HOMEOWNERS associations located in the mountains have begun banning gas grills due to millions of dollars worth of damage per year.
Insurers have said they will not insure HOAs that allow residents to use gas grills on their decks or porches.
The big shift began about six months ago when insurers began reducing their risks, said David Firmin, an attorney whose law firm represents about 2,500 HOAs, mostly in the mountains of Colorado, according to CBS News.
After considering recent large fires, they turned to high fire zones in Colorado’s mountains.
The insurance industry estimates that outdoor grills cause about 6,000 fires and $35,000 in damage per year nationwide, according to the outlet.
“This will impact tens of thousands of people who live in condominium associations,” Firmin said.
The ban happened very quickly, and Firmin said in recent weeks he has been rewriting rules for about 10 HOAs a week to ban the use of gas grills.
He estimates another 500 to 600 HOAs will change their rules in the next six months.
“Insurance is actually driving this bus,” Firmin said.
“The perceived risk with these grids is simply an unacceptable risk for insurance companies who are losing billions and billions of dollars.”
HOAs in the mountain community will only have two options.
“They will be required to remove gas grills or they won’t have affordable insurance,” Firmin said.
‘A DIFFICULT TRANSITION’
The big change will not occur without some difficulties.
“People are emotionally attached to their grills,” said Nick Strong, commercial insurance risk manager in Steamboat Springs, Colorado — 150 miles northwest of Denver.
“When you start talking about someone’s grill, it’s like talking about their kids or their dog — they’re emotionally attached to it. It’s something that’s going to be a difficult transition.”
Strong considered the Marshall Fire that ravaged Boulder County, Colorado from December 30, 2021, to January 1, 2022.
The massive fire burned 6,026 acres, destroying 1,084 homes and seven commercial properties, according to the NBC affiliate. KUSA.
Strong called it the “Pearl Harbor of the insurance world.”
As HOAs prepare for 2025 insurance renewals, they will have to ban anything with an open flame, like a gas grill or fire pit, according to Strong.
What is an HOA?
One in five Americans lives in an area with a Home Owners Association – or HOA. But what exactly do they do?
- An HOA is a homeowners association – an organization that aims to maintain a clean, cohesive place for its residents to live.
- Entire neighborhoods, subdivisions, condominiums, single-family homes or townhouses within “a planned development” will often constitute an HOA.
- They also serve as a regulatory body for the tenants, who manage and finance the HOA through monthly fees.
- Its main goals are to keep the community functional and visually appealing and maintain property values.
- They focus primarily on a neighborhood’s common areas, like roads, parks, and pools — but they can also stipulate what residents can do with their property, like yards and sidewalks.
- These restrictions often impose uniformity on properties, for example, ensuring that most houses look the same and that all sidewalks are free of weeds.
- An HOA Rule Book of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R) is distributed to all residents, and an elected volunteer board of directors enforces these regulations.
- Violating these rules can result in penalties such as fines and even litigation – as most HOAs are incorporated and subject to state law.
- HOAs are often the subject of controversy, with some members feeling that the rules are too punitive and restrictive, or that the leadership has too much power.
- But other HOAs like this give communities the power of self-government and can ensure a degree of harmony among residents.
He plans to send a notice to HOA managers in June that says, “By 2025, many (if not all) carriers will require that there be prohibitions as part of the documents governing the use of gas grills or similar devices (i.e., open flame ) on any balcony, under any protruding part, or within 10 feet of any structure or protrusion.”
“Many carriers already have this eligibility/loss control requirement,” he continued, adding that charcoal and wood grilling devices are already prohibited.
The National Fire Protection Association fire code and municipal fire codes have long recommended these restrictions.
Firmin believes the new rule will likely spread among other HOA communities.
“I would expect to see this everywhere except the Eastern Plains,” Firmin said.
Strong also agreed, saying, “I think it will be consistent across industries and across metro areas.”
REPERCUSSIONS
HOAs can receive high premiums if they don’t adhere to the increasingly popular ban.
If HOA communities don’t include the new rule in their contracts, they may have to obtain insurance in the secondary insurance market, where premiums will be 10 to 30 times higher than their current payments, Strong and Firmin said.
As of now, many insurance companies allow electric grills.
Another option is for associations to build public grilling areas and fire pits away from buildings.
‘LESS PROBLEM’
An HOA community in Keystone — about 76 miles west of Denver — found new insurance this year that includes a ban on gas grills.
“The insurance we finally found required us to prohibit gas grills on decks or within 10 feet of the building,” said Tim Huiting, president of a community HOA in Keystone.
He added that he and other homeowners have purchased electric grills and are very happy.
“So the ban on gas grills, which was very controversial at first, has become less of an issue,” Huiting said.
This new rule isn’t the first time an HOA has banned something for association residents.
One senior homeowner detailed how her HOA required her to remove a chain-link dog pen she had in her yard for 10 years.
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