Recovery of Premises The tenants lease is up but won't leave.

[hdl13]

My tenants lease is up and I thought they were moving out so we went in to change the locks. And noticed that the place wasn't empty. We changed the locks and was ready for a new tenant to take over. Well the guy broke in and we called the cops and told them that he doesn't live there and we just wanted him to leave and the cop told him that we have to evict them. And now they think that they own the place and are waiting to be evicted. What can I do?
I'm in Denver, CO. and so is the duplex apartment.

 

[army judge]

You want him out, you'll have to evict him.
But, when you do, he's going to make big trouble for you.
You violated his right to his lease.
He's a holdover tenant.

I suggest you retain an attorney to do this.
If you make one mistake, you start all over.
Even if you do this right, it'll take at least 6 to 8 weeks, if you're lucky.
But, you've already made two huge mistakes.
So, hire someone, to do it correctly and rapidly as the law allows.


You'll eventually get him out using the eviction process, but you'll likely to be ordered to return his deposit and hit with a penalty by the judge that you'll be required to pay him for changing the locks (ILLEGAL EVICTION) and breaking into his home.
Yeah, it's his, because you leased it to him.
You had everything going for you, until you used those awful, self help remedies.


Read these, you need to bring yourself up to speed on being a landlord, or you'll go bankrupt:



http://www.ucdenver.edu/life/servic...Documents/Common_Tenant-Landlord_Problems.pdf

http://kickemoutquick.com/DENVER_EVICTION_ATTORNEY.html

http://mcguirklaw.com/pages/landlord-tenant

http://blog.bradfordpublishing.com/eviction/3-day-notice-start-colorado-eviction/

http://www.coloradolegalservices.org/lawhelp/resource/questions-and-answers-about-eviction

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

http://www.thslawfirm.com/

http://www.denbar.org/docs/Housing Law.pdf?ID=124









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[mightymoose]

Yep. You have to evict. You also opened yourself up to liability by changing the locks as that can be viewed as an illegal eviction. You can even be held responsible for the damage caused when the tenant broke in.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Sometimes it's just easier to pay them to leave.

Consider doing a "cash for keys" offer where you pay the tenant something to get them to move out.

Sounds strange but this often works much faster than going through the eviction process.

Gail