Anyone know Colorado Rental law?

[PhL0aTeR]

a bit long winded, no smartasses please.....

She and i have been together for a couple years now. In mid 2007, she had a couple months left on her 6 month lease, just lost her job, so she tried to talk to the manager about getting released from the lease, unfortunately she didnt get anything in writing. Needless to say, we moved in together at that time and life went on. We ended up moving to texas for a short time and then came back to colorado in june of 2008. Earlier this month she got served with papers and we find out she is being sued by the apartments for $1421.17 (Rent-$593.67, Late fees-$35, repairs-$62.50, Locks/Keys-$45, Termination fee-$685, Eviction-$200, less a $200 Security deposit). I told her she should call the lawyers and see if the apartments would take a lump sum settlement in lieu of making payments on the full amount. She attempted that and it got turned down. Now they have sent her a "Financial Questionnaire For Payment Schedule" so that she can make payments....

So she sent off the financial disclosure and they replied with a call and she called them back today and they discussed a payment plan, only now the sum has jumped from 1400 and change to 1900 and change, it is assumable this is legal fees and whatnot.

I didnt have a problem paying the 1400 and change as this is a mistake she made, gotta own up and pay it..... but here we face an extra $500 just because its gone to legal. In collections, its my understanding the collections agency can only go after the amount of debt, but the original debt seeker settles for around half, and anything over half, the collections company gets to keep. Obviously this is a different animal and i cant help but think the apartments have an obligation to seek her out via certified mail or something else before just turning it over to a lawyer and have them tack on an extra $500 to the bill....

it also bears to mention that she called the apartments today and asked for copies of the certified letters they sent to try and collect, but they said they dont send certified letters, but claimed to send mail to her at our current address to make attempts to collect but we never received anything.

Again, i have no problem paying the 1400 and change to put it behind me but if there was a step they failed to take to send it to legal, then i dont feel we should be the ones paying them $500 to collect 1400 in money that we are more than willing to pay.... had we received something from her apartments before, we would have paid it.

What say you?

[PhL0aTeR]

I guess a better way to ask my question is this.....

Is it legal in the state of Colorado to immediately resort to suing someone to collect a debt that you previously have not attempted to collect?

[rforsythe]

Given that you just now found out about it and attempted to deal with it promptly, I'd send them the $1400 and tell them to kiss your ass.

Now, the initial amount doesn't sound like you're being sued just yet, it sounds more like "pay this now or we file zee papers". Once a lawyer files papers with the courts, legal fees will start accruing and the cost is going to go way up.

[Foolds]

Yes, In Colorado you don't have to make other attempts. My guess is they didn't know where she went/ didn't get a forwarding address.

I would call and discuss a settlement with the attorneys from the other party before hiring your own attorney.

[PhL0aTeR]

Yes, In Colorado you don't have to make other attempts. My guess is they didn't know where she went/ didn't get a forwarding address.

where would one find and read this info? Seems kinda f'ed up that if a guy owes me $20, i can take him to court without even trying to collect, then make him pay $500 in court fees, when i should have just asked the dude if he could gimmie my $25

I would call and discuss a settlement with the attorneys from the other party before hiring your own attorney.

I told her she should call the lawyers and see if the apartments would take a lump sum settlement in lieu of making payments on the full amount. She attempted that and it got turned down.

[Mental]

It would seem your are kinda screwed. The trouble is they can make a hassle for you right or worng. Its standard business practice. If they annoy the crap out of you they get their money.

I had a similar smaller instance where a collection agenciy tried to collect money on a 5 year old debt I didn't owe. The put a blip on my record and started calling. I found out who it was got an address and started to document everything.

Start here;
http://www.ago.state.co.us/CADC/PDF/cabrules.pdf

Rule 2.03 Costs of Collection
(1) No collection agency shall add, collect, or attempt to collect a charge for costs of collection unless such costs are expressly authorized by statute or by the contract, agreement, note, or other instrument creating the debt and are not otherwise prohibited by law.
(2) No licensee shall advise, suggest, or request that a client add collection costs to any existing debt unless such costs are specifically authorized by statute.
(3) If a statute, contract, agreement, note, or other instrument specifically authorizes the addition of collection costs and such costs are collected, the licensee may retain only those collection costs exclusive of attorney fees and court costs as its fee or commission for the collection of the debt, unless otherwise agreed to in writing with the assignor.
(4) No collection agency shall add, collect, or attempt to collect costs of collection pursuant to § 13-21-109(1)(b) (II), C.R.S. on any dishonored check, draft, or payment order payable to it unless the check is assigned for collection to another collection agency not owned in whole or in part by the payee collection agency.

More good info here:
http://www.ago.state.co.us/CADC/CADCmain.cfm.html

Now regarding the certified letters, no, they do not have to mail certified letters, but if you dig in and fight, they are going to have a hard time fighting you becuase they cannot prove they even tried to contact you.

First you need to decide your resolve on this, these folks thrive on just wearing peaple out. You cannot fight part of this debt, you need to take on the whole debt with the intention of settling (but they have no need to know that).

First, reference the Colorado Consumer website above. Write a letter referencing the actual regulation numbers and inform them you are disputing the entire debt. Also, IAW with law, tell them they are no longer to contact you regarding it (very legal). Send it Certified mail. Now you have proof and they don't. In fact all correspondence needs to be certified mail.

Next, if the collection is a law office or the rental compnay, ask for the collection liscence number. File a complaint against them for unfair practices. Cite they made no attempt, the verbal agreement, and the legal fees. You will probably lose, but now you are on the offense and they are on the defense.

Then offer to pay the original 1400 and get a legal notorized document saying that this is the end of it. You are on the downside right now and they will continue to bully you becuase they can get away with it. Once you establish yourself as a fighter they are going to want to get rid of you as soon as possible and start with the next guy. You just have to be prepared for some hassle.

If this shows up on yours/her credit report, you might get an insurance hike and some other stuff, deposits for utlities and the like. But once you formally refute the collection, you can also forward the letter to the three credit agencies (certified). They are required by law to verify this with the agency that owns the debt. That compnay only has 60 - 90 days to verify it. They usually can't becuase the section that calls you is different and the pure buracracy of the company bust the window. Then your send another certified letter to the big 3 insisting it be removed and make sure it is. In the middle of this they might sell this to a crappy more agressive collection agency and you wil need to to the above stuff again. But when they start ignoring your request to stop calling, they quickly get into a lot of trouble, espcially in Colorado. I mean like peaple get fired and compnaies get fines kinda trouble. This is where documentation comes in.

Its a lot of work, a lot of documentation and some payout on your part, but tencity wins in this battle.

Good luck.

[TFOGGuys]

(a bunch of good advice)

Or, find out where their office is locally, and wipe a big booger on the doorknob.....

[MetaLord 9]

A lot of this also depends on what the hell it says in her lease. If it says in her lease that after x amount of months without payment or at the termination of the lease term, should any payment still remain outstanding then Owner retains the right to persue payment by any means neccessary at the cost of renter, then you're screwed. If it's more open than that you've got wiggle room & you can start poke'n holes. Is this a major rental company, a one-off company, or is this an individual? Depending on the size of the company and their pockets, it might not even be worth it. We have plenty of lawyers on our side who make a living doing exactly this and getting away with only paying $500 extra in fees compared to the couple grand I'd need to higher a lawyer.

4005

[PhL0aTeR]

It would seem your are kinda screwed. The trouble is they can make a hassle for you right or worng. Its standard business practice. If they annoy the crap out of you they get their money.

I had a similar smaller instance where a collection agenciy tried to collect money on a 5 year old debt I didn't owe. The put a blip on my record and started calling. I found out who it was got an address and started to document everything.

Start here;
http://www.ago.state.co.us/CADC/PDF/cabrules.pdf



More good info here:
http://www.ago.state.co.us/CADC/CADCmain.cfm.html

Now regarding the certified letters, no, they do not have to mail certified letters, but if you dig in and fight, they are going to have a hard time fighting you becuase they cannot prove they even tried to contact you.

First you need to decide your resolve on this, these folks thrive on just wearing peaple out. You cannot fight part of this debt, you need to take on the whole debt with the intention of settling (but they have no need to know that).

First, reference the Colorado Consumer website above. Write a letter referencing the actual regulation numbers and inform them you are disputing the entire debt. Also, IAW with law, tell them they are no longer to contact you regarding it (very legal). Send it Certified mail. Now you have proof and they don't. In fact all correspondence needs to be certified mail.

Next, if the collection is a law office or the rental compnay, ask for the collection liscence number. File a complaint against them for unfair practices. Cite they made no attempt, the verbal agreement, and the legal fees. You will probably lose, but now you are on the offense and they are on the defense.

Then offer to pay the original 1400 and get a legal notorized document saying that this is the end of it. You are on the downside right now and they will continue to bully you becuase they can get away with it. Once you establish yourself as a fighter they are going to want to get rid of you as soon as possible and start with the next guy. You just have to be prepared for some hassle.

If this shows up on yours/her credit report, you might get an insurance hike and some other stuff, deposits for utlities and the like. But once you formally refute the collection, you can also forward the letter to the three credit agencies (certified). They are required by law to verify this with the agency that owns the debt. That compnay only has 60 - 90 days to verify it. They usually can't becuase the section that calls you is different and the pure buracracy of the company bust the window. Then your send another certified letter to the big 3 insisting it be removed and make sure it is. In the middle of this they might sell this to a crappy more agressive collection agency and you wil need to to the above stuff again. But when they start ignoring your request to stop calling, they quickly get into a lot of trouble, espcially in Colorado. I mean like peaple get fired and compnaies get fines kinda trouble. This is where documentation comes in.

Its a lot of work, a lot of documentation and some payout on your part, but tencity wins in this battle.

Good luck.

how about just putting you on retainer?

j/k thanks for the advice, ill pick this up monday.

[BeoBe]

I think they have to show an attempt to collect the debt but its kinda a thin line.. the way the courts will look at it is that you owed a debt and its been X amount of time that it has gone without being paid etc..

Sadly you didn't sign any release papers on the rental stating you were going to be takin off the lease and the residence up for rent.

The + to this is the rental company (apt complex etc.) Will have to show legal paperwork proving that the said time of leaving the property they were putting the apt, house etc on the market or papers and what not to rent out. If the apt was rented (say you paid march rent and moved out middle of march and the apt was rented out to another tennant in april) You would only be responsible for any cleaning, locks etc that were needed to prep the house for a new tennant.

Like i said the plus to that is they have to show that if you left in march that they had the thing running in the paper showing an attempt to get the residence rented etc...

I had to go through this with a couple landlords cause they were being stupid and thought they got away scott free and in the end they only got their cleaning bills