-personal/co-rev-st-sect-38-33-3-316/ ; https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-38-property-real-and-personal/co-rev-st-sect-38-33-3-316-3/ ; https://codes.findlaw.com/co/title-38-property-real-and-personal/co-rev-st-sect-38-33-3-209-5/ ; https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2022A/bills/2022a_1387_enr.pdf on September 4, 2026, and the signed enrolled act at https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2022a_1387_signed.pdf on September 6, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.