Tenants rights debated at the Statehouse

    DENVER - Tenant-landlord disputes moved to the state Capitol on Thursday, as the two sides faced off over a bill that would give renters more rights and protection.

    A bill introduced by Rep. Mike Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, would let tenants break leases and seek damages from landlords under certain circumstances.

    Merrifield said the impetus for the bill was an exposé by The Gazette in 2003 revealing code violations at apartment complexes owned by Terry Ragan.

    Merrifield's bill would be limited to situations where a tenant's life, health or safety were at risk or a landlord refused to make repairs after repeated requests.
    "It will not affect good, responsible landlords," Merrifield said.

    The bill brought out over two dozen people to testify. Proponents regaled members of the House Business Affairs and Labor committee with tales of landlords who refused to fix plumbing, repair heaters or allow newly disabled tenants out of their leases despite refusing to make accommodations for their handicaps.

    Most of those complaints, however, would not have met the threshold for a tenant to break their lease required under Merrifield's proposal, Leslie Ebert of Colorado Legal Services said.

    Opponents said they agreed with the bill's intent but believed its language was too vague. They said it might increase the number of tenants trying to skip out on their obligations.

    "You can't turn a good tenant into a bad tenant just by giving them rights," said lobbyist and congressional candidate Sheila Hicks, who supports the bill.

    Lobbyists representing landlords also claimed a clause would allow tenants to break a lease if common areas like tennis courts and swimming pools were not maintained to their liking. The bill requires that a problem substantially limit a tenant's use of a unit.

    Most states have laws similar to Merrifield's, but tenant's rights legislation has failed repeatedly in Colorado. Merrifield thought he would succeed this time, after he spent months negotiating with the Colorado Apartment Association, a group representing landlords.

    Any prospective deal fell through before the hearing, and a vote was rescheduled for next week. Merrifield said he is cautiously optimistic that the bill would pass, provided the other side negotiated in good faith.

    "We're not going to start all over again and have them throw out things we agreed to," Merrifield said.