Grrr...Continuing landlord trouble

mom of 10 cats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 6, 2003
Messages
5,643
Purraise
4
Location
Longmont, CO
You may remember my last thread about this, my landlord has decided he doesn't want us living in the house with our cats, despite us having a lease saying it is ok. We have agreed to look for a place, but I did tell him, it will take a while. I told him there was no way humanly possible it would be before 3/1.

Today, I went on Craigslist, and he has our place advertised (with photos, so we know it's our place) as being available 2/1, and the amount he's asking for rent has been raised. Part of me wonders if that's the real reason he wants us to move. He had told us he would let us know ahead of time when he would advertise it, and would give us a minimum of 2 days' notice if he was going to show the place. So far, he hadn't said anything about listing it. THEN, someone came by to see the place today, unannounced!!!


I am going to call him tomorrow and give him a large piece of my mind (not that I have a lot to spare, LOL). We have a place we're going to look at this weekend, but so far we've had no luck finding a place. It looks like we will need to get a lawyer now, to enforce our lease terms if need be. So much for trying to do this amicably.
 

vespacat

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
2,771
Purraise
2
Location
The Blue Lagoon
Sorry to hear about that, Sue.
That's pretty dirty of your landlord to pull something like that. Think of it this way, maybe the next landlord you have will be cool, and even better, a cat lover!
 

ryn

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
864
Purraise
1
Location
Finland
Unbeliveable.
Don't you have a law there that requires a landlord to give 3 months' notice?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

mom of 10 cats

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 6, 2003
Messages
5,643
Purraise
4
Location
Longmont, CO
I'm looking into that. When I saw the Craigslist ad, I freaked and emailed home to Tybalt to call the landlord NOW and find out what the *&% is going on. He calmly replied, "We have a lease, it can wait til tomorrow."

Part of why I freaked out so bad over this was I had just gotten off a crisis call (suicidal caller) here at work. Seeing our house advertised as being available to rent in a week and a half just pushed me over the edge.
 

icklemiss21

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 14, 2005
Messages
16,465
Purraise
20
Location
in the land of poutine and ice
If you have a lease he can't move anyone in anyway - most places law requires landlords to give 2 months notice and 24-48 hours notice of a visit, so get in touch with citizens advice etc about YOUR rights in this.
 

pushylady

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
16,398
Purraise
451
Location
Canada
Is the law in Colorado that the landlord has to give you notice before showing a place? It is in Ontario, and it's only reasonable anyway. sounds like he's acting like a real jerk. You know, if I was the new renter and saw him treating his current tenant this way, I'd get really put off in a hurry. So he's doing himself no favours by acting ths way. Not to mention that the law is not on his side in this.
 

esrgirl

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
2,163
Purraise
2
Location
Indiana
It is law in Indiana that the landlord has to give you 24 hours notice. Contact a lawyer immediately. This guy has violated so many aspects of your lease, he simply cannot be allowed to get away with it.
 

hookbill

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Messages
37
Purraise
0
Location
Northeast Ohio
As an avid court show fan I know that most states only need a 30 day notice. And if your lease expires on 3/1 then you would have to leave by 3/1. As far as the paper goes, that could be a typo.

I'm not taking the landlords side, I'm just being realistic.

He can't make you leave before your lease is up since you haven't violated any terms of the lease. You had permission for 10 cats?
 

lunasmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
8,801
Purraise
12
Location
Jersey Shore
Yea, I know in Michigan landlords are required to give you a 30 days notice to move out...unless they order an eviction. Then the move out date is whatever is ordered by the court.

I would really do a Google and put in something like "rent laws + boulder + CO" and you should know how much is on your side and how much is on his side.

I feel really bad for you though.
 

gailc

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
11,567
Purraise
13
Location
Wisconsin
In Wisconsin you have to have notice I think 24 hrs before the landlord can show the place -plus what if one of the cats got out???
Doesn't he understand what a lease is???
I would be fuming too!!
 

katachtig

Moderator
Staff Member
Admin
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
25,289
Purraise
2,892
Location
Colorado
I did a search on tenant laws and the only details I found were that state law requires the landlord to go through the legal process before evicting a tenant. And notice has to do more with failure to pay rent or violations of the lease. Boulder county and city may have more to their laws.

http://www.dola.state.co.us/doh/Docu...s/tenant-l.htm

From this link:
"EVICTION - The only way a landlord can legally evict a tenant is by going through the legal eviction process. A landlord may evict a tenant for the following 3 reasons: 1) Failure to pay rent on time. The landlord must first give the tenant a written notice* demanding that the tenant either pay the rent or move out within 3 days. If the tenant fails to pay or move, the landlord may on the 4th day commence an eviction proceeding in county court. The tenant may contest the eviction if the tenant thinks there are legal grounds by filing an answer on or before the time set by the court. If the tenant fails to answer or appear on the date indicated in the eviction papers, the tenant will then have 48 hours to vacate or be forcibly removed by the sheriff's department. 2) Breaking any terms of the lease. If the tenant breaks any of the written or oral terms of the lease, the tenant may be evicted in much of the same manner as nonpayment of rent. In such cases, the landlord must give the tenant written notice of the lease violation and 3 days to remedy the situation or move. If the tenant fails to comply or move, the landlord on the 4th day may commence eviction proceedings in county court. 3) No reason. If the landlord wants to evict a tenant at the end of the lease period, the landlord can do so without giving a reason, but the landlord must give the tenant proper notice to leave. Notice to vacate must be served upon the tenant in a specified number of days before the end of the rental period. The length of the lease period is determined within the lease. If the lease does not state the rental term or a written lease does not exist, the rental period is determined by the frequency of rental payments. For example, if the rent is due each month, it is a month-to-month tenancy or lease. Notice to vacate requirements for rental lease periods are as follows:
  • 1 year or longer - 3 months,
  • 6 months to 1 year - 1 month,
  • 1 month to 6 months - 10 days,
  • 1 week to 1 month - 3 days, and
  • less than 1 week - 1 day. If the tenant fails to leave, the landlord, again, must follow the procedures set forth above.
* WRITTEN NOTICE - should contain the following: 1) the date, 2) the address of the rental unit, 3) the dollar amount of the rent owed or the lease violation, 4) the tenant's options of paying the rent or complying with the lease within three days or vacating the unit, 5) the notice must be signed by the landlord or the agent for the landlord, 6) if the tenant pays the full rent owed and/or complies with other terms of the lease within 3 days, this cancels the eviction, and 7) the Computation of Time law states that the 3 day period begins the day after the notice is given, and the last day of the 3 days cannot end on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday."
 

lunasmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Messages
8,801
Purraise
12
Location
Jersey Shore
Originally Posted by katachtig

I did a search on tenant laws and the only details I found were that state law requires the landlord to go through the legal process before evicting a tenant. And notice has to do more with failure to pay rent or violations of the lease. Boulder county and city may have more to their laws.

http://www.dola.state.co.us/doh/Docu...s/tenant-l.htm

From this link:
"EVICTION - The only way a landlord can legally evict a tenant is by going through the legal eviction process. A landlord may evict a tenant for the following 3 reasons: 1) Failure to pay rent on time. The landlord must first give the tenant a written notice* demanding that the tenant either pay the rent or move out within 3 days. If the tenant fails to pay or move, the landlord may on the 4th day commence an eviction proceeding in county court. The tenant may contest the eviction if the tenant thinks there are legal grounds by filing an answer on or before the time set by the court. If the tenant fails to answer or appear on the date indicated in the eviction papers, the tenant will then have 48 hours to vacate or be forcibly removed by the sheriff's department. 2) Breaking any terms of the lease. If the tenant breaks any of the written or oral terms of the lease, the tenant may be evicted in much of the same manner as nonpayment of rent. In such cases, the landlord must give the tenant written notice of the lease violation and 3 days to remedy the situation or move. If the tenant fails to comply or move, the landlord on the 4th day may commence eviction proceedings in county court. 3) No reason. If the landlord wants to evict a tenant at the end of the lease period, the landlord can do so without giving a reason, but the landlord must give the tenant proper notice to leave. Notice to vacate must be served upon the tenant in a specified number of days before the end of the rental period. The length of the lease period is determined within the lease. If the lease does not state the rental term or a written lease does not exist, the rental period is determined by the frequency of rental payments. For example, if the rent is due each month, it is a month-to-month tenancy or lease. Notice to vacate requirements for rental lease periods are as follows:
  • 1 year or longer - 3 months,
  • 6 months to 1 year - 1 month,
  • 1 month to 6 months - 10 days,
  • 1 week to 1 month - 3 days, and
  • less than 1 week - 1 day. If the tenant fails to leave, the landlord, again, must follow the procedures set forth above.
* WRITTEN NOTICE - should contain the following: 1) the date, 2) the address of the rental unit, 3) the dollar amount of the rent owed or the lease violation, 4) the tenant's options of paying the rent or complying with the lease within three days or vacating the unit, 5) the notice must be signed by the landlord or the agent for the landlord, 6) if the tenant pays the full rent owed and/or complies with other terms of the lease within 3 days, this cancels the eviction, and 7) the Computation of Time law states that the 3 day period begins the day after the notice is given, and the last day of the 3 days cannot end on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday."
The only argument with that is, does the state of Colorado enforce landlord licenses? Michigan doesn't...but requested potential landlords to pay the fee. If this guy didn't do the proper protocols, then he can boot her out without having to file paperwork...but he's also risking that she could turn around and sue. Cause technically say like in Michigan, if I rent from a person who isn't a regiestered landlord, and they kick me out or they fail to do the repairs that I requested, etc and I wind up getting kicked out without an eviction notice, I could potentially turn around and sue that landlord for not only the cost of my repairs out of pocket, but also the full money back.
Even though there's a contract, that would be the loophole. If he's not a registered landlord, most judges could see this guy as not a real landlord, thus making the contract void. Again though...this is Michigan. I would really encourage you to investigate.
 

kaleetha

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Dec 18, 2005
Messages
1,060
Purraise
2
Location
Montana
Yikes... this is a nasty situation. The s/o has had problems with landlords before and he says that you don't have to contact a lawyer until the landlord starts to take action, ie: trying to force new tenancy. He also says that you should just tell anyone who comes by that your place isn't available for rent!

However, this is Montana, not Colorado. I'm so sorry about your situation.

<<<<<vibes for nicer landlord and house>>>>>
 

snowis mum

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 30, 2005
Messages
59
Purraise
1
Location
glasgow scotland
i hope this works out , in scotland it can take up to 6 month to eveict but we alo have squatters rights where we can enter a vacant property change the locks and move in ? dosnt happen offten but it does occur , god i wish u where over here i would get you a flat for ALL of you im praying for you all god bless xxxxx.
xxx
 
Top