Tenants vs. landlords: when Colorado renters don't know where to go for maintenance & repairs

The recent focus on living conditions at Aurora apartment complexes highlights an issue we hear a lot about in our newsroom.

Tenants contacting us when their building is without heat or water, battling pest infestations or no A/C during a heat wave.

As more and more properties in Colorado are owned by limited liability corporations or LLCs, it can be difficult for a renter to know who to hold accountable for keeping their living space in top condition. So we took a closer look at how these industry changes affect Coloradans.

Michelle Colarelli has lived in her Denver apartment building for 14 years. She often works from home as an instructional designer at a university.

She and the son she's raised at the apartment never had a complaint when their property manager was on site every day.

Colarelli said, "The common spaces were always clean. Our laundry was always functional. I just never struggled. I never had an incident to honestly report."

All that changed when the building was sold to an LLC two years ago and the upkeep of the property went to a real estate management company.

"Everything's electronic and so there's no, hardly, little human interaction," explained Colarelli about how maintenance issues are addressed now.  "You send in a ticket. It oftentimes takes weeks for something to be repaired. If it does get repaired, there's little or no communication about it while you're waiting."

That company - Deerwoods Real Estate Management - says in its "About Us:  "Our foremost responsibilities are to ensure the safety of our tenants and the protection of our owner's assets… Our main goal is to achieve the highest possible return on investment for our owners."

In Colorado, according to its website, Deerwoods manages more than 100 residential properties, and 65 multi-unit apartment buildings, exceeding 1400 units.

And regarding the building where Colarelli lives, its CEO Ben Lauer told us in a statement that Deerwoods has, "Engaged in implementing a host of capital improvements to improve the security of the building, curb appeal and upkeep, and general living experience for our resident base." 

Over two years, Colarelli saw her rent double. She says there were cosmetic renovations too, but the commitment to security and cleanliness, and responsiveness to tenants isn't there, she says. Doors to access the buildings don't automatically lock, which she says raises safety concerns.

And residents track and send photos of litter, lack of upkeep, appliance problems, and oil spills.

"I'm always being told that they need to get permission from the owner or that an external vendor is going to come and help clean or do whatever it is that we're requesting, and then we have to wait. And a lot of times there's no resolution and when there is, it's just so delayed. And then sometimes they tell us we have to pay for it," said Colarelli.

Lauer responded, "We have concluded that the building is being managed properly, and many of the perspectives shared with you seem to be ungrounded at this time… Additionally, as it relates to cleaning, upkeep, and work order responsiveness, our staff are typically on-site at this building weekly, we have a routine professional cleaning and grounds service in place, and we solicit feedback from our residents to address and improve any issues that arise. Within the past 2 weeks, we have actually conducted an intensive unit-by-unit inspection of the building to proactively get out in front of issues and gather input from residents. The majority of our residents expressed satisfaction living in this building, and some did offer suggestions related to minor things they would like to see happen, which we have tracked and are working through. Moreover, the fire department recently inspected the building and verified that there are no safety or code issues."

Still, Colarelli says she has to exert considerable energy to get others to care about maintenance, and that it's taking a psychological toll.

Zach Neumann with the Colorado Economic Defense Project says his organization sees tenants like Colarelli all the time, frustrated by landlords who are less than attentive.

Neumann said, "Housing is fundamental. Housing is critical, and it's really hard for people in Denver and across the state of Colorado when this like essential thing they need to live and survive is owned by an anonymous LLC, that's owned by another anonymous LLC, that's owned by yet another anonymous LLC."

Neumann says when properties are bought up by LLC's far removed from residents, prices tend to go up, while the quality of life goes down.

"The folks who own the property are so so distant from the people receiving the service that there's really a loss of connection between the two sides of the equation," added Neumann.

Through open records requests, we found top code violators in Aurora and Denver and tried to follow the trail of ownership.

A top violator in Denver is owned by the same firm owning the buildings stirring all the controversy in Aurora, CBZ Property Management.

The complex on Nome street and its scores of displaced residents are an extreme example of what happens when the tenant - landlord relationship is ruptured beyond repair.

But Drew Hamrick with the Colorado Apartment Association says the legal framework for rental housing has gotten so complex, you have to be a sophisticated real estate company to figure out compliance. The Association publishes a handbook.

"The current status of that book is here, this is phone book size," Hamrick demonstrated, "We've made it so complex to own and loan a housing unit to someone else - that people are fleeing the business."

Hamrick said that complex investments in real estate are now commonplace and that these investments, including those managed by out of state entities are a good for Colorado, "Most of the money that goes into Colorado real estate comes from either insurance companies investing their premiums or retirement accounts. Trade unions are particularly large contributors to housing investment, and it's a net positive for Colorado to have out of state money owning real estate here."

Colarelli has a message for the investors seeking the highest possible dollar return from the place where she lives: "We're real people. We really, we matter. Our homes are supposed to be sacred, and we should come home and feel at home and feel capable of just being at ease. And when we're not, that's a serious problem."

One thing all our sources agree on is you should never let maintenance issues go unaddressed. Act quickly. And seek assistance, whether that means talking to a lawyer or an advocacy organization. Once management or other residents start to disregard the importance of cleanliness and safety, that's when you see the quality of life at a residential property deteriorate very quickly.

Also do your homework on property managers, see what other tenants have experienced. Some managers, of course, are better than others.

This year the state updated its warranty of habitability law with passage of SB24-094, the Safe Housing for Residential Tenants Act. It provides time frames for when a landlord must communicate with the tenant and commence remedial action after having notice of a condition related to the habitability of a residential property.

Other resources: Colorado Poverty Law Project and Colorado Economic Defense Project.