A unit owners' association shall be organized no later than the date the first unit in the common interest community is conveyed to a purchaser. The membership of the association at all times shall consist exclusively of all unit owners or, following termination of the common interest community, of all former unit owners entitled to distributions of proceeds under section 38-33.3-218, or their heirs, personal representatives, successors, or assigns. The association shall be organized as a nonprofit, not-for-profit, or for-profit corporation or as a limited liability company in accordance with the laws of the state of Colorado; except that the failure of the association to incorporate or organize as a limited liability company will not adversely affect either the existence of the common interest community for purposes of this article or the rights of persons acting in reliance upon such existence, other than as specifically provided in section 38-33.3-316. Neither the choice of entity nor the organizational structure of the association shall be deemed to affect its substantive rights and obligations under this article.
Source: L. 91: Entire article added, p. 1735, § 1, effective July 1, 1992. L. 98: Entire section amended, p. 483, § 13, effective July 1. L. 2005: Entire section amended, p. 1382, § 11, effective January 1, 2006.
ANNOTATION
Choice of entity determines which corporate law will supplement this article. Where an association was organized as a nonprofit corporation, the sixty-day time period specified in the nonprofit corporation statutes governed the adoption of a proposal to amend a declaration without a meeting under § 38-33.3-217 (1)(a)(I), which itself contains no time limit. Triple Crown v. Vill. Homes of Colo., 2013 COA 150M, 328 P.3d 275.
An association may be formed by a unit owner if declarant fails to do so. Where the intent of the developer is clear and, especially where the declaration states that the covenants are to run with the land, the right to form the association also runs with the land. Moreover, owners are on notice that an owners' association, of which they are automatically members, can be formed, even after a delay, by another homeowner. DeJean v. Grosz, 2015 COA 74, 412 P.3d 733.