Every legislative session in recent years has sought to flog landlords in the name of protecting tenants. The 2024 session is no exception. After all, rent hikes and evictions make great fodder for grandstanding politicians amid Colorado’s affordable-housing crunch.

Yet, attempts to “fix” the problem through more laws nearly always backfire on the tenants who are supposed to benefit. Legislation that shackles landlords inevitably will raise the rent. It’s basic economics: New regulations increase the cost of doing business – and that cost will be passed on to the consumer.

Alas, the lawmakers calling the shots these days at the Capitol aren’t about to let basic economics stand in their way.

Consider House Bill 24-1098, which passed the state Senate this week. Like other landlord-bashing bills, it appears to be based more on anecdotes than analysis.

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The bill aims to limit the reasons for which a landlord may evict a tenant. As reported by Colorado Politics, landlords still would be allowed to evict when a tenant fails to pay rent; a rental property is going to be sold; provisions of the lease are violated; there are plans to demolish or make substantial repairs to a property, or when a tenant has engaged in conduct that creates a nuisance or damages the rental property.

What, then, is the bill intended to remedy?

According to supporters, the aim is to curb unjust or unwarranted evictions. Co-sponsoring Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, recounted a story of a 67-year-old constituent who claimed to have been evicted in retaliation for complaining about an apartment’s heating. As Colorado Politics reported, Hinrichsen also said there have been evictions when a landlord is spurned after making unwanted advances on a tenant, or disagrees with a tenant’s political views.

Assuming such accounts can be corroborated, they presumably are rare and likely could be addressed by other laws already on the books. A whole new law seems like overkill.

At least, though, it wouldn’t have much of an impact, right? If only.

The bill in fact poses a much greater hazard – with the potential to wreak havoc throughout the rental market – by becoming a legal tripwire.

The very fact the measure redefines what is a just cause for eviction assuredly will lead to a surge in claims by tenants that their evictions fell outside the new legal boundaries. A whole new standard for evictions would come into play.

Tenants facing eviction after months of unpaid rent, or following a history of disruptive, hostile or even criminal behavior, suddenly will have grounds for claiming retaliation by their landlords over some supposed slight – tying up eviction proceedings if not halting them outright.

That, in turn, will create costly, protracted legal headaches for many landlords who will have to lawyer up. Meanwhile, other landlords shy will away from evictions entirely, however much they may be warranted.

And that means more legal bills for landlords and more apartment units occupied by tenants who aren’t paying rent. Tenants ultimately will pick up the tab – in a rental market that has priced out too many Coloradans as it is.

Of course, politicians will be able to claim they stood up for tenants – never mind the consequences.

HB24-1098 now has to return to the House of Representatives, where it began, for House members’ approval of amendments by the Senate. Let’s hope the two chambers fail to reach accord – or that the governor vetoes the bill.

Hard-pressed Colorado tenants don’t need any more of the Legislature’s help. They can’t afford it.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board