We rent and landlord will not fix repairs what are my options? (Denver: apartments)

[djvitamind]

I hope this is the right kind of forum for this question. I am honestly having troubles finding answers.

We currently rent a house in the highlands. This place was a mess until we moved in. Now we have repairs that need to be fixed. Many over a year old now.

We deal with the Realtor and not the owner of the home.
There was an electrical problem and a hole was made in the ceiling by the electrician. This was over a year ago and has not been fixed yet.

There is also broken fence in the backyard.

Do we have any rights here? Does the Realtor have to fix these types of issues?

If anyone has information or could point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

What does it say in your lease?

I would suggest writing a letter, send it certified mail to both the realtor and the property owner, and list everything that needs to be done. Maybe the property owner doesn't even know about these things.

The City may have a housing insepctor who can come out and inspect your house and send notice to the property owner. Of course, the result of all this may mean that the realtor will just evict you for complaining. Make sure you know what your rights are in your lease.

[Minervah]

I have had this problem numerous times in apartments where I live in Portland OR. One place in particular was really bad. I got results by reporting building violations in my apartment to the housing authority. Everything got fixed in a big hurry.

[Sters]

I don't know about Colorado, but in New Jersey the legal tactic is to escrow your rent payment and, by certified mail, inform your landlord that it will be released to them when the itemized repairs are fixed. Escrowing the rent money somehow protects you from being a legal deadbeat and they can't evict you. This is covered under the landlord-tenant laws here, so there must be something similar in Colroado.

[DenverAztec]

There is a landlord tenant dispute process for the city and county of Denver, but they always tell you to review the lease first. Know your rights before you file a formal complaint. Ask for referral information pertaining to your problem from the BBB and the Colorado Attorney General's office. They won't be able to help you directly but can refer you to who can. Best wishes!

[DenverAztec]

I looked up a few links specific to Denver/Colorado to help you out:

Landlord / Tenant Disputes (broken link)

Colorado Tenant Landlord Law Renter's Rights Security Deposit Evictions

:: The Denver Office of Economic Development :: Housing Resources ::

CRInfo -

Colorado Landlord Tenant Laws and Statutes

Apartment Association | Metro Denver

Hope these are helpful to you!

DA

[comtns]

I don't know if you've resolved the problem yet or not, but just in case someone in Denver has the same problem, hopefully this will help them. Depending on how severe the problems are, you can file a complaint with Denver's Public Health Inspections. You can call 311, the city's main line for obtaining city services, or you can call Public Health directly at 720-913-1311. They may be able to help you start an escrow account as well. I've heard of that before.

[jjacobeclark]

CO law tends to side with property owners. If you were to complain to the city and have an inspector come to your home and issue citations to your landlord, then your landlord has to comply with them. However, if you go straight to your landlord and complain, he can give you the boot just because he feels like it.

[zionvier]

I'm not sure about here in CO, but I remember back in Jersey (which is extremely pro-tenant) how fast a landlord had to fix issues kind of depended on the issue. If you're heater broke in winter, the landlord was required to take action as quickly as possible... meaning if it's 3am and could be fixed, the landlord was expected to fix it. But if it was something considered to be more of a luxury, then the landlord could take their time.

If it was a large enough issue that could be considered a major reason you rented that location, then it weighed heavier on how fast it should be fixed. For instance, if you own a dog and rented the house because they had a large fenced in backyard for the dog to run around in, but part of the fence broke causing you to not be able to allow your dog out into the backyard because it would escape... then it would be considered a more important issue than if a non essential piece of siding on the house fell off.

In the case with a broken fence and a dog, I'd think Jersey might even see that as a valid enough reason for a tenant to break a lease without consequences if it wasn't corrected in a timely fashion.

Again, that's was Jersey, but IMO I'd think an argument like that could still be argued here in CO too... but I'd also expect more things to be considered "non-essential" and the landlord wouldn't have to even fix them. Just my 2cents on that though.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, so talk to a real one :-D

[zionvier]

Oh, one other thing I thought of... I'd definitely document the issues somehow and the causes so that when you do leave they don't try to hold you responsible for them if they don't fix them.... such as the hole from the electrician. I don't know how you'd document it now, but in the future you should consider always taking pictures of places you rent before moving in, and then take pictures when work like the electrical thing is going on or finished. That way you can at least have proof of when it showed up. Also take pictures of the place you're moving out of after too, as proof that you left it in the same condition (or better) as you when you moved in.

I had one landlord try hold part of my security deposit because they hired a professional cleaner to come in after me claiming I left the place a mess. I told them I have pictures of when I moved in and pictures of when I moved out that show it was cleaner when I left, such as the oven, fridge, moldings, blinds, etc. Just telling them I had them and that the threat of small claims court was enough for them to give me the remaining security deposit. They probably hired a professional cleaner after everyone that rented from them and used part of their security deposit everytime, but the lease never stated anything about it.... plus based on the pictures I had from when I moved in, that cleaning company must have been horrible.