Legally Evict Your Adult Child in Colorado
You’re a good parent, or at least you’ve tried to be. You opened your door when your adult child needed a place to stay, only to watch them grow more comfortable at your expense. You never wanted to be a parent who thinks of kicking out their adult child, but now you’re considering it. Here’s what you should know about how to evict your adult child in Colorado.
Bottom Line:
Colorado law is clear that you can legally evict an adult child living in your home, even if they never paid rent.
In this Article:
More Young Adults are Moving Back Home
Getting one’s own place in Colorado is expensive. It can be prohibitively so for those lacking stable financial resources. This is why many adults either return to their parents’ nest after a setback or never leave.
Determining Tenancy
In Colorado, anyone who stays overnight with the homeowner's permission could be considered a tenant, even if the stay only lasts a few days. So when does someone cross the line from being a trespasser or “squatter” to a tenant?
It is important to understand these distinctions before you evict your adult child.
A trespasser/squatter enters or remains on property they do not own without the owner's consent. This can include your adult child if they have stayed in your home when you do not intend for them to stay longer than a short visit.
A tenant lives on property they do not own but with the owner’s consent. A tenancy can be established by a written or verbal agreement with the homeowner or after remaining in the home for one or two nights.
A tenancy at will is a tenancy without a predetermined duration. Either party can terminate this tenancy at any time.
Evicting an Adult Child Trespasser
If your adult child is not a tenant and ignores your requests to leave, then they’re a trespasser. Theoretically, you could call the police and have your adult child forcibly removed from your home. Realistically, you might not get the help you’re looking for since law enforcement is often reluctant to get involved in these situations unless something illegal is happening or someone is in harm’s way. Why? Police do not want to aid in “self-help eviction.”
Self-Help Eviction
A self-help eviction/wrongful eviction occurs when a landlord or homeowner attempts to kick out a roommate, tenant, romantic partner, or family member by taking away their home access or dumping the tenant’s possessions out on the sidewalk. This is illegal. Don’t do it.
Instead, it’s best to treat adult child evictions as tenant evictions. The process takes a little longer, but the procedure is clearly defined, and it will result in your troublesome adult child leaving your property one way or another.
How to Evict Your Adult Child
Step One: Give Them Proper Written Notice
The eviction process must begin with you serving your child (the tenant) advance written notice asking them to leave. This is called a Notice to Terminate Tenancy.
How much notice you need to give your adult child depends on the nature and length of the tenancy. In most cases, Colorado law prohibits a landlord from evicting a residential tenant without cause unless an exception applies.
Your Adult Child Lives In Your Primary Home
If your adult child is living with you in your single-family home or in a property adjacent to your home on the same lot, you do not need to have cause to evict. The for-cause eviction rule doesn’t apply to adult children living in their parents’ single-family home because it’s listed as an exception under C.R.S. 38-12-1302.
Thus, in this circumstance, how much notice you need to give your adult child depends on the nature of their tenancy. Adult children without a fixed term lease must receive three days’ notice, while month-to-month tenants must receive 21 days written notice. Longer tenancy terms may require additional notice, e.g., 91 days.
Your Adult Child Is Living On A Second Property
However, the same exception doesn’t apply if your adult child is living in, say, a single-family home that’s not your primary residence. In this case, you have to give your tenant 91 days’ notice to terminate tenancy and a specific no-fault reason or a demand for compliance with a specific for cause eviction. C.R.S. 38-12-1303; C.R.S. 13-40-104
If it’s a second property, you must have a statutory reason for termination, or it needs to be a for-cause eviction. The reason can be as simple as irreconcilable differences.
However, if it’s a second home, it must be a not-for-cause reason or be a for-cause reason that would require a demand, not a notice.
Make two copies of the written notice. Give one to your child (tenant) and keep the other for your records.
Step Two: Don’t Take Any More Rent
If your child tenant was paying rent, stop collecting rent money after the tenancy expires, which is the date posted on the Notice to Terminate Tenancy. This removes some legal defenses against an eviction.
Step Three: File a Complaint in Court
If your child stays past the deadline to leave the home, it’s time to file a complaint with the local county court. An eviction attorney can help you form a complaint.
The complaint starts the process of a forced removal by court order.
Step Four: Get a Removal Order
If your adult child remains defiant, you can ask the court to grant a Judgment for Possession and a Writ of Restitution, allowing law enforcement to remove the adult child from your property.
We Can Help With Your Adult Child's Eviction
If you’re a Colorado parent having trouble getting your adult child to leave your home, our Evictions & Landlord Attorneys can help. Our experienced team has handled many cases like yours and can help. Call 303-688-0944 to begin your case assessment.
