Thraemoor Townhomes with No HOA!

NO – we are not part of an HOA. 

However, we do have a Cost Sharing and Easement Agreement with the adjoining HOA.

We are also subject to a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CCRs).

Because our 6 townhomes are subject to CCRs, we are a covenant-controlled community.

Our CCRs include the following features:

• There is no homeowners association.
• There is no corporate entity.
• There is no board of directors.
• There is no management company.
• There are no mandatory HOA fees. 
• We are not subject to CCIOA (Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act). 
• We are not a common interest community as defined in CCIOA.
• Owners are 100% responsible to maintain and insure their own individual units.

Our neighbor HOA owns and is responsible under their CCRs to maintain all the amenities and common areas.  (Also known as Block 1 on the Plat Map excluding the 69 private lots.) 

Instead of paying an HOA monthly fee, our six owners pay recurring cost sharing expenses under a separate Cost Sharing Agreement. 

As per Article 2.1 of the 2nd Amended CCRs,

Insurance is to be maintained by owners.  Insurance coverage on each individually-owned townhome including public liability insurance is the responsibility of each lot owner.

Do not purchase an HO6 policy. 

Ask your agent about an HO3 policy or HO5.

Our 6 townhomes are not members in any HOA and are not insured by any HOA.

Our six townhomes are individually owned and are built on six separate zero-lot-line private lots.

Our six townhomes do not own or share ownership in any common area or amenities.

There is no HOA that owns any portion of the six lots or townhomes. 

Because we are not part of an HOA, loss assessment coverage is not applicable.

If your insurance agent has questions, feel free to refer your agent to the CCRs listed in the link above.

It is also a mortgage loan requirement to procure individual townhome insurance.

Our neighbor is Thraemoor in the Park HOA also referred to as HOA1.  Their common area and roads surround our six units.

Since the six units in Thraemoor II are not members in their HOA known as HOA1, their covenants are not applicable in our opinion.  If necessary, consult an attorney to verify this.  But why not just comply in order to avoid any problems or confusion?

Here is some history on how we got here.

The homeowners and board members of Thraemoor in the Park HOA (HOA1) made a decision to exclude our six townhomes from their HOA.  Our homeowners were not a part of that decision since our homes had not yet been sold to their first homeowners when the decision was made.  It is unclear why HOA1 owners made such a bizarre decision.

However, at this point in time, this is a done deal!  Under current law in 2024, our 6 homes can never be included in the so-called master HOA without super-majority approval from their homeowners and from our six owners.

In some ways, this is actually beneficial to our six owners because HOA1 has less control over our six units since we are not members of their HOA.

Instead, the board of HOA1, in collaboration with their HOA attorneys, approved the Easement and Cost Sharing Agreement that was imposed upon any purchaser of our final 6 lots on the plat map.

In addition to the Easement Agreement, the plat map already had a binding stipulation regarding access, stating at Note 3 that the ‘declaration provides access rights to the individual lot owners to cross Block 1 (via private driveways) and all private drives (PD) as access to public streets’.

Once all of our 6 units were sold to their original homeowners, a second HOA board was elected (HOA2) for just these last 6 units.  This board contacted HOA1 board members via email over a period of months on various topics related to the Easement and Cost Sharing agreement and also the question of whether to reconsider including the 6 units in the original HOA1.

During this time period the topic of short term rentals was raised due to the proliferation of them in Lakewood and the fact that one HOA2 unit was being advertised on Airbnb.

Without including the final 6 units of HOA2 in the original HOA1, enforcement of HOA1 restrictive covenants upon our non-HOA homes is not authorized under the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act.  Restrictive covenants on short term rentals also cannot be enforced by HOA1.

It was specifically explained to HOA1 board members in February 2023 that one of the benefits to HOA1 of including the 6 units would be control over short term rentals.

We invited HOA1 to reconsider whether it would make sense to include our units in their HOA.  We even retained an HOA attorney who discussed this suggestion with their HOA attorney.

However, at a joint meeting of the two HOA boards held via ZOOM on August 23, 2022, HOA1 Board President Jeff Vogel stated that their homeowners would never vote in favor of including our 6 homes in their HOA. 

No HOA1 board members contradicted Mr. Vogel’s opinion.  HOA1 board members present for that meeting were Jeff Vogel, Susan Osbeck and Tom Krol.

Since then, some HOA1 homeowners have raised complaints related to this bizarre arrangement including issues such as short term rental customers from any of the 6 units using guest parking, alleged disorderly conduct of some STR residents, excessive STR trash, violations of Lakewood’s STR licensing requirements, etc.

It is unfortunate that these complaints have arisen especially considering short term rentals were foreseen as a problem area yet HOA1 repeatedly opted not to take a path that could have minimized or prevented the issues.

Please be advised that the 6 owners who were denied inclusion in HOA1 have no control over guest parking or any common areas because these amenities are owned by HOA1.

Please be advised that the 6 owners who were denied inclusion in HOA1 never had any involvement in that decision and repeatedly invited HOA1 to reconsider.

Ultimately, due to the excessive costs of perpetuating an HOA with only 6 units, HOA2 retained attorneys who advised the board on how to dissolve our board of directors, cancel the management company contract and revise our legal status to become a non-CCIOA covenant controlled community but without the typical HOA corporate structure.  Our CCRs were revised by the attorneys as part of this transition process.

Since the six units in Thraemoor II are not members in HOA1, we do not believe they can impose fines.  However, please consult an attorney if necessary for verification.

We recommend that you do pay any fees owed under the Cost Sharing Agreement.  Doing so will promote goodwill, avoid legal disputes and protect your credit rating.

However, we do not believe the HOA is authorized to place a lien for unpaid cost sharing fees.  But they can sue any owner who does not pay the cost sharing invoices.

If you need further explanation or if the HOA places a lien on your townhome, you should contact an attorney.

Again, we recommend that you do pay any fees owed under the Cost Sharing Agreement.  Doing so will promote goodwill, avoid legal disputes and protect your credit rating.

However, it does not seem likely that the adjoining HOA could foreclose on your Thraemoor II townhome if you do not pay their fees under the Cost Sharing Agreement.

If our homes were members in their HOA, then the HOA could foreclose on your home for non-payment of HOA fees under Colorado law as of 2024.  Since we are not HOA members, the HOA can still sue you for unpaid fees but cannot foreclose and sell your home out from under you.

One important caveat, this is not legal advice.  Please consult an attorney if you have questions or before deciding not to pay any Cost Sharing fees.

The streets and parking areas within Thraemoor in the Park are privately owned by the HOA.  As long as they comply with the current towing laws, they can tow vehicles that violate their parking rules.  Therefore, it is advisable to comply with any parking rules.  Also see the Rules and Regs topic.

Our neighbor is Thraemoor in the Park HOA.  They own all the common areas and amenities. We have a cost sharing agreement with them.

They are required by their CCRs and by a siteplan agreement with Lakewood to maintain all the common areas and amenities that they own.

Our six owners pay recurring but variable cost sharing fees calculated on 9% of qualified expenses under the Cost Sharing Agreement.

The 9% was derived by rounding up from 8.7%.  Our 6 homes represent 8.7% of the total 69 lots on the plat map.  Rounding that 8.7% up gets you to the 9%.

In case you are wondering, yes, 9% is more than our fair share.  But that is the agreement that was established before any of our six homes were sold.

The cost sharing terms of the agreement document the methodology of billing our owners.

The qualified services for calculating the 9% fee include:

• street paving
• pavement patching and repair
• snow and ice removal
• road sweeping
• landscape maintenance
• tree and shrub maintenance
• common area electrical repairs
• mail kiosk expansion/maintenance
• outdoor irrigation
• curb and gutter work
• sidewalk repair
• drainage facilities maintenance
  
• engineering and surveying

Amenities include:

• roads
• landscaping
• perimeter fencing
• sprinkler system
• detention ponds
• mail kiosk
• drainage facilities
• underground utilities
• gutter and sump pump discharge drainage
• pedestrian walkways
• driveways
• exterior stairs
• exterior side and rear porches and/or stoops
• lamp post lighting
• guest parking
• entry monument
• retaining walls
• all of Block 1 on the plat map excluding individual lots

Non-Payment of 9% Cost Sharing Fees:

The easement is perpetual and irrevocable.  However, Thraemoor in the Park HOA is authorized to sue any owner to recover unpaid cost sharing fees plus attorney’s fees.

If you have questions about the Easement Agreement or if for any reason you are not planning to pay the 9% fee, please consult an attorney as soon as possible.

Each owner is responsible to maintain and insure their roof, siding, paint, structure, drywall, plumbing, electrical, windows, doors, garage, etc. the same as any single-family home.

Thraemoor II townhomes are not part of Thraemoor in the Park HOA.  Instead, we pay recurring cost sharing fees as detailed in the Cost Sharing Agreement.

Their management company bills our 6 owners directly via email for these cost sharing fees.

These invoices should include detailed disclosures including vendor receipts for qualified expenses that are used to calculate our 9% cost sharing fee.

Please pay their invoices.

If you have questions about the Easement Agreement, consult an attorney.

Their management company may change from time to time such as every 1-5 years.  To avoid leaving outdated information on this website, we no longer post the name or address of the current company.  For example, from 2021 to 2024, they had at least 5 management company engagements. 

Therefore, please ask their board members or your neighbors who their current company is.  Sometimes they post this info near the mailboxes.  When you receive an invoice for cost sharing expenses, please verify it is from their current company.

All shared physical assets including roads, landscaping, turf, trees, common area, mailbox kiosk, drainage facilities, perimeter fencing, etc. are owned by our neighbor, Thraemoor in the Park HOA.

Section 38-33.3-307 page 62 of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (CCIOA) states that “Except to the extent provided by the declaration…the association is responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of the common elements.

It is also required by the City of Lakewood to comply with Lakewood’s landscape standards listed in the next topic below.

Therefore, according to state law, local law, the signed site plan agreement with Lakewood and the Cost Sharing Agreement, Thraemoor in the Park HOA is responsible for maintaining these assets including snow removal, lawn mowing, weed control and replacing dead turf or trees.

Do Not Hire Your Own Trash Service

Trash day is Thursday.

Recycle is every other week on the A-Week Schedule.

There may be a recycle calendar posted at the mail kiosk announcement board.

Trash and recycle is provided by Republic Services through an HOA plan with our neighbor HOA, Thraemoor in the Park.

We pay for the service as part of the cost sharing invoices.

Therefore, you do not need to pay a separate monthly trash fee unless the terms of the agreement change.

This info is current as of December 2023.

As of June 1, 2023, Republic Services has acquired GFL operations in Colorado:

https://www.republicservices.com/GFL-co-nm

If there is a snow day or service delay, their phone message may have info at:  303.744.9881

Click to view Rules and Regs

These are the Rules and Regulations adopted by our neighbor, Thraemoor in the Park HOA.  Since they own the common areas, they make the rules.  They even own the land your driveway is on!

Please comply with their Rules and Regs.  If you feel strongly that you do not have to comply, you may want to consult an attorney to verify your interpretation.

Yes, they can even tow your vehicle!  Because they own all the roads, guest parking areas and driveways.

So please comply with the parking regs which include no on-street parking allowed in order to provide access for large emergency vehicles.

What about Thraemoor II rules and regs?  Please comply with Thraemoor II CCRs.

Expanded Lakewood history and historic property survey.

Local Thraemoor History:

During the late 19th and early 20th century, along a ridge about a mile north of Bear Creek was an underdeveloped piece of land, farmland, a cluster of summer cabins and the summer home of Molly Brown.

During most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Dr. WeWitt lived in the first major house built in the area. This house came to be known as “the Mansion”. 

This mansion was built in 1920 by DeWitt south of West Jewell and west of South Sheridan Boulevard near Ward Lake.

For years he farmed the land which includes the area known as Lakewood Estates (to our north). He eventually sold that land.

The next residents of this area were the Chappell’s who named their home “Thrae” (see where we are going), they then later sold the house to the Harvey family who helped developed…you guessed it, Harvey Park.

In the early 60’s one of the residents, Pete Harrington sold 90 acres to a group of residents of the private road section of the neighborhood. The group engaged with a company to develop the property extending east to Sheridan Ave and call this area Thraemoor.  top

The Molly Brown Summer House at the corner of W Yale Ave and Wadsworth Boulevard:

There were many reasons J. J. Brown chose this precise location for his summer home. Loretto Heights is a 5-minute carriage drive away where Margaret often visited the sisters of Loretto. They had a beautiful view of Red Rocks to the west, and they had close access to Fort Logan which today is a cemetery, but back in the day it was a prestigious military officers’ base. The Browns used wagon transport to move their fowl and fruit to Fort Logan, and J. J. may have felt he had a built-in customer base just a quick wagon ride away to the thousands of soldiers Fort Logan housed. From there, he used the Sheridan Junction train to transport his loads into the city.

The Taylor Estate at 6900 W Lakeridge Road sold the City of Lakewood the land for Peak View Park.  The eastern edge of this former estate adjoins the west side of Thraemoor in the Park.

Vernon Taylor, who took over his family’s oil, gas and mining business, was one of the original investors in Vail.

Truman Capote, Gregory Peck, Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger all dined with the Taylors, who also lived and developed property in Vail. British Royal Family members would drop in from time-to-time and the estate was the site of a dinner for the” wives of the G8 summit,” in 1997 hosted by Hillary Clinton.

Additional Taylor Estate realtor video.

If you live in or near Thraemoor, you need a reliable vehicle to get around.

Walk Score is only 36/100.  Transit Score is worse at 28/100.

The nearest grocery store is over a mile away which is a key metric that helps define a certified USDA Food Desert.

However, as long as you have solid transportation, Thraemoor is a short drive to almost anywhere in the area.

Estimated drive times –

3 Minutes:

Bear Creek Trail Open Space

Pickleball and Tennis Courts

 

5 Minutes:

Stonehouse Trailhead and Parking

Peak View Park Trailhead and Parking

 

8 Minutes:

Bear Creek Lake Park

Fleisher Family Farm

King Soopers

Magill’s World of Ice Cream

Hangar 101 Bar and Grill

 

13 Minutes:

BelMar – Shops, Restaurants, Library, Historical Center and Open Space

In-N-Out Burger

Whole Foods

Costco

Walmart

 

15 Minutes

Southwest Plaza Mall

 

20 Minutes:

Denver Botanic Gardens

St. Anthony Hospital

Swedish Hospital