Can a 3 Day Notice Be Used to Evict a Tenant in Colorado?
Full Question:
We are being evicted from our apartment and are being told to get out in 3 days. Do we have to leave?
03/31/2010 |
Category: Landlord Ten... ยป Lease Termin... |
State: Colorado |
#21611
Answer:
A three day notice may be served in Colorado demanding that overdue rent be paid or else the tenant must quit the premises. The answer will depend in part if there is a written lease and, if so, the term of the lease. A tenant without a written lease is generally considered a month-to-month tenant-at-will if rent is paid monthly. In Colorado, a tenancy at will may be terminated by a written notice of three days. If a tenant is still considered under a monthly lease, a 10 day written notice may be served. A verbal notice to quit is not legally enforceable.
Please see the following CO statutes:
13-40-104. Unlawful detention defined.
(1) Any person is guilty of an unlawful detention of real property in the
following cases:
(a) When entry is made, without right or title, into any vacant or
unoccupied lands or tenements;
(b) When entry is made, wrongfully, into any public lands, tenements,
mining claims, or other possessions which are claimed or held by a person
who may have located, entered, or settled upon the same in conformity with
the laws, rules, and regulations of the United States, or of this state, in
relation thereto;
(c) When any lessee or tenant at will, or by sufferance, or for any
part of a year, or for one or more years, of any real property, including a
specific or undivided portion of a building or dwelling, holds over and
continues in possession of the demised premises, or any portion thereof,
after the expiration of the term for which the same were leased, or after
such tenancy, at will or sufferance, has been terminated by either party;
(d) When such tenant or lessee holds over without permission of his
landlord after any default in the payment of rent pursuant to the agreement
under which he holds, and three days' notice in writing has been duly
served upon the tenant or lessee holding over, requiring in the alternative
the payment of the rent or the possession of the premises. No such
agreement shall contain a waiver by the tenant of the three days' notice
requirement of this paragraph (d). It shall not be necessary, in order to
work a forfeiture of such agreement, for nonpayment of rent, to make a
demand for such rent on the day on which the same becomes due; but a
failure to pay such rent upon demand, when made, works a forfeiture.
(d.5) When such tenant or lessee holds over, without the permission of
the landlord, contrary to any condition or covenant the violation of
which is defined as a substantial violation in section 13-40-107.5, and
notice in writing has been duly served upon such tenant or lessee in
accordance with section 13-40-107.5;
(e) When such tenant or lessee holds over, without such permission,
contrary to any other condition or covenant of the agreement under which
such tenant or lessee holds, and three days' notice in writing has been
duly served upon such tenant or lessee requiring in the alternative the
compliance with such condition or covenant or the delivery of the
possession of the premises so held;
(e.5)
(I) When a tenant or lessee has previously been served with the
notice described in paragraph (e) of this subsection (1) requiring
compliance with a condition or covenant of the agreement, and subsequent to
that notice holds over, without permission of the tenant or lessee's
landlord, contrary to the same condition or covenant.
(II) A tenancy may be terminated at any time pursuant to this paragraph
(e.5) on the basis of a subsequent violation. The termination shall be
effective three days after service of written notice to quit.
(f) When the property has been duly sold under any power of sale,
contained in any mortgage or trust deed that was executed by such person,
or any person under whom such person claims by title subsequent to date of
the recording of such mortgage or trust deed, and the title under such sale
has been duly perfected and the purchaser at such sale, or his or her
assigns, has duly demanded the possession thereof;
(g) When the property has been duly sold under the judgment or decree of
any court of competent jurisdiction and the party or privies to such
judgment or decree, after the expiration of the time of redemption when
redemption is allowed by law, refuse or neglect to surrender possession
thereof after demand therefor has been duly made by the purchaser at such
sale, or his or her assigns;
(h) When an heir or devisee continues in possession of any premises sold
and conveyed by any personal representative with authority to sell, after
demand therefor is duly made;
(i) When a vendee having obtained possession under an agreement to
purchase lands or tenements, and having failed to comply with his
agreement, withholds possession thereof from his vendor, or assigns, after
demand therefor is duly made.
(2) and (3) Repealed.
(4)
(a) It shall not constitute an unlawful detention of real property as
described in paragraph (d.5), (e), or (e.5) of subsection (1) of this
section if the tenant or lessee is the victim of domestic violence, as that
term is defined in section 18-6-800.3, C.R.S., or of domestic abuse, as
that term is defined in section 13-14-101(2), which domestic violence or
domestic abuse was the cause of or resulted in the alleged unlawful
detention and which domestic violence or domestic abuse has been documented
by the following:
(I) A police report; or
(II) A valid civil or emergency protection order.
(b) A person is not guilty of an unlawful detention of real property
pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (4) if the alleged violation
of the rental or lease agreement is a result of domestic violence or
domestic abuse against the tenant or lessee.
(c) A rental, lease, or other such agreement shall not contain a waiver
by the tenant or lessee of the protections provided in this subsection
(4).
(d) Nothing in this subsection (4) shall prevent the landlord from
seeking judgment for possession against the tenant or lessee of the
premises who perpetuated the violence or abuse that was the cause of or
resulted in the alleged unlawful detention.
13-40-107. Notice to quit.
(1) A tenancy may be terminated by notice in writing, served not less than
the respective period fixed before the end of the applicable tenancy, as
follows:
(a) A tenancy for one year or longer, three months;
(b) A tenancy of six months or longer but less than a year, one month;
(c) A tenancy of one month or longer but less than six months, ten days;
(d) A tenancy of one week or longer but less than one month, or a tenancy
at will, three days;
(e) A tenancy for less than one week, one day.
(2) Such notice shall describe the property and the particular time when
the tenancy will terminate and shall be signed by the landlord or tenant,
the party giving such notice or his agent or attorney.
(3) Any person in possession of real property with the assent of the owner
is presumed to be a tenant at will until the contrary is shown.
(4) No notice to quit shall be necessary from or to a tenant whose term
is, by agreement, to end at a time certain.
(5) Except as otherwise provided in section 38-33-112, C.R.S., the
provisions of subsections (1) and (4) of this section shall not apply to
the termination of a residential tenancy during the ninety-day period
provided for in said section.
