SUPERIOR, Colorado — After months of paying for a house she can't live in, one woman was displaced as her property management group made arrangements for deep cleaning the rental property. When the restoration was complete, she learned that her month-to-month lease had been terminated.
Trish Zornio has lived in Superior for nearly six years at the same rental property. During the Marshall Fire, she evacuated, unsure if her home would withstand the flames. She returned to a standing home that she said contained ash, soot and other contaminants from the fire.
She soon requested that a deep cleaning be done to ensure the safety of the home, but Zornio says that it took several months for her property management group to do the cleaning.
During this time, she continued to pay rent. After attending a free legal clinic, she came to the conclusion that she believed her property management group was in violation of the Warrant of Habitability, a law that prevents tenants from renting out properties that are unlivable. It also prevents tenants from paying rent on properties that are uninhabitable.
She then sent a letter stating that she believed the company was in violation of the Warrant of Habitability. Shortly after, the company made arrangements for deep cleaning to occur. Within a couple weeks, Zornio received a letter stating that her lease was terminated alongside other information that stated Zornio would be reimbursed for the rent she had been paying for the property.
"This is the first time that I actually got angry, because it’s not just the stress and the toll and the mental toll, and the community toll. This is a choice that they are making," Zornio said.
Zornio had a month-to-month lease, after originally signing a one-year lease in 2017. Colorado law generally does not require a landlord to provide a reason for non-renewal of a lease. In Zornio's situation, she was provided 30 days' notice in a letter provided by ACM. Zornio says she believes that her lease termination was out of retaliation, which would be a violation of the law.
The property rental group, ACM based out of Lakewood, provided this statement to 9NEWS:
“We appreciate Ms. Zornio's frustration, however, based on the communication she has shared with us, on social media, and with the news media, it's clear there's a level of misunderstanding. The decision not to continue her month-to-month tenancy was made based on the inability to satisfy her environmental concerns, and in difficulties, our management company experienced trying to address them. Unlike many of the homes in Superior that suffered physical damage, Ms. Zornio's unit had no visual display of soot or odor, which presented difficulties for the initial insurance claim. Our first filing resulted in a small payout that didn't cover the level of cleaning Ms. Zornio felt necessary. Appreciating her concerns, our board decided to hire an environmental testing firm and paid a considerable expense to have the home tested for invisible soot infiltration. The firm's report recommended a deeper level of cleaning, and we used that document to refile with our insurance company. In April, insurance funds finally became available to hire a mitigation team. Our management company worked tirelessly from the time Ms. Zornio raised her concern to remedy the situation, and rent/utility expenses are being returned by the association. We appreciate the delay was frustrating, we too wished things had moved faster but the process was laborious. We fought on Ms. Zornio’s behalf, however, our efforts weren't meeting her expectations and therefore felt it in the best interest of our collective ownership to end the lease. Colorado law and the terms of the lease were carefully followed in the decision not to renew the lease.”
Editors Note: Clarification and additional wording about the law were added to this article.
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