House adopts bill creating limited receivership for severely neglected rental properties

House passes measure expanding enforcement for habitability violations

The Colorado House on April 24 passed Senate Bill 20, a measure sponsors said will give state and local authorities additional tools to enforce existing landlord-tenant law when rental properties fall into severe disrepair.

The bill matters because it creates a narrowly defined process for courts to appoint independent receivers to take control of buildings where a court finds a continuing violation of the warranty of habitability that threatens health and safety and where the landlord has a pattern of neglect. Sponsors and opponents debated scope, protections for owners and impacts on small landlords.

Representative Lindsey, a sponsor, told the House the bill is meant to help “cities and counties enforce already existing landlord tenant law” and to address properties so neglected that tenants lack basic services "like running water, working heat, working doors and locks, trash service, and it's free from things like mold, rodents, and bugs." Lindsey said the bill builds on last year’s SB 94 and…