Sell a rental with problem tenants in Colorado Springs, CO: non-payment, damage, unauthorized occupants and lease violations, Colorado's 10-day demand and county court process, what HB24-1098 allows, and how a cash buyer takes the tenant and the problem at closing. Written offer within 24 hours of our visit.
Problem tenants come in familiar forms. The tenant in the Southeast rental who paid for two years and then stopped when the car broke down. The one in Security-Widefield with three unauthorized roommates and two dogs the lease prohibits. The one who refuses entry for repairs and then reports the landlord for the condition of the house. The one whose damage you saw once, through the door, and have not been allowed to see since. Colorado's process for these situations is specific and slow enough to be exhausting: demands, county court filings, hearings, a writ, and a sheriff's schedule, all while the mortgage is paid from your own pocket. Owners in this position have usually decided they would rather be done than win.
Colorado Springs Cash Buyers buys rentals with difficult tenants across Colorado Springs and El Paso County. We buy as-is, with the tenant in place and the arrears unpaid, and the eviction or the negotiation becomes ours after closing. This page explains the Colorado process you would otherwise face, how we handle an occupied sale with an uncooperative tenant, how we price the situation, and what you avoid by selling now.
What Colorado requires to remove a problem tenant
Nonpayment requires a written 10-day demand for payment or possession before an eviction case, called a forcible entry and detainer, can be filed in El Paso County Court. Lease violations require a demand to cure or quit with its own period. After filing, the tenant is served, a return date is set, and if the tenant answers, a hearing follows; Colorado's recent changes added mediation rights for some tenants and defenses based on habitability. If the landlord prevails, a judgment for possession issues, a writ of restitution follows after a short wait, and the sheriff schedules the removal. From demand to sheriff is commonly six to ten weeks when uncontested and longer when it is not, during which no rent is paid and the house is in the tenant's hands.
HB24-1098 and non-renewal
Owners sometimes plan to simply not renew a difficult tenant's lease. Since 2024, after twelve months of tenancy, non-renewal is allowed only for listed reasons, which include substantial lease violations, repeated late payment and refusal to allow lawful entry, as well as no-fault reasons like sale with 90 days' notice. The law requires the reason to be documented, and a tenant can contest it. Owner-occupied properties with three or fewer units are exempt. For an owner who wants out, the cleaner route is to sell to a buyer who takes the tenancy and applies the law afterward.
How we handle an occupied sale with an uncooperative tenant
We ask for the lease, the payment history and any notices or court filings. If the tenant refuses entry, we price from the exterior, the records and your description, and our contract has no inspection period, so what we find later is our risk. At closing the lease, the deposit and the arrears transfer to us, and we proceed under Colorado law: a 10-day demand if needed, a negotiated move-out with cash if that is faster, or the county court process. You receive your proceeds and are out of it.
How we price it
From the renovated resale value of the house we subtract the repairs we expect, including damage we cannot yet see, the cost and time of resolving the tenancy, our carrying and resale costs and a margin. A tenant who is simply behind costs less to resolve than one with a contested case; the difference is modest relative to the house. The written offer arrives within 24 hours and does not change afterward. We pay the customary closing costs and there is no commission.
What you avoid
Two to four more months of mortgage payments without rent. Court filings, hearings and the risk of a habitability counterclaim. A move-out that leaves the house damaged with no deposit to cover it. The temptation to do something Colorado law prohibits, like changing locks or shutting off utilities, which creates liability. And the retail listing afterward, of a house that needs a full turn, into a market that takes roughly two months to find a buyer.
Next step
Send the address, the lease, the arrears and any notices or case numbers. We visit the exterior within a day or two, and the interior if the tenant allows, deliver a written offer within 24 hours, and close in about a week after a clean title search. The tenant becomes our tenant, and our problem, at closing.
Selling to us vs. a traditional listing in Colorado Springs, CO
| Comparison | Traditional agent | For sale by owner | Colorado Springs Cash Buyers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash offer | Rarely | Rarely | Yes |
| Sell as-is | Repairs expected | Repairs expected | Yes |
| Time to a contract | roughly two months in Colorado Springs now | Often longer | 24 hours after the visit |
| Agent commission | About 6% | Buyer's agent usually paid | None |
| Closing costs | Paid by seller | Paid by seller | Customary costs paid by us |
| Showings | Yes | Yes | One visit |
| Financing fall-through | Possible | Possible | None, we fund it |
| Price cut after inspection | Common | Common | No inspection period |
| Closing date | Lender's schedule | Buyer's schedule | Yours |
We buy houses in Colorado Springs for any reason, any condition, or any challenge
Every link below is a page written for that situation in Colorado Springs and El Paso County.