Colorado Eviction Process

How to Evict a Tenant in Colorado (7 Steps)

Step 1: Serve Tenant With an Eviction Notice

Colorado landlords must carefully follow all rules and procedures set forth by Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 13, Article 40 (Forcible Entry and Detainer) and Title 38, Article 12 (Tenants and Landlords) during eviction. Otherwise, they may lose their case or be subject to extensive fines.

Depending on the reason for the eviction, give the tenant the appropriate notice. It’s essential to serve the notice to the tenant properly. Otherwise, the case will be invalid. Only three parties may serve an eviction notice:

• Members of the sheriff’s department for the district in which the property is located.
• A private process server.
• Another person at least 18 years old who is not involved in your case and knows the rules of service.

The notice must be served to every adult who lives at the property, whether they are on the lease or not. If the notice is not served to a person living there, then the following eviction case will not apply to them. If service is unsuccessful on two separate days and no one is on the premises, the notice may be served by posting it at the property.

Step 2: Wait out the Notice Period

Wait for the tenant to pay what’s owed, fix the issue, or vacate within the notice time period. If they do not complete any of these actions or make contact, proceed.

Step 3: File for Eviction in Court

This type of lawsuit is more formally called a “forcible entry and detainer.” You must file a complaint and summons at your Colorado county or district court. Depending on the monetary value of your claim, you will owe fees up to $130 at the time of filing. The processing time is anywhere between 7 to 14 days (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-111).

Step 4: Serve Tenant With Complaint and Summons

A process server or other accepted official must properly serve the documents to the tenant at least seven days before the hearing. If attempts at personal service on two separate days fail, the service processor must then post the papers to the main entrance of the property or another easily noticeable location on the premises.

Step 5: Attend Hearing

Both parties must attend the hearing to avoid a default judgment in the other party’s favor. You must present evidence to prove lawful eviction at this trial (burden of proof).

If you fail to substantiate your case, the defendant shall be granted judgment and execution for their costs (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-116).

Step 6: Obtain Writ of Restitution

The judge or judicial officer will decide whether the eviction is lawful. If so, they will move forward with a writ of restitution, which is the tenant’s last chance to leave the property voluntarily. It will be issued at least 48 hours following the judgment.

Step 7: Tenant Is Removed From Property

The sheriff’s office’s civil section will handle evictions during the day to ensure tenant belongings remain undamaged throughout the removal, thus protecting the landlord from civil liabilities.

As a landlord, you may not assist yourself, as this is considered an illegal eviction act. The only lawful procedure to have a tenant removed is to file a case for forcible entry and detainer and obtain a judgment in your favor.

Eviction Reasons

HB24-1098 requires landlords to have “good” or “just” cause for eviction, such as nonpayment of rent, criminal activity, or lease violations. They must provide a valid reason and cannot refuse to renew a lease or use lease holdovers as grounds for eviction. A lease may be non-renewed if the tenant refuses to sign, at the expiration of their lease, a renewal agreement containing reasonable terms.

Notice for Termination With Cause

Causes for landlords to evict tenants before the expiration of the rental term include:

• Late or missing rent payments.
• Repeatedly breaking the rules set by the lease agreement after notice, or committing a single violation of a material or substantial term of the agreement.
• Conducting illegal activity on the property.

1. Failure to Pay Rent

Overview:

• Used if the tenant is late on rent.
• Curable, meaning the tenant has the opportunity to fix the problem and prevent being evicted.
• The time period for notice to pay or quit depends on the type of tenancy: Three days for employer-provided housing, five days for exempt rental property, and 10-day notice for any other type of tenancy (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-104).

2. Lease Violations

Overview:

• Used if the tenant has violated the terms of the lease agreement.
• Curable offense if not illegal or causing severe damage to the property.
• The time period for notice to comply or quit depends on the type of tenancy. The notices follow the same rules as rent non-payment notice time periods (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-104).

Lease violations refer to any broken rules that are specifically stated in the lease:

• Damaging rental property when the damage isn’t substantial.
• Keeping pets in pet-free properties.
• In a pet-friendly property, keeping pets without disclosing or paying pet rent.
• Having more than the acceptable number of people living on the property.
• Smoking in smoke-free zones.

3. Illegal Activity

Overview:

• Used if the tenant has committed a repeat or substantial violation.
• Criminal acts or repeated offenses on the property are considered incurable.
• To evict for these reasons, landlords must first give tenants a 3-day notice to quit (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-107.5).
• For certain lease violations that are not substantial, the tenant must be given an opportunity to cure the violation and must be provided with written notice. If the tenant does not cure, the landlord may proceed with the eviction.

Unacceptable criminal acts on a property include:

• Creating, distributing, storing, or consuming controlled substances.
• Assault committed on or near the property.
• Theft, violence, or assault.
• A criminal conviction that carries at least a 180-day penalty.

4. Lease Termination

Overview:

• The time period for a lease termination notice is between one and 91 days, depending on how long the tenant has lived there (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-107).
• The correct notice periods are:
  • At least 91 days if the tenant has lived at the property for one year or more.
  • At least 28 days if the tenant has lived at the property for six months to one year.
  • At least 21 days if the tenant has lived at the property for one month to six months.
  • At least three days if the tenant has lived at the property for one week to one month.
  • At least one day if the tenant has lived at the property for less than a week.

Eviction Timeline

Tenant Rights in Colorado

The state protects tenants from being evicted without the proper processes in place. Landlords must follow all relevant laws and procedures to notify tenants, file lawsuits, and carry out evictions. This includes refraining from illegal types of eviction, known as self-help and retaliatory evictions.

Self-Help Evictions

In Colorado, like most states, self-help evictions are not allowed. These include changing locks, shutting off utilities, or intimidating tenants and forcing them out of the property outside the formal eviction process (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-12-510). This is to give tenants the chance to defend their right to live there in a court of law and protect them from the negative consequences of a wrongful eviction.

Retaliatory evictions are also illegal and occur when a landlord evicts without just cause. Instead, the landlord decides to pursue eviction in response to a tenant exercising a protected right:

• Complaining about property issues to any relevant authority.
• Filing a complaint about the landlord or premises to a government authority.
• Joining a tenant’s union or organization.
• Pursuing a legal right to solve habitability issues at the property.

Any self-help and retaliatory acts are punishable if proven in a court of law. A landlord found guilty of these may have to compensate the tenant with statutory damages, triple the monthly rent, or $5,000 (whichever is greater), along with covering costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Abandoned Property

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-20-116 lays out what landlords should do if the tenant leaves behind personal property after an eviction. First, a landlord must hold the belongings for at least 30 days to give the tenant the chance to reclaim them.

At least 15 days before selling or disposing of the personal property, the landlord must send a notice to its owner’s last known address. They may do so only via registered or certified mail with a return receipt requested. If it is returned unclaimed, the landlord must publish the notice in a newspaper in the county where the property is located.

If the receipt is returned unclaimed or unsigned by the tenant, the landlord must then publish the notice in the local newspaper for at least one day before getting rid of the belongings.

The landlord also may not sell or dispose of the personal property if they have any evidence that the tenant does not intend to abandon it.

Resources

• Cause Required for Eviction of Residential Tenant from the Colorado General Assembly.
• Understanding Eviction Actions from the Colorado Judicial Branch.
• Eviction FAQs from the Colorado Judicial Branch.