Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Colorado

security deposit

To whom this may concern,

I recently moved out of a condo that I was renting. I moved out on April 30th and the lease ended on July 31st. My landlord placed adds in the paper and I also did some advertising on my own and helped to re-rent this place before the lease was up. She did finally get someone to rent the place and they moved in July 1st. I did pay for 2 months of rent even though I wasn't living there. My question is about the security deposit. One more quick item to mention is that there was no CHECK -IN/CHECK-OUT sheet. My security deposit was $650. She is trying to only give me $266 back out of that. My two questions are:

1) She is holding $100 for cleaning (scrubbing the tub, toilet,walls, floor.......basic cleaning that I had done but she claims was needed.)

2) She is also holding $284 for newspaper ad's.

No where in my lease does it state anything about the newspaper ad's or the cleaning. I left the place just as is was when I moved in. I have looked at Colorado law, Section 38-12-10. Any Ideas? or do I lose my money?


Asked on 7/22/02, 2:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jason Savela The Savela Law Firm, PC

Re: security deposit

Make sure the lease is very clear about how to turn over the apartment. The cleaning provision is normal and usually included and $100 is actually less than I am used to. But, if there is no cleaning portion to the lease, it may be that they took this without authorization. As for the re-rent newspaper costs, is there anything in the lease about that? Probably not. You are required to pay this in general, but you can argue that they would have had to pay for it at the end of the lease anyway and therefore, it is not appropriate to charge you.

This is really a small claims court claim. You do not need a lawyer, but know that the other side will likely get one. Make sure that your lease does not indicate that you have to pay attorney costs in a dispute. Even if it does not, you might be ordered to pay attorney costs if you lose.

At the end of this analysis, you have to ask yourself if it is worth it to you. You might go to the CU or DU law library and look for a book on landlord-tenant law or order one from Colorado Bar Association website. Truth be told, it is probably not worth the time and energy, but that is how they get away with it.

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Answered on 7/22/02, 7:02 pm


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