Colorado Landlords Take Note

[Robin Searle]

I just was made aware that the Colorado legislature will be voting on House Bill 19-1118 tomorrow which extends the amount of time for you to be able to make a demand for rent before you can begin eviction proceedings.  The vote will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow at The Legislative Services Building (LSB), 200 E. 14th Avenue, directly south of the Capitol.  House Committees meet in LSB-A, which is located on the east side of the first floor of LSB. The Apartment Association of Southern Colorado is asking for anyone who can be there to show up in support of voting against this bill.

Here is the info:

Current law requires a landlord to provide a tenant 3 days to cure a violation for unpaid rent or any other condition or covenant of a lease agreement, other than a substantial violation, before the landlord can initiate eviction proceedings based on that unpaid rent or other violation. Current law also requires 3 days' notice prior to a tenancy being terminated for a subsequent violation of a condition or covenant of a lease agreement.

The bill requires a landlord to provide a tenant 14 days to cure a violation for unpaid rent or for a first violation of any other condition or covenant of a lease agreement, other than a substantial violation, before the landlord can initiate eviction proceedings. The bill requires 14 days' notice prior to the landlord terminating a lease agreement for a subsequent violation of the same condition or covenant of the agreement.

[Bill S.]

@Robin Searle thank you for the information. Do you have a list of committee members that we could contact prior to the vote to express our concerns? 

All Colorado and Denver landlords. This is a financial issue for you at the average rent of approx $1,350 ($45 per day). This translates to an extra $450 you will need to chase your tenants for after you actually evict them. Most tenants are difficult to collect from and most bad tenant debt never gets repaid.

The worse thing is that it allows for additional denial by the tenant which in turn means they dig a deeper hole for themselves financially. The best action is almost always swift action which places the consequences as close to the behavior as possible. In my experience, more time doesn't solve the financial problem it just increases the landlord's expenses.