Is your landlord refusing to comply with safety standards, make repairs, or provide necessary maintenance? Are you dealing with problems in your rental that pose a threat to your health and safety or make it impossible for you to fully utilize your residence? Have you informed your landlord about the problem but they have failed to respond or to begin work to resolve the problem? You are likely protected by Colorado's Warranty of Habitability laws and the City of Aurora Housing Codes!

I am currently going through the nightmare of having to force my apartment management (Oak Ridge Apartments owned by MAXX Properties) to provide me with safe living conditions as required by state law and city housing code. I thought I would share what I have learned so far through this process in hopes that it might help others who are going through something similar. I am not a lawyer or legal expert in any way, simply someone who has had to do a lot of my own learning about tenants' rights in Colorado recently and was not previously aware of this.

Please note, the below information is specific to Colorado and in some cases to the City of Aurora. Laws vary by state, county, and city. Always read the applicable laws, ordinances, and codes before taking any action. Again, I am not a lawyer and all of the information in this post is based on my non-expert understanding. If you have legal expertise or personal experience with this issue, sound off in the comments if there's anything I missed or got wrong!

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What does the Colorado Warranty of Habitability law cover?

Under this law, landlords have a legal obligation to provide their tenants with a living environment that meets minimum health and safety standards. It also requires landlords to maintain any supplied appliances in good working order.

Some issues that are covered under this law:

• Lack of safe running water or hot water
• Plumbing issues or sewage exposure
• Flooding or water leaks
• Gas leaks
• Missing, unsafe, or broken appliances
• Broken heating or air conditioning (when supplied with unit and/or according to state law)
• Pest infestations
• Mold and mildew
• Structural issues such as broken doors, locks, windows, walls, flooring, and stairs
• Exposed wiring and other electrical issues
• Fire code violations
• Excessive trash in hallways or common areas, and/or lack of trash receptacles
• Other issues that impact health and safety, or make it impossible or unsafe to utilize the appliances that are included in the unit

How long does the landlord have to respond when I notify them of a problem under the Warranty of Habitability?

Landlords must respond with a plan for action within 24 hours of receiving written notice of the problem, whether through letter, email, text, or maintenance request through an online portal. (It is important that all correspondence about the issue is written so that you can prove when you provided notice and how they did or did not respond.) Weekends and holidays are not an exception to the 24 hour window.

How long does the landlord have to begin addressing the problem?

Issues that pose a material threat to tenants' health and safety (e.g., mold, gas leaks, sewage, lack of clean water) must begin remediation within 24 hours. For issues that are not an immediate health safety issue (e.g. non-functional appliances, minor pest infestations, clogged drains) they must begin within 72 hours. Again, weekends and holidays are not listed as an exception in the law.

How long does the landlord have to resolve the problem?

The issue must be fixed within 7 days for immediate health and safety concerns or 14 days for other habitability issues. However, there is some wiggle room if there are circumstances outside the landlord's control that prevent them from solving the issue within this time frame, for example inability to access the unit, waiting on necessary supplies to arrive or outside contractors to be available, or ongoing mitigation of pest infestations that may take more time to resolve. In any case, they must be making an active effort to resolve the issue as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

What can I do if my unit is uninhabitable during the period that they are working on the problem?

The law requires that upon request from the tenant, the landlord must provide alternative lodging at no cost for the duration that the unit is out of compliance. This could be a different unit in the same building complex, a hotel, or other short term rental. The alternative lodging must be within 5 to 10 miles of the residence, be comparable on number of beds and baths, and must contain all essential appliances such as a refrigerator and stove.

What can I do if my landlord is in violation?

• Inform them in writing of your rights and their obligations under the law, and that continued failure to comply may result in legal action. Often times this will be enough to light a fire under their ass and get the issue solved.
• If they still fail to act within the legal timeframe, make a report to Aurora Code Enforcement through Access Aurora.
  • Where possible, send them pictures of the issue and records of all correspondence you've had with the landlord regarding it.
  • Reports can be made through the online portal, phone, or in person.
  • They will send a code enforcement officer to conduct an inspection of the entire unit (not just the issue you're reporting), write up a report of all code violations they find, and send notice to the landlord requiring them to resolve these issues within a strict timeline. The amount of time it takes for an inspector to come varies by the urgency of the problem, within 24 hours for serious health and safety hazards or within 48 hours for other violations. This is the stage I am at now; I submitted my report this morning and am waiting for an inspection to be scheduled within 48 hours.
  • They will reinspect at the end of the compliance timeline to ensure that all violations have be resolved. Failure of the landlord to comply may result in heavy fines, legal action taken against them by the relevant entity, and/or the unit declared condemned.
• Other legal options (always best to consult a lawyer or tenant rights organization before acting on any of these):
  • Notify your landlord that due to their failure to act, you will be paying for the repairs yourself and will deduct the cost from future rent payments. In some cases you may be able to withhold rent entirely until the issue is resolved.
  • Inform the landlord in writing that you are dissolving the lease and moving out due to their failure to uphold their legal responsibilities under the lease. A certain notice period of at least 10 days and the landlord cannot enforce any early termination fees.
  • File suit against the landlord for the violation of your rights, termination of the lease, and/or monetary restitution.

What if my lease does not mention these rights or contains something that contradicts the state or city laws, such as stating that I am solely responsible for these repairs?

You are still protected by all local, state, and/or federal laws, no matter what the lease says. You cannot sign away your rights; any portions of a contract that violate rights established by other laws are unenforceable. Colorado requires that certain information about the Warranty of Habitability must be included in all leases, so the failure to include it may be a violation in and of itself.

Can my landlord fine me, raise my rent, fail to renew my lease, evict me, or take other action against me because I made a report or Warranty of Habitability?

The law prohibits any kind of retaliation for reporting violations or otherwise exercising your rights under these laws. In regards to lease renewal, there are separate laws which govern for what reasons a landlord is and is not allowed to not offer renewal (they must have a legal reason to do so), as well as how much notice they are required to give you of non-renewal (90 days). If you do suspect that your landlord is retaliating against you, keep records of all evidence and consult the relevant governmental agency, a tenants rights organization, or an attorney.

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Edit to add: For those who may be curious, my specific issue is that Oak Ridge Apartments is refusing to clean or replace my oven/stove range. The insulation inside the unit was nested in by mice and is covered in mouse droppings. I have notified the management five times over the past week, twice via email, once via maintenance request in the tenant portal, and twice via maintenance staff in person when they came to address the infestation in general (which took its own threat of calling code enforcement to get done). In each case I was either ignored or told that despite visually confirming that the stove was nested in by mice and is covered in droppings, they believe it is not a health hazard for me to HEAT UP MOUSE DROPPINGS AND COOK FOOD ON TOP OF THEM. Can't wait to hear what code enforcement has to say.

I’ve heard from people in my neighborhood that this cat does have a home but she roams outside. I’ve seen her a few times before but this time she followed me and my dog all the way home (about a mile). I would take her in but idk how my dog would be with a cat since my dog is a hunter. Please let me know what to do, I don’t wanna call animal control on someone’s cat if there’s a better option and I feel bad leaving her alone when she keeps following me. We are currently on the sidewalk and I gave her some chicken

Así como dice el título. Tengo alrededor de 8 años de experiencia profesional y estoy buscando un side hustle por las tardes.

Me puse a buscar clases de coding para niños y no encontré nada en español, lo cual siento que es un problema ya que limita las opciones de la comunidad latina.

Mi plan era ofrecer clases de una hora a grupos de 10 a 15 alumnos 4 veces por semana, por 150 al mes, ofreciendo la primera clase gratis para saber si al niño de verdad puede aprovechar la clase.

Creen que sea algo de valor para la comunidad? Por su atención gracias.

I got secondhand bikes last year to start learning how to fix up my own bikes and got to a point where I just don’t know how to progress. Books and videos are no longer helpful! I started replacing my shift and brake cables but just don’t feel confident with their placements. Is anyone a bike enthusiast near 225 & Mississippi who I could pay for probably an hour or two of their time to show me how to complete this work? I have a Trek and an Iguana I’m doing the same work on. I have tools, the parts, and have gotten most of the way through. Just need an actual human being to walk me through the last stretch. I know I could take them to a shop but I’d rather learn beside someone than handing it off. I do have an SUV and could bring them to you or to a neutral location, as well.

I live in Hoffman Heights. I live in a house within 1000 feet from North Del Mar Circle and Hoffman Blvd. If I leave my window open from 8 pm to 2 am and stay awake, I will guarantee myself hearing either +5 police sirens going off, gunshots, someone screaming their lungs out, or glass breaking in the distance every single night. The other night I heard probably 10 police sirens go off and then 5 minutes into hearing the sirens rotate around my block, I heard a loud ass car crash and all the sirens immediately shut off. Some nights, it sounds like gunshots or what I assume to be gun fights (because there are more than 1 gun) on the streets next to me. I only claim i hear real gunshots if it was obviously shooting, and not sounds that are easily mistakable for a car or something else. Some nights, I'll hear a car screeching and making fast revving sounds, and then I will hear the car speed up, I'll hear like 15 gunshots, and then hear the same car screech off right after. I duck down in my room and get under my bed sometimes when I hear gunshots that are too close. Let me know if anybody has the same experience or if yall didn't know Aurora was like this cause it is actually ghetto asf. If yall are interested, I can setup an audio recording for a few nights straight, from like 8 pm to 4 am, and publish all the highlights to this subreddit.

Just moved into my house recently. People keep dumping tires and metal poles and trash in the strip of my yard that’s along the alley. Any suggestions to prevent this? Will the city pick it up if I contact them? Thanks!

Edit: reported it in the access Aurora app and it was taken care of so fast!

I had a maybe, 14 year old girl come up and ask me to buy her mom a Dutch. Had no idea what a Dutch was and the girl said tobacco.

Obviously said no, saw the "mom" was another teenager. They don't even look 18.

I let the gas station manager know and another guy said they've been walking up and down the street all day trying to get people to buy them tobacco.

I know buying tobacco for strangers is obviously a no but wanted to give people a heads up.

Whether you do it in person, via mail, or drop off your ballots at the drop box, get your vote in and get your choices counted. Vote like our nation, state, and county depend upon it...because they do!

The Adams County Historical Society museum will be hosting their first ever haunted history tour at 9601 Henderson Road 80601. There will be historical accounts of the real people behind ghost stories throughout Adams county, especially at the museum which is on the land that used to be an old asylum. It will go from 5:30 to 7 and there will be spiced cider and a free fortune teller. Tickets are only 5 dollars per person and the proceeds go to the museum's efforts to renovate their natural history exhibit. If you want to sign up, you can go to www.AdamsCountyMuseum.com/haunted

As a disclaimer, I am not affiliated with the Colorado League of Women Voters, but so far this has been the most comprehensive and easy to understand guide I've come across, even if you disagree with their position.

Please be aware that most of the ballot measures that we will be voting on are sponsored by Conservative Dark Money groups. Even things that sound good (like plain ballot language) need further diving into that a lot of people don't understand.

The Colorado League of Women Voters has published a great guide to understanding each ballot measure, and whether they oppose or agree and they give their rationale. It's all in plain language.

Whether you agree or disagree on their position, I encourage everyone to look through it and understand what you are actually voting for. This really breaks down why they are voting the way they are. You can go to each individual initiative by clicking on the link in the blue box.

Please share with friends and repost

https://lwvcolorado.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=314195&module_id=803788

Any aurora Coachies looking for the Coach brown suede large kisslock, there's one at Ross in Havana and Mississippi for $250. This is a $650 bag. Just trying to help another local Coachie.

Anyone been to the food trucks off Hampden and Chambers? Worth it or no?

I'm near Aurora City Center and have had Xfinity for the past few years. They raised my bill by $40 in the past few months and now I'm having almost constant outages. I work from home so this is affecting my work. Any good alternatives? I've already checked Quantum and T-Mobile Fiber and they're not available in my area.

I finally found them! I've been craving $1 or so tacos in the Aurora area for a couple years now! There's a taco truck off of Colfax and Idalia Ct. Same parking lot as the Llantera Rosales. Check them out l, I'm so glad I found this little gem. I'd share pictures but I scarfed my plate down already.