squatter won't leave or pay rent

[humanciv]

I am the lease holder for an apartment.

I have had a roommate who is not on the lease and signed no sublease agreement.

He is 15 days late on rent and utilities and I am accruing numerous fines and black marks on my renting record.

This situation is clearly my fault; however I must do something.

Can I remove his belongings from the apt. ? I have warned him many times that I will do so.

What rights do I have in this situation? There is no signed agreement.

 

[army judge]

I am the lease holder for an apartment.

I have had a roommate who is not on the lease and signed no sublease agreement.

He is 15 days late on rent and utilities and I am accruing numerous fines and black marks on my renting record.

This situation is clearly my fault; however I must do something.

Can I remove his belongings from the apt. ? I have warned him many times that I will do so.

What rights do I have in this situation? There is no signed agreement.

Signed lease or not, he is now what the law calls a tenant.

There is a long legal explanation as why this is so, but I won't bore you with that.

Take my word for it, I'm a lawyer!

He is an at will tenant, with a month to month tenancy.

No, you can't just remove his crap!

You have to pay him to leave, ask him to leave, beg him to leave, or evict him!

I'll move the last one, because this deadbeat isn't going to leave unless you evict him.

Here is how you evict someone in Colorado.

This has to be done by the numbers.

There are NO short cuts allowed.

In Colorado, a landlord is not allowed to evict a tenant. The sheriff is the only one who is allowed to enforce an eviction. It is against the law for a landlord to lock a tenant out of the apartment or house or to intimidate the tenant in any way. Landlords are also not allowed to shut off utilities or move the tenant's property out of the unit. If a tenant is locked out, he should call the police and not attempt to break into the premises. If the tenant has not complied with the posted notice after 3 days, the landlord can file an eviction suit at the local Justice Center. The landlord does not have to accept rent after this period. After the 3-day period, the sheriff will remove the tenant's property and the tenant himself if he refuses to leave. Utilities can be shut off at this time by the sheriff. Abandoned animals are turned over to Animal Control officers.

If you short circuit the process, you'll lose and have to start all over again!

This website offers self-help forms to assist with evicting deadbeats.

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Forms/Forms_List.cfm/Form_Type_ID/28

The Colorado Bar Association has some helpful tips to evict deadbeats, too.

http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/1...rd-Tenant-Rights,-and-Obligations-of-Tenants/

When a Colorado Tenant has Broken a Condition of the Lease Before filing a suit to evict a tenant for noncompliance with lease conditions, the landlord must post a written, signed demand in a conspicuous place for delivery of possession of the premises. The notice must state the reason the landlord believes the tenant is in violation of the lease and give the tenant three days to either move out voluntarily or correct the violation. (Noise violations are particularly difficult issues for both landlords and tenants regarding eviction.) After the written notice has been posted and if the tenant has not moved out by the end of the three days and has not corrected the violation, the landlord may file an eviction suit at the local Justice Center. In computing the three day notice the first day is excluded. Therefore, the three day period begins the day following the posting. The start of the three day time limit begins running whether or not the tenant discovers it posted. Also the time continues to run regardless of whether it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday.

Roommate Problems Where a problem arises in a roommate situation, eviction of one or more roommates can be done by the landlord. The landlord can serve the tenant by posting a three day notice (summons and complaint) on the premises or by leaving a copy with a resident in the household over the age of 18. In addition, the landlord must send the summons and complaint in the mail the following day. If service is by posting, a copy must be mailed the next day. Where confusion exists regarding legal rights and responsibilities by any of the roommates, legal advice should by sought.

http://www.rentlaw.com/eviction/coeviction.htm

 

[jharris352]

Yea, what He said. He's right.