Landlord rights

Glen Schilling

New Member
Jurisdiction
Colorado
Tenants left early with no written notification of 6 weeks. The property was not secure. The heat setting was not properly set to heat the building. The tenent below said cool air was on only and I went over to dicover the settling were wrong and the unit was on fan only.Someone vandalized the property with eggs the day they had everything out.The tenent below ask if they vacated I went to see and it looked like they left the premises. I texted and ask them and they said they were in the process and would be completely out in a few days. They wanted a partial refund of there months rent once I notified them.They said they stated they might be leaving 2 months ago and I told them I still would want have it in writing . The premises is in need of replacement of the carpet. I had a security deposit of $800 of which $500. Back. They said they would sue me for the parcel months rent and the additional security deposit.
Have I done anything wrong?

Thank you
Glen
 
Have I done anything wrong?

No, of course not.

Homework assignment: If you haven't yet studied the CO landlord tenant laws, please do so now:

2017 Colorado Revised Statutes :: Title 38 - Property - Real and Personal :: Tenants and Landlords :: Article 12 - Tenants and Landlords

Meantime, you wrote that they left early. Is there a written lease of a particular duration. If yes, what are the from - to dates, on what day of the month is the rent payable and when was the last date that they paid rent?

Answer those and we'll go from there.
 
Have I done anything wrong?


You MAY have violated the lease by entering the premises absent your tenant's permission, which is why you posed the question.

HOWEVER, if you entered because of an emergency (vandalism and the heating issue come to mind), you need to articulate your response as succinctly as possible.

If you use the right "weasel" words, you will avoid helping your adversary legally.

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You can sue the tenant for damages, but if the deadbeat couldn't pay rent, one would suspect that the deadbeat lacks the requisite resources to allow you to satisfy your judgment.

As a former landlord, who got out of the rental business, I never wasted time trying to get a deadbeat to pay.

I took my lumps until I grew weary and sold my properties.
 
I took my lumps until I grew weary and sold my properties.

Judge, we have so much in common.

Though I did once nail a tenant for wage garnishment and her checking account all in the same day. She worked for the same bank where she had her checking account. I had a copy of one of her rent checks and new when payday was. Badabing, she squealed like a stuck pig.

Twenty years and three rentals and that was my only success in getting money out of a deadbeat. Got rid of the rentals in 1998 and never looked back.
 
Got rid of the rentals in 1998 and never looked back.
Judge, we have so much in common.


I think it's common to the age in which we were born.

People tended to assimilate to achieve something, become something in life.

I often tell my wife, our generation (baby boomers) was lucky to be raised by people who grew up with a mother and father in the home.

We spawned the GEN Xers, who gave us the millennials and what I hear some calling GEN Z.

I've accepted that this is no longer the country in which I knew a as child.

I can live with that because I isolate myself from the madness.

The self imposed isolation and exile works in that I don't experience or participate in the idiocy as much as some are required to do.
 
Did you have a written lease? Does it indicate written notice is necessary?
The tenant telling you they "might" be laying in two months is not the same as "will" be. However, if you can't show that written notice was required then the verbal notice they have might be sufficient. You already know that is the argument they will be making. Things something to show it is insufficient under your agreement.
 
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