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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Somewhere near Canada
    Posts
    35,894

    Default Re: Control Freak Landlord Wants Me to Move Out

    Quote Quoting francisv
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    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Colorado

    Hi, thanks for reading my post.

    I recently moved into an apartment, or rather it would be best to clarify it is the bottom floor of my landlord's home (completely separated with my own front door), and she is causing a lot of drama even though I moved in less than a month ago. I would like to go into a bit more detail about the sequence of events but essentially things escalated this week when she called the carpet cleaners against my will and took the money from my deposit. When I moved in 2-3 weeks ago, I spilt some coffee on the carpet and planned to have my girlfriend bring her professional cleaning kit when she came to see me this weekend. My questions are centered around keeping her out of my business/not entering the premises without warning (which she has), how to avoid eviction, and how to avoid future drama. I would also like to attempt to politely renegotiate the lease from 1 year to six months since I can see this will only be issues with her...

    Soon after I moved in, I spilt some coffee in an isolated area (2' by 2' about). My landlord emailed me and asked me multiple times about getting it cleaned by her professionals which I politely declined and told her it would be taken care of. She thinks that because the lease says I must get it professionally cleaned at the end of the lease, that extends to right now since there is a stain. She cannot legally call carpet cleaners against my will and remove this money from my deposit, correct?
    Yes she can call the carpet cleaners and yes, she can make you responsible. Carpet stains are not considered "normal wear and tear" per Colorado law.


    The place already came furnished when I moved in, however I had my own bed and would rather sleep in that than hers that god knows how many/who has slept in it. I placed her box spring and mattress on their side in the closet next to the water heater and she will not leave me alone about it. Can she legally make me move her mattresses to a different area and if not, how can I get her to leave me alone?

    I want to find a political way to handle this situation because I know she ultimately has the power here. Please correct me if I am wrong, but Colorado law states she can evict me for a repeated violation of the lease. I feel if she wanted to she could put the pressure on with small violations of the lease like not shoveling snow (this place is about 10,000 feet in the mountains) amongst other things. Any other precautions I should take to prevent eviction?

    She has never given me notice of entering the premises so how could she know about the coffee and mattress? Does the notice to "inspect" the premises have to be written in this state? I e-mailed her about it when she complained and basically told her to please respect my privacy and give me a heads up if she wants to come in to which she responded it was an emergency... I later asked via e-mail what the emergency was (I put it very politely as if I should be concerned about an issue down there) and she never responded. How much flexibility to landlords have over "emergencies"?


    Right now I am trying to figure out how to handle this but primarily respond to her email. Just to summarize my last e-mail and hers, I told her to please cancel the carpet appointment as I would take care of it this weekend and asked that she stop harassing me about the matter. We talked in person right after I sent that e-mail (had to turn in rent check) and she threatened to evict me so I said just call the cleaners and have it done (no e-mail record of this btw). She emailed me today and said she was glad she hadn't read that email before our chat and to be careful how I use the term harassment (which I may have misused). She then said she it states in the lease that it "allows the landlord (me) or my agent to come into the apartment, at a reasonable time, with notice, to "make repairs or inspect said promises". I think cleaning a huge coffee stain on a white Berber carpet clearly falls under those specifics." Yes but not to charge me correct? She concluded with "Now that I have read your email, I think we need another discussion. I'm concerned it's not going to work out with you living here. If you would like to look for a place to rent that might be more suitable for you, that is ok with me." I have a seasonal job in the mountains and it will be tough/huge hassle to find another place... I would like to get on better terms with her but have her leave me alone while renegotiating the lease to 6 months so I can get away from her.

    I don't know if this will help my case at all but I have handled every confrontation with her respectfully and without getting angry or rude (telling her to stop harassing me about the carpet may have been pushing it?)... The same cannot be said of her however, it's like talking to a brick wall. I told her I have nowhere for her mattresses and she flippeddddd.

    Sorry for the super long post, I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered here. I really hate drama and I usually do not end up in situations like this because I'm pretty laid back. Any help about any portion of this would be greatly appreciated, thanks again for your time.

    Best,

    francisv

    edit: I have put my main questions in bold because I know it's a bit of a long read, thanks


    I do not see you winning this one. As mentioned, "normal wear and tear" does not include carpet stains. It also sounds like the landlady has enough knowledge/experience to know when she's in the right.

    With regards to the mattress, did you inform the landlady that you wouldn't need the mattress before you signed the lease?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: Control Freak Landlord Wants Me to Move Out

    Thanks for the prompt reply. Guess I should have looked into that carpet situation a bit more before arguing with her, perhaps it would be best to apologize in the email then... Good to know for future reference though. She has no grounds for eviction at this point, correct?

    Yes, I verbally let her know that I had my own things and would be moving them in and she said it's ok to shuffle things around in there... She never told me prior to moving in I could not place those in the closet, although I don't believe I explicitly stated they would be stored there.

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