My question involves an eviction in the state of: Colorado
I was renting a townhouse in Colorado, and was in the middle of my second year lease. It was supposed to end on November 1,2011. My landlord and I discussed resigning the lease for a third year. There was never an issue with late rent, or non payment of rent and everything was going fine for the 21 months that my daughter and I occupied the rental unit. My rent was current until August 15,2010. (The due date for rent was the 15th of the month)
On August 8, 2010 I called my landlord to inform her of a leak from the bathroom upstairs that was filling my kitchen (directly beneath the upstairs bathroom) with water. I informed her that I turned off the water supply line to the toilet where the leak was coming from and my neighbor turned off the main water supply line in the crawlspace that only he had access to. She had a plumber come out (one of her friends) and look at the issue, and was told to call the HOA so that they can pay for the damages to the pipes. The HOA contacted a local plumbing company that came out and found the pipe connected to the valve for the toilet was bent and had a hole in it which was from corrosion and this was causing the leak. The replaced it and my landlord asked if she would be able to come back tomorrow 8/9/10 to have the insurance company come assess the damages for repair to the bathroom, which had holes cut in the floor by the plumber in order to get access to the pipe. I agreed to let her have access while I was at work.
The following day August 9, 2010 my landlord called and told me that the damage to the property was too great, because 5 more pipes had burst, and that they are saying it is uninhabitable and that she was placing my belongings into trash bags and putting them in the garage, for my daughter and I to come get that night, and that I needed to find another place to live because the townhouse was not safe anymore. I was caught completely off guard and told her that if that 's what she had to do then I would figure something out, and we could discuss it further when I got off work. When I called after work she stated she would have movers come in on Tuesday to remove the rest of my belongings and that I could go in that night for my bed and some clothes for my daughter and I, but we weren't able to stay in the house. She then informed me that after the remodel was complete she would be listing it on the market, and would not allow us to move back in because she didn't want to deal with being a landlord anymore.
On Tuesday she called and informed me that she was not going to hire any movers to move my things because it would cost her over $1000.00 and that I had to get my stuff out by Friday or she would throw it on the curb. And that she was keeping at least half of my deposit because she had to physically move my stuff. I told her that I would have done it and that she took it upon herself to do that and it wasn't fair to keep my deposit because she had to move my stuff. So I hired movers to come and help me move my belongings out into the garage, which she said I would be able to keep my stuff there until I found a new place. Two weeks later I received another threatening call regarding my belongings, and once again had to hire movers to put my stuff in my friends garage 25 miles away from where I was staying.
When I talked to her in late September, she finally agreed to give my whole deposit back, and when I went to get it from her she informed me that if I was planning on suing her that she "had an amazing lawyer who would drag me through the mud because I caused all of the damages to the townhouse because I didn't call her at midnight when I first saw the leak to let her know about it, and because my daughter had toys all over her room, which made the house dirty and disgusting and it was now costing her thousands to fix because she doesn't have insurance, so I had better not think about it."
I also found out she just put the townhouse up for sale two weeks ago.
I would like to know if there is any possible way, that I can sue her for damages and an illegal eviction? I would like to at least get the money back for the three movers that I had to hire, along with the 6 days rent that was paid, that she kept. (From Aug. 9 to Aug. 15) And I would also like to know if she would be able to countersue me for "damages" that were covered by the insurance company (that she did have because it was paid for in the HOA dues every month) And the damages to pipes inside of walls and floors that I had no access to even being able to break? In my lease there is nothing stating the unit had to be in pristine condition (ie toys being picked up) and there is a part stating that she can break the least at anytime, but must give thirty days notice. I was only given a few hours notice, and I was at work the whole time.
Sorry for such a long post, and thank you in advance. Any help is appreciated.
Oh and one more fact. There was never anything else mentioned about the habitablity of the townhouse. I was never contacted by the insurance company or the people she brought in to get rid of the water in the kitchen, and when I spoke with her in September she tripped on her words and told me that it was never uninhabitable, but mold could have started to grow and that's why she wanted us out.

