Colorado USA: Friends had been renting a house and one day the landlord ( she being from another country but living in the US her son actually was the owner but lives in another state) decided to sell the house and asked if they wanted to buy it . My friends said they'd think about .Then one day out of the blue a realtor shows up and wants to look over the property Landlord had listed it for sale. He was very arrogant and when my friends refused to let him in He got really gruff. and left.
They had no prior notification of this at all. After looking around at what was for sale in similar price range they realized they could get more house for the same price as what current landlord offered.
They notified her that when the lease ended they would be moving out. She became very angry stating that she thought they would buy her house. At no time did my friends inform her of this.
After a few weeks they found a great home for a great price and bought it. The last week of their lease they spent cleaning doing yard work etc.around the rental house. They had moved all their furniture etc to the new one .The landlord shows up and says she's keeping the deposit cause the walls need to be repainted and the carpet replaced too ! Well this falls under CO statute of "tenant not liable for normal wear and tear" the carpets being at least 10 yrs old prior to their moving in my friends had been in the house 5 yrs after that. Walls had no damage and of course to sell a home a fresh paint job is always attractive.My friends took video of everything once cleaning was finished and one can clearly see that the interior and yard was in great shape, dated but without damage etc.
After a very terse face to face meeting with the landlord she gives them $400 out of $750 original deposit saying shes keeping the rest. She didn't even have clue about the interest law in CO.
Well that didn't sit well with my friends at all . But I advised them they had to wait 60 days as per stipulated in the lease before doing anything about it. That the landlord had until that point to produce an itemized breakdown of why they were keeping the $.
So on day 58 the son sends a general list of costs by each company used to work on the house i,e carpets replaced, repainting, yard work. over $1500 and He says that hes keeping the remainder and considers the process over and done with Yet he has never stepped foot in the house this year !
All this work is is improvements to help sell the house !
So at this point my friends are considering the options
Do they have a case to take them to small claims court ? They have video and photos of the property after they moved out and finished cleaning etc.The landlord never provided a check list upon them moving in so there is no comparison evidence. Only the 'after ' video photos.
I think they may have a case but have mentioned that the son may, though far fetched perhaps , try to go after them for more $,
But they have since sold the house too.
Colorado renters statutes are pretty good for favoring the tenant and clearly state that normal wear and tear over time is not grounds for keeping the deposit.
Any thoughts?
