What rights do I have as a paying tenant

By 1ndnvr

Before the recession, I’d owned some place of my own for 10 year.  The apartment I’ve been in for a year and a half now (and am leaving)  is the first complex rental since the 90s…….At first I thought maybe things had changed, but most who hear this or that are blown away at the thought that any prop mngmnt co could pull such things:

Do I have any rights to expect better and different?  I live in Aurora CO…….

1) after moving in I learned this managmnt co doesn’t issue receipts for rent payment – lucky me, I’m too cautious to not receive something and insisted they then make copies of my checks w/signature and date received by an office person.
Sure enough, 3 months in a row I came home on the 7th of the month to find Eviction Notices posted to my door
(despite signed/dated print out AND bank recs showing they’d cashed my rent checks-well before any late dates)

2) I do always pay early to avoid some something coming up on the 1st, and they’ve never had any trouble/issues w/ cashing my rent checks (dated the 1st of the month) during the week prior, and up to a wk early)……..Previous experience with managmnt co’s was that they were more than happy to recv rent checks early – treated it as a courtesy by tenant, and in return courtesy, held them until the due date of the 1st.  Not this mngmnt co.

3)There’s the rude and defensive part to all of it – they always have a reason for why they can’t do this or that or didn’t – or are sure they did even if there’s no evidence (they just keep restating the same thing with tone as if you just don’t want to admit they did it etc)………past experiences included some degree of intersst in tenant comfort and the old "customer’s always right" theory – but now even if the customer has proof they’re right, they’ll be put in the position of "I don’t think sooooo" toned responses from mngmnt, or how it’s really  not their (mngmnt co) problem, or how lucky the tenant is to have such a good mangmnt co when the previous was said to have been really terrible etc etc etc………

4) gave my notice to move out (60 day notice required here – and not one other property I’ve called or one other person I’ve mentioned it to has ever heard of a 60day move out notice requirement) I’m expecting no return of deposit because they pitched a lower $100 deposit on intitial signing that they then get to keep no matter what on move out….no mention was made of the anything over a year considered general wear and tear (I initially signed a yr lease, then extended out by half a year after that) if tenant is there for a year……….I recalled it from the 90s but thought maybe things had changed – have since learned they’ve not…..so what kind of practice it that? ….signing someone to a year lease and pitching a non-refundable  lower deposit despite as rather than paying the larger amount and possibly having to give up part or all of it on move out anyway……while knowing no part would technically be kept due to it being over a year?  Additionally, I moved into a 1970s unit, unrenovated, slated to be so once I moved out in order to charge a higher rent of the next tenant…Nothing I’m living with will remain once I move out anyway – and I’ve kept all in perfect condition to what it was when I moved in and have pics as well, so it can’t be suggested (although my experience is that they’d likely try) that the place was in bad shape due to my tenancy rather than just not renovated prior to my move in date.

5) On that note:  10 days after giving my 60 day notice of move out for the end of my lease (June 30), a man w/a key to my apt shows up, claiming didn’t I get the notice from mangment, he’s here to take cabinet door measurmnts for renovation of the unit……..(aside from not having any notice on the door to that effect – and hearing from the office, when I called them, the same "I’m pretty sure you got one" over and over and over every time I said I’d not received anything – I was told she couldn’t tell me for sure if I’d be expecting further visits from contractors to measure and prepare for renovation on my move out) ….Don’t I have some sort of right to privacy while still the leased paying renter?….ie, to not have to accomodate enterance and work (even if only measuring) by strangers so that the managmnt co can renovate faster and get the next higher paying guy in faster? 

This company has been a nightmare, and as mentioned, a big part has been their comfort with suggesting it’s actually the tenants fault/problem/oversight etc.  When I moved in I discovered roach and bedbug infestations……..first the mngmnt co insisted how common both were and how they have them in all their properties and so have regular treatments which I was then experiencing.  They then immediately followed up with how I should understand though  that for all anyone knows I could have been the one to introduce the problem……..this right after admitting how common and known the issue was both in this building and before I ever moved in, and in all of their properties…I’ve never had bugs before this place, and I’ve lived since surrounded by diatomaceous earth (deadly to bugs and worked faster and better than their monthly spraying)…….For all of this, I swore I’d verify managment company prior to moving any place ever again – and if this mngmnt co, it wouldn’t matter if it was free rent for a mansion – I’d run from it.

What rights do tenants have these days?

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