My tenants are causing disturbance to the whole neighborhood. What do I do in this situation?

Full question:

I own a square plot in Fort Collins, Colorado which is divided into four smaller plots. Each of these plots has a 1200 sq. ft. fully furnished house. These are rented out to different families. For the first time, I rented out one of them to a couple of college students. Things have taken a bad turn. The premise of the house is always messed up and they have parties that disrupt the whole neighborhood. In the past two months, I have had to engage people twice to clean the premise. What do I do in this situation?

• Category: Landlord Tenant
• Subcategory: Residential Lease
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Colorado

Answer:

Just as the tenancy laws in Colorado fixes certain duties and responsibilities on the landlord, there are duties and responsibilities fixed up on the tenants as well. They are enumerated in C.R.S. 38-12-504 which reads:
 

“(1) In addition to any duties imposed upon a tenant by a rental agreement, every tenant of a residential premises has a duty to use that portion of the premises within the tenant's control in a reasonably clean and safe manner. A tenant fails to maintain the premises in a reasonably clean and safe manner when the tenant substantially fails to:
(a) Comply with obligations imposed upon tenants by applicable provisions of building, health, and housing codes materially affecting health and safety;
(b) Keep the dwelling unit reasonably clean, safe, and sanitary as permitted by the conditions of the unit;
(c) Dispose of ashes, garbage, rubbish, and other waste from the dwelling unit in a clean, safe, sanitary, and legally compliant manner;
(d) Use in a reasonable manner all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, elevators, and other facilities and appliances in the dwelling unit;
(e) Conduct himself or herself and require other persons in the residential premises within the tenant's control to conduct themselves in a manner that does not disturb their neighbors' peaceful enjoyment of the neighbors' dwelling unit; or
(f) Promptly notify the landlord if the residential premises is uninhabitable as defined in section 38-12-505 or if there is a condition that could result in the premises becoming uninhabitable if not remedied.
(2) In addition to the duties set forth in subsection (1) of this section, a tenant shall not knowingly, intentionally, deliberately, or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair, or remove any part of the residential premises or knowingly permit any person within his or her control to do so.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize a modification of a landlord's obligations under the warranty of habitability.”
 

If the above duties are breached by the tenant, as in the given case, the landlord may recover any damages sustained from the tenant, sue the tenant for the damages, recover the cost of damages from the security deposit or start eviction proceedings against them.