Can I legally evict my tenant?

Question

Hello,

I am selling a property that is currently tenant occupied. I am under contract and have an agreement with my tenant to provide cash for keys. I have a signed agreement from the tenant to accept the terms of the cash for keys but I have not signed it yet making it binding (received today). Yesterday was the inspection, and had pretty simple requests that were addressed in the inspection objection (replace garbage disposal and warranty on water heater, simple). This morning, the potential buyer tagged along for the appraisal and during this time the tenant intervened and was voicing his own concerns about furnace and A/C issues, of which had not been a concern with the inspection objection. Now the buyer is wanting to cancel the contract all together and move on, or reduce the sell price by thousands of dollars. Is this grounds for eviction in the state of Colorado? If so, instead of signing the current cash for keys agreement should I reduce the amount of the agreement to still expedite the move out prior to the 30 day requirement (to ensure house is empty by closing) with the thought the tenant would still agree to an amended agreement opposed to being evicted for disrupting my transaction that cost me a significant margin of sales profit?

On a time crunch with sale, please advise! Thank you!

Jeff Willis · Answer

Not giving legal advice:

The Cash for Keys, once signed by the tenant is binding. You made an offer and they accepted as evidenced by their signature. Your signature has nothing to do with it.

The eviction you are talking about is a "retaliatory eviction." I wouldn't bet the farm on winning this one in court. In most cases, you will be subject to large punitive damages if this ever went to court.

But you can enforce the Cash for Keys agreement and have the tenant leave per those terms.

I know this is not what you wanted to hear.