In Colorado, Do I Need an Attorney to Draft My Residential Property Lease?
For Licensed Brokers: Yes - Colorado law requires that an attorney draft your lease. The lease must include an attorney-drafting disclosure.
For Property Owners that Self-Manage: While it is not legally required to use an attorney drafted lease, it is very risky to use outdated form leases or basic lease forms found on the internet.
Leasing a residential property is a great way to earn extra income, but there are many legalities involved. You must comply with the law from the very beginning, including when you draft a lease. In Colorado, the residential rental laws have become very complicated. Since 2020 Colorado has completely overhauled its landlord-tenant laws. These laws require leases to contain certain disclosures and also prohibit certain provisions. Most boilerplate form leases do not comply with these laws, exposing the Landlord and Property Managers to major liability. Using these leases risks your investment in your rental business and more. For this reason, it is necessary to obtain a lease from a Colorado lawyer that is well-versed with state leasing regulations, fair housing, and tenant rights. For those not familiar with these regulations, the landlord-tenant laws in Colorado can be overwhelming and confusing. A professionally drafted lease will work to protect you from the legal risks these new laws present. Your investment is too important not to protect it with the simple step of using a strong lease.
Protect Your Rental Property
When you rent your property to tenants, you are placing your property in their hands, and some tenants are not who they pretend to be when applying. Tenant rental application laws in Colorado now protect tenants from much of their sordid past, making it difficult for Landlords to manage the risk of letting in bad tenants. After handing your property keys to new tenants, it is the Lease where you will find the most important protections to your investment. It is critical that there are well-stated rules and requirements for tenants to follow to ensure that your property is protected. Most online form leases provide the mere basics and are not designed to provide Landlords with adequate protection from various risks. A Colorado compliant lease can ensure that you are best protected from the many risks involved in leasing rental property in Colorado and help you maintain the most control over your property.
Don’t Fall in a Trap / Know Your Rights
Colorado Landlords are wise to be on top of all the recent changes to Colorado law impacting their investment. For example, a Landlord may only increase rent every twelve (12) months of consecutive occupancy by a tenant. Most form leases found online, or given by a colleague or friend are basic and outdated. These basic form leases provide Landlords no guidance, and often the provisions in the basic form lease are without context, are not explained, and do not leave the Landlord a choice as to how to use or modify the lease provision. Ceglian Law, PC has designed a Landlord Lease Package for Landlords of any knowledge base, that contains the need-to-know laws in the Lease itself, so you can refer to the Lease to stay compliant with Colorado law. Additionally, the Colorado Landlord Lease Package includes instruction videos explaining the Lease.
You Can Specify for Your Situation
Too often, landlords take shortcuts and try to find free or cheap basic lease agreements online to protect their valuable assets. This is a mistake. These templates are not intended to handle the common situations that landlord’s face, nor are they compliant with Colorado law. Most landlord-tenant situations are best handled with a well-written lease. Leaving things uncertain, entering into an unlawful transaction, and leaving it to a judge to decide how the situation should be handled, is no way to manage your important asset.
Successful investors use professional rental applications, leasing, and property management forms that protect the landlord from liability in common situations. Most Colorado Lease forms and templates you find online will not cover common situations, which leaves the parties without answers when problems arise. The Ceglian Law, PC Landlord Lease Package is best suited for Colorado landlords, protecting you and your investment from uncertainties that are certain to come. Don’t wait for the next tenant lawsuit to find out your basic or outdated lease does not protect you as you thought. Invest in the Colorado Landlord Lease Package today!
Keeping it Legal, While Letting You be Creative
Lease agreements are essentially contracts between you and your tenants. It is easy to think that a quick verbal agreement or a lease online will suffice for the situation, because nobody wants to spend money on a lease. Investors do not think that way. Rather, investors consider the strong value of professional documents to protect their investment and stay out of trouble. But even if you are not an investor, do you really want to trust your property to a handshake deal or a basic template lease. This is your home, protect it.
Some landlords try to craft the lease themselves, but without fully understanding local, state, and federal landlord-tenant laws such efforts typically do not adequately protect the landlord, or worse, will create an unlawful transaction. While being creative has its place, crafty words may have zero value to a judge and may land you in hot water. For example, each party must give valid consideration to the other party. Accordingly, if the lease agreement is grossly unfair to one side, it might not be enforced if there is an issue in the future. Ceglian Law, PC has the answer. Using the Ceglian Law, PC Colorado Landlord Lease Package will best protect your investment, while still leaving you room to be creative.
Peace of Mind
When you purchase a lease drafted by a Colorado licensed attorney, you know you have a better chance of being protected. When purchasing a lease drafted by a Colorado licensed attorney that specializes in property management law and has decades of experience, the odds are now stacked in your favor. You will have better peace of mind knowing that you have a solid lease to protect your rights and your property and get you the best outcome when. Invest in the Ceglian Law, PC Colorado Landlord Lease Package today!