So you got a notice to quit on your door? Why are you getting evicted? There are only three reasons a landlord can evict a tenant in Colorado.
1. Failure to Pay Rent
This first reason is fairly self-explanatory at first, but it can get more complicated quickly. If you are being evicted for failing to pay rent that means you have not paid the landlord the money they think you owe them to lease the property. Now that sounds simple, but here is how it can get more complicated. What if you purposely didn’t pay rent because you paid to have a broken window fixed? How about that time the sink backed up and you had to call a plumber because the landlord wasn’t around? Those could both be valid reasons for only partially paying your landlord the rent they think you owe.
2. Violations of the Lease
Every lease is complicated and has terms and conditions. For example, most leases don’t allow you to have a pet unless you sign a pet addendum. In that case, if you have a pet and you aren’t supposed to, you can be evicted. Other common lease terms include provisions about the number of cars you are allowed to have or the time you have to turn down your music at night. Leases also usually limit the time people who aren’t on the lease can stay over or whether you can sublet the property. Usually, landlords and tenants can work all these violations out, or sometimes the landlord doesn’t care at all, but if they do, the landlord can evict a tenant for violating the terms of the lease.
3. Substantial Violations
A substantial violation is something that goes above and beyond a normal violation of a lease. If a normal violation is a yellow card, these are immediate red card offenses against the lease. A substantial violation could be distributing drugs from the premises, committing a violent act against another tenant, causing substantial damage (breaking walls, smashing windows, etc.), or committing crimes against other tenants. Most commonly petty thefts and vandalism around a shared community.
Those are the only three reasons a tenant can be evicted in Colorado. If your landlord is evicting you, they have to tell you which of these three categories you have violated and for the first two, give you a chance to fix whatever is wrong.
Consult with a Landlord-Tenant Lawyer Denver Residents Trusts
Contact Baker Law Group we are a (Colorado landlord-tenant law firm) with many seasoned Landlord-tenant attorneys in Denver who can protect your rights.
