Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am a homeowner in Loveland, CO.
Just barely over a year ago, I posted on the church community board that I was looking for a boarder to assist with expenses.
After multiple concerns with my safety due to arrests & suicide threats, I have decided to have her leave.
There is no lease, strictly month to month, sometimes on time, in full with rent, sometimes late.
Does state statute C.R.S.
13-40-107 Notice to Quit apply in this situation, & what time frames would be involved to get her out of the home as quickly as absolutely possible?
your tenant has established a residency at your property and she has "rights" to be there, written lease or not.
if she will not leave of her own free will upon your request to end her tenancy, you have no choice but to go through the Colorado eviction process.
since this is a legal process and you must properly follow all the steps in sequence to force an eviction, this is best left to somebody familiar with the process. Unfortunately for most landlords, this is best accomplished by using the services of a lawyer and will cost you some money.
It's best to do the eviction properly rather than to take any action which can make you liable for damages from the tenant (or Colorado law fines against you), especially in light of the numerous aggressive "tenant's rights" resources that your tenant has access to for little or no cost. The system is somewhat weighted to protect tenant's rights over landlord rights in the current environment to protect tenants from abusive landlords. If your tenant wants to be difficult about leaving, it could take as long as 3 months to get her evicted. I've seen some cases where tenants have been allowed by the court to stay even longer on nothing more than an appearance in court to reject the eviction on the basis that they "couldn't find comparable or suitable housing at the same price or a price they could afford". In my experience as a CO landlord, the tenant's rights organizations have long figured out how to game the system ... even when a tenant wasn't paying rent or was a squatter but had established a tenancy in a residence.
Particularly in the absence of a signed written lease, your tenant can say anything in court regarding their tenancy and it becomes a "he said, she said" situation for a judge to figure out. You may yet hear stuff said by your tenant which never happened or that you ever said or agreed to do. They may claim that you made promises or representations about their tenancy which favor them staying even though you are now fearful for your personal safety by their presence.
Sorry to hear of your problem at this point because you likely were trying to help somebody out while making the best of your own financial situation. But these situations frequently have a way of coming back to bite you by folk who aggressively seek to take advantage of your good graces. FWIW, even with a properly written lease it's still a process to go through for an eviction with a stubborn tenant.
I'd further caution you to not take any action towards a "self eviction" such as locking out your tenant or removal of their property from your house. Such actions on your part are not legal and can result in adverse consequences for you with charges from the State. Don't go there.
your tenant has established a residency at your property and she has "rights" to be there, written lease or not.
Particularly in the absence of a signed written lease, your tenant can say anything in court regarding their tenancy and it becomes a "he said, she said" situation for a judge to figure out.
Really? Just because someone stays at a location or on a spot of land, they have "rights to be there". That doesn't sound factual. If this concept does have merit, and is backed up by law, then this state really is messed up! Excuse me, but that would be absurd.
And this idea that the home owner and guest are on the same level, and that "he said" / "she said" applies. The owner, who pays the mortgage, pays the bills, pays the property tax, and all other items of legal definition... he/she is on the same terms as someone with no legally verifiable proof of connection to the home or location? That can't be correct.
Regardless of all of the above, going back to the rent matter, if there is no agreement or contract as to rent payment, then there is nothing to block raising the rent. The rent increase could even be justified by the concern for safety and other hassles. The more risk and potential trouble, the more the payment/collateral in return. Think of it like insurance.
Last edited by Sunderpig2; 08-30-2016 at 01:07 PM..
you obviously have no experience in the realm of landlord/tenant relations and the laws that PROTECT tenant's rights in Colorado (or in most other states) today, as they have for several decades.
As an experienced Colorado landlord who has been down the eviction process more times than I'd ever hoped to see in my real estate investing career, I posted above from actual knowledge of Colorado Tenant's Rights Law and actual practice.
Yes, once a LL has allowed a tenant to establish a residency/tenancy, they have RIGHTS which are aggressively protected by the State via statute. As well, there are numerous "tenant's rights" advocacy groups which view the LL's ... the mortgage payers, the property owners ... as evil folk taking advantage of any tenant at every turn.
And yes, I've been in court where a tenant hadn't paid their rent (NONE OF IT) for months ... and a judge lent a sympathetic ear to the tales of woe, poor job/earnings prospects, and difficulty in finding another place to live (even though they hadn't really made any effort to do so and simply lied about that) that they could afford without qualifying for public assistance. This happened in Eagle county, no less ... and the tenants were living in Vail, not in some shack in the mountains.
The reality is that even "squatters" who establish residence in a place that they otherwise had no right to live in, don't pay any rent, have no lease/rental agreement ... but gained entry to a place, set up housekeeping, use the address for their mail, car registrations, etc. ... establish an adverse tenancy and are PROTECTED by STATE STATUTE.
On a personal note, I've been the LL who did a "self eviction" in Vail many years ago. Had a bunch of folk move in to a house, paid their first month and deposit ... and never paid another penny. I tried the initial "notice to quit" process, confronted them in person, asked them to leave repeatedly ... and they just stayed. Finally, in my frustration over the costs of my property and the damage they were doing while I wasn't getting any rent, I went to the house while most of them were at work and moved out all of their possessions & furniture to the curb. While in the middle of doing so on the 3rd bedroom (a 5 bedroom house), two occupants who weren't even on the lease (guests of the tenants) came out of another bedroom and started to argue with me about their staying in the house. They "knew" Colorado tenant law, they had lawfully entered the house (via invitation by the lease group folk) and weren't going to leave. Called the cops on me, and the VPD responders were very thorough in my education about how I was about to be arrested for my actions which included changing the front door lock and shutting off the water. The saving grace for me that time around was that 2 of the tenants (not very well checked out by my then property manager company) were escaped felons from another state and didn't want any contact with a police department. They'd been called by the two "squatters" to advise what was going on and came home from their respective jobs. The two felons told their "friends" that it was time to leave, peacefully, and to gather up their possessions and clear out ... which they did. As it happened, the VPD came back to check on things and be sure that I wasn't causing the "residents" any further trouble ... and stopped the group of guys as they were leaving the property by the street. At that point, the VPD asked for ID's and the two felons got nabbed for phony ID's, later identified and found to have warrants out on them. So VPD kinda' let me off the hook, but with a very stern warning that if I ever tried to do a "self eviction" again, they'd have me up on charges and likely liable for serious damage claims by the tenants.
The bottom line is that what you'd like the world to be like and what the laws of Colorado actually say to protect tenants are two entirely different things. Your "logic" is not consistent with the law. And even if the OP were to "raise the rent", her tenant has many options at their disposal to not pay yet stay in the premises for many months to come ... even without paying any rent at all ... while the eviction process grinds out.
PS: Sunderpig ... if you're really all that interested in Colorado Tenant's Rights law in practice, you might take the time to do a web search on this topic. In addition to the State of Colorado public assistance offices, you'll find a sizable number of independent "tenant's rights" advocacy groups that work pro bono or for very small fees to "stick it to the evil LL's who are taking advantage of the tenants". It's no secret that these aggressive outfits game the system to the advantage of folks who frequently can get housing for free for a long time. Their web sites are very blatant about their attitude towards the "moneyed" folk who are LL's.
As well, I've mentioned in many a C-D real estate thread about the problems that folk who are not on a lease yet living in a place present for a landlord. Typically, it's "guests" of the leasing tenants who stay ... a boyfriend, girlfriend, or a relative ... in violation of the lease if it even has any clauses about "guests" and who is supposed to join onto the lease if they establish a residency in the premises. The problem for a LL is when the leaseholders move out ... as I have had happen at the end of a lease ... and the non-leasing residents decide to not move out. These holdover folk have no accountability to the LL. Sometimes, I've been able to talk the folk into signing a new lease and being accountable for the rent. But other times, I have not ... and the people have stayed until the last day of the eviction process which has taken as long as 5 months to reach the point where a deputy is on site with a court order eviction to forcibly remove the people.
I didn't get this education for free ... and it's a perspective which so many dreamers who think they're going to go into the residential home rental business don't know until they find out the hard way that it's not only about cashing the checks that come in on the first of the month each month.
sunsprit - Yes, I'm no expert in CO law, including landlord/tenant laws in this state. I just found it hard to believe any state could have such backwards and insane laws. That the rights of owners, and those who pay the bills, and those doing "the right thing", should take a backseat to unlawful and unstable people, was (and now is) incredulous and hard to fathom.
I've accumulated a list of numerous reasons and factors since relocating here of why CO is a poor choice over other states. You've now provided data - though still in need of verification and corroboration - of a whole new realm of shocking factors to add to the list. So for that, I thank you. I do appreciate you sharing your accumulated knowledge and experience in this area. I just can't see why anyone would want to live here when the troublesome and unstable are lifted up and legally supported, while the productive in society are devalued and stepped on. That mentality is anti-American and the opposite everything that this country was founded on. This isn't the CO that I thought I knew (strong independent thinking, midwest values, and protecting those that support our society). It shows that the reverse is reality.
Thankfully I've been enlightened before getting any farther and putting down roots, such as getting a home. With the way things are around here, it could probably get easily taken away by some squatter and/or disturbed person on the front lawn. Someone could break in and make his or herself a resident. Disorder and lawlessness are not only condoned, but earn the guilty special advantages and privileges. It is definitely not like that in other states that I know of.
Last edited by Sunderpig2; 08-31-2016 at 03:16 PM..
sunsprit - Yes, I'm no expert in CO law, including landlord/tenant laws in this state. I just found it hard to believe any state could have such backwards and insane laws. That the rights of owners, and those who pay the bills, and those doing "the right thing", should take a backseat to unlawful and unstable people, was (and now is) incredulous and hard to fathom.
(snip)
sorry, but I think you've been woefully misinformed about "tenant's rights" in most states. Articles abound about such abuses in the national press ...
In view of this situation, to single out this topic as a reason to dislike Colorado is unreasonable. There are, of course, other specifics which are worthy of your consideration.
__________________
- Please follow our TOS.
- Any Questions about City-Data? See the FAQ list.
- Want some detailed instructions on using the site? See The Guide for plain english explanation.
- Realtors are welcome here but do see our Realtor Advice to avoid infractions.
- Thank you and enjoy City-Data.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
