Residential Storage Condo Unit As Real Property

The bill establishes that a residential storage condominium unit is a residential improvement. This allows the unit to be assessed as residential real property, which currently has an assessment ratio of 7.96%, instead of as nonresidential property, which has an assessment ratio of 29%.

A residential storage condominium unit is defined to mean a building or portion thereof that is:

• A unit under the 'Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act';
• More than 400 square feet, unless the unit is in the same common interest community as the residence;
• Used by its owner to store items from or related to the owner's Colorado residence; and
• Not used for storage related to a business.

For a building unit to qualify as a residential storage condominium unit, the owner of the building unit must annually submit an affidavit of intended use and ownership documentation. The property tax administrator is required to establish the form of the affidavit and to prepare and publish standards for assessors to determine whether a building unit qualifies as a residential storage condominium unit. The bill establishes penalties for a person that knowingly provides false information on the affidavit.

An assessor may inspect a building unit to confirm that it qualifies as a residential storage condominium unit, and an owner is required to grant the assessor reasonable access to the building unit for the inspection.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)