Before you offer: what the law hands you, when — and what's knowable on day zero

Last reviewed: August 16, 2026

Everything that will bind you as a homeowner — the covenants, the assessments, the architectural rules, the district’s mill levy — was recorded in a public office before you ever saw the listing. The law’s disclosures arrive mid-transaction, in bold type and closing packets. The gap between those two moments is where surprises live, and it is entirely closable on day zero. Statutes below checked against current text, August 2026.

What Colorado law hands a buyer, and when

In the contract — two bold-type warnings. Since January 1, 2007, every contract for a residential property inside a common interest community must disclose, in bold-faced type, that the property is subject to the community’s declaration, that the owner will be required to be a member of the association, that assessments are mandatory and unpaid assessments can lead to the association placing a lien on the property and possibly selling it, and that exterior changes may require architectural review (C.R.S. §38-35.7-102). A second bold-type warning — required in every residential sale contract since long before that — says special taxing districts may exist and buyers should investigate (§38-35.7-101). A seller who omits either owes the buyer damages plus court costs.

Read those two side by side and notice what neither does: neither names your association, your district, your dues, or your levy. They are warnings that a binding layer exists — not copies of it.

Under contract — the documents move. The state’s standard contract forms (the Division of Real Estate’s own, current 2026 editions, read August 2026) do the actual delivery work: the seller must produce the association’s governing documents and financial materials by contract deadlines, and must request the status letter — the binding statement of what the seller’s account owes — at least 14 days before closing, at the seller’s expense. The association then has 14 calendar days to furnish it, the furnished letter binds the association, and a letter that never comes forfeits the association’s lien for the amounts that were due (the statute’s real teeth). What it costs is set by the association’s own fee schedule — not by any statutory cap, whatever online directories say. The buyer’s remedy for documents that don’t arrive or read badly is contractual: the right to terminate and walk.

After closing — the rights continue. An owner can inspect and copy association records at cost under §38-33.3-317, most associations publish an annual disclosure package on their own sites (dues, insurance, contacts — the “SB-100 disclosure” you’ll find on well-run association pages), and if the association’s state registration has lapsed, its assessment-lien enforcement is suspended until renewal — our lapse watch tracks exactly that, and the closing check flags it before funds move.

Special districts: the disclosure Colorado doesn’t require

A metropolitan district is a unit of local government with an elected board and a mill levy on your property-tax bill — frequently carrying decades of bond debt from building the neighborhood. Colorado’s entire mandatory disclosure about it is §38-35.7-101’s generic warning that such districts may exist. No law requires the seller, the district, or anyone else to tell a buyer the district’s name, its certified levy, or its debt before closing.

All of it is public record. Every district’s certified levy is set annually and filed; the boundaries are drawn maps. Our live map shows every district and what it levies, the address lookup resolves a specific parcel to its district and association together, and each district’s record page carries its certified numbers. Five minutes before an offer beats a surprise on the January tax bill.

Texas does it differently

Texas decided buyers deserve the numbers before a contract binds:

• The POA notice, before the contract. A seller of property with mandatory association membership must deliver the statutory notice — assessments, the association’s lien-and-foreclosure power in bold, underlined print — before the contract binds the buyer. Delivered late, it opens a termination window (seven days from receipt, or up to transfer), and that termination right is the buyer’s exclusive remedy (Property Code §5.012, current text read August 2026).
• The resale certificate, capped by statute. Once under contract, the association must deliver the resale certificate — dues, fees, violations, litigation — within 10 business days, capped at $375 (plus $75 for updates), free if late, with buyer remedies in §207.004. Condominium certificates ride §82.157: same 10 days, no cap.
• The district notice, with the actual numbers. A seller inside a municipal utility district must hand the buyer a notice stating the district’s tax rate and bonded indebtedness before a binding contract exists (Water Code §49.452, form prescribed by §49.4521). Skip it and the buyer can terminate — or sue for purchase costs, or up to $5,000 plus attorney’s fees, within 90 days of the first district tax notice or four years of the sale, whichever comes first.

The contrast in one line: Texas caps the paperwork’s price and names the district’s debt by statute; Colorado does neither. Texas buyers get the same searchable layer we build for Colorado at the Texas hub — every recorded association, every district, resolvable from an address.

The day-zero checklist

Everything below is public before any offer exists:

1. The covenants and the plat — recorded at the county clerk-recorder. The title commitment will list them by reception number later; the recorder has them now.
2. Who claims the ground — the address lookup resolves a parcel to its registered association, its management company with a phone that rings, and any metro district, in one search that never leaves your browser.
3. The association’s standing — its state registration, registered agent, self-managed or managed status, and the delinquency and judgment counts it self-reported at registration, on each association’s record page. An expired registration (it matters — lien enforcement suspends) shows on the lapse watch.
4. The district’s money — certified mill levy, bond share, and what else taxes the ground, on the map and each district’s record page.
5. The rules and dues, where the association publishes them — the best-run associations post their full books; our full listings quote them with page citations, and the record pages link what’s posted.
6. In Texas — the same stack, plus the comfort that the §49.452 notice and resale certificate are coming once you’re under contract.

What you can’t get on day zero: the lot-specific account balance — the status letter is the seller’s to request, and Colorado gives buyers no standing to demand it — and any rule the association never recorded or posted. That’s the honest boundary of public records, and it’s exactly what the under-contract paperwork exists to close.

The one sentence to remember

Recorded covenants bind you whether or not anyone hands them over — Colorado’s disclosure statute itself excuses a seller when the buyer had “actual or constructive knowledge,” which is the law saying the recorded layer was always yours to read. Read it before you offer: start with the address.