My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Colorado
Greetings!
I own a single family detached house that I use as as an investment/rental property. I was informed via email by one of the tenants that all of the electricity in her bedroom was out. Within 24 hours, I replied to her and gave instructions for checking the breaker box and resetting the appropriate breaker if necessary. A couple days later, she reported back that that did not resolve the problem. I told her that I would have someone come out to look at it within a couple days. 3 or 4 days later, I emailed her in the morning saying could come later that day if one of the tenants would be home to let him in. She replied late in the day (too late to schedule the electrician) that she just got home and would be there for the rest of the day. For some reason (that was clearly my fault), I never saw this email - it somehow sipped through the cracks . After a couple days it kind of fell off my radar because I hadn't heard back... which was kind of typical with these tenants. In the past, they had said something to the effect of "the bathroom light doesn't work". I offered some troubleshooting steps and then heard nothing back. When I circled back to check the status, they said something to the effect of "once we flipped the switch to 'on' the light worked" (that was obviously all dumbed way down for the sake of keeping a simple example). About a week after the email about the electrician's availability, she wrote an email of complaint stating that it had been 2 weeks and nothing had been done... some slight (understandable) exaggerations about the room being uninhabitable... and some more understandable frustration. The problem here is that being part of the same thread as the previous email, this one sipped through the same cracks. Again, 100% my fault. Finally in doing a cleanse of my inbox a couple days later, I opened the thread and saw the 2 unread messages. I immediately contacted the tenant and apologized for my error. I scheduled the first appointment available (3 days later) with an electrician right then and there and offered a $50 rebate for the month's rent for the inconvenience. Later that day, I received another email saying that it was more than an inconvenience... that she had to seek alternative sleeping arrangements (i.e. sleep at her boyfriend's place... which she more than likely did a couple times per week anyway) and that she wanted to be refunded rent for that month in proportion to the number of days the room did not have electricity.
Ok so I know she is not entitled to the refund she was asking for. The entire house would have had to been uninhabitable for that to happen. Personally, I see this as not much more than an inconvenience... albeit an inconvenience that should have been cleared up much earlier. The room has 2 walls of windows, is adjacent to a well lit bathroom and the living room. I probably should have at least suggested it, but she very easily could have made do with an extension cord and a power strip until the repairs were made. Regardless, with my understanding of what is spelled out with respect to keeping things fit and habitable, this does not render the room uninhabitable (as say a giant leak in the ceiling or a bunch of mold collecting in the closet) much less the rest of the house. Am I off base here?
So. In terms of giving a rebate, if I am interpreting fit and habitable correctly, I feel the $50 is ample. To show good faith, I would be willing to give her $100. Does that sound right? I really do want to be in compliance and more importantly, fair to her. If I am off base (again), what would be an appropriate rebate?
Sorry for my lack of brevity, but I wanted to be sure i painted an accurate picture of what's going on.
Thanks,
-dave

