Where to Begin—A Guide to Off-Campus Living
Signing a Lease
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Background
The landlord/tenant relationship is one of the oldest and most historic legal relationships in the law. Although there are a few Colorado statutes that control certain aspects of the landlord/tenant relationship, generally the duties and obligations of a landlord and a tenant are defined by the lease. Because of this, it is vitally important to not just read a lease, but to actually understand the consequences and benefits of the lease terms. The lease, in Colorado, is "the law" when it comes to the rights and obligations of a tenant.
Get it in Writing!
So, what exactly is a lease? A lease is a legally binding contract in which, simply enough, one party (the landlord) agrees to give the other party (the tenant) temporary possession of a premises in return for money. Although Colorado state law only requires that leases for more than one year be in writing, Boulder has adopted a local ordinance that requires ALL residential leases to be in writing. Even in the absence of any legal requirement, it is always a good idea to have a written lease for several reasons. First, it is proof of your right to possession of your residence. Second, having the provisions of a lease in writing will avoid disputes before they arise. Third, if the lease terms are not in writing, ultimately a judge would have to resolve any disputes by determining what the lease terms are based on the prior actions of the landlord and tenant. This means that you could end up being legally bound by a lease provision you didn’t realize existed or didn’t intend on agreeing to in the first place!
Rights, Obligations, and the Art of Negotiating
A lease will give the tenant the right to possession of the premises to the exclusion of all others, just as someone who owns their home. However, the lease does not give the tenant absolute right or control of the property. For instance, a tenant obviously would not have the ability to sell the property and, similar to the rental of a car, has a duty to maintain the property so that it is returned in reasonably the same condition as when the lease commenced. In addition, a landlord retains the absolute right to enter the premises periodically to make sure the property is being maintained. These are all aspects of a lease which will be discussed in greater detail in this handbook.
In some states, there are laws that control the principle terms of a lease. For example, New York has rent control laws, which limit the amount of rent a landlord can charge. In California, there are laws that allow the tenant to repair the premises and then deduct the cost of the repairs from the monthly rent. Because there are no such laws in Colorado which expressly control the principle terms of a lease, whatever terms the parties agree to in the lease are going to govern the how much, when's, and where's of the rental of residential property. This means that each party can negotiate the terms of a lease to their benefit. However, the leverage or negotiating power each party has in signing a lease will depend largely on the market conditions in any given location.
Currently, the rental market in the Boulder area is very "soft," meaning there are more rental units available than tenants to fill them. Because of this, CU students are in a more favorable position as tenants and have a lot more bargaining power than they have had in past years. With very few exceptions, any and all terms of a lease are negotiable. The terms of a lease that aren't legally negotiable are generallyfor the protection of the tenant -- - such as the time within which a landlord must return the security deposit, the requirement that the landlord provide a written itemization of damages withheld from a security deposit, or the payment of interest on the security deposit (specific only to Boulder). In addition, certain provisions may be deemed unenforceable for the protection of the tenant, such as any rules that require the tenant to waive or forfeit certain statutory rights or that impose penalties for breaking the lease early. Again, we'll come back to these aspects later in the The Guide.
Keep a Copy and Keep it Handy!
What is important to know is that when you encounter a problem with a landlord, the first thing to do is look at your lease and determine if the terms of the lease address the issue at hand. If the lease provisions do not address the issue or if the landlord has violated the relevant lease term, you may wish to seek further advice -- CU students should contact OCSS for further assistance. Secondly, especially given the soft rental market, you should be aware that both the amount of rent and the length of the lease are negotiable and you don't necessarily need to accept the first offer a landlord makes. You might be surprised what the effect on a landlord is when a tenant says, “That’s too expensive, I have several more properties to look at that are much cheaper!” Even if the landlord walks away in a huff or pretends not to care, in many instances the landlord may be quite willing to reduce the rent later on.
Finally, because the lease is "the law" of the landlord/tenant relationship, it is important to keep a copy (preferably one with both parties' signatures). You should buy a separate file folder or notebook specifically for the lease and other documents regarding your rental housing. As will be discussed later on, ANY communication with a landlord should be in writing and you should keep a copy -- this includes agreements to modify the lease provisions, requests for repairs, requests to sublet, and any other relevant documents. The biggest problems in landlord/tenant disputes invariably occur because the tenants either didn't get a copy of a lease or lost their copy. If you don't have a copy of the lease, you don't have any way of proving the landlord is in violation of the lease, other than your word against the landlord’s word.