Louisville Homeowner Who Lost House To Marshall Fire Face HOA Dues

As thousands of Coloradans are still picking up the pieces after their homes were destroyed in a devastating wildfire, one man says there's another headache to worry about.

Andrew Zimmer, whose Louisville home was lost in the intense blaze, told 9News the homeowners' association in the Coal Creek Ranch neighborhood charged him fees even though he doesn't live there anymore. This shocking news came after the Marshall Fire tore through several Boulder County areas, leaving at least 1,000 homes destroyed. He, his pregnant wife, and his 3-year-old daughter have since relocated.

“We have an automatic payment set up, so we paid before the fire, and then we were thinking, 'Oh, are we going to get that money back? We don’t really live in the community anymore,'" he explains, adding that he usually pays $700 a year.

These fees pay for trash pickup and common areas like a clubhouse and a pool, which reportedly survived the fire. Because the trash cans were melted, the association nixed the trash fee and billed Coal Creek Ranch homeowners $43.25, reporters learned.

The news station reached out to the HOA about why they're charging fees after the Marshall Fire. HOA Board president Earl Hauserman emailed 9News back, saying:

"Unfortunately, the bylaws require us to charge dues and believe me we have looked at any way not to. We are so concerned about this that we have started to raise money to support the families involved and after only a few days we have raised $12,000."

A legal counsel for the association told reporters homeowners must pay the fees until they sell that property to a new owner.

"It seems to me if you’re raising money for people that lost their homes, maybe you start by not taking money from them and then you raise the money separately," Zimmer says, who thinks the bylaws should change in the wake of the situation.