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Free Colorado Tenant Answer to Eviction Worksheet

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Colorado Tenant Answer to Eviction — a worksheet to help a tenant sued for eviction organize an Answer and defenses before the appearance date on the summons under C.R.S. § 13-40-111. It is not the official court form.

Tenant Side C.R.S. § 13-40-111 Colorado Free PDF Worksheet

If you have been sued for eviction in Colorado, this tenant answer worksheet helps you organize your response and defenses before you file the court’s official Answer. An eviction case is a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action, and it moves fast: under C.R.S. § 13-40-111, the summons commands you to appear or file a written Answer on a date not less than seven and not more than fourteen days after it is issued. Miss that date and the court can enter a default judgment for possession against you without a trial. This page is the tenant’s side — not the landlord’s complaint — and the fillable PDF is an information worksheet, not the court form. You still file Colorado’s official JDF 103 Eviction Answer in the county court, and a tenant facing eviction should contact legal aid.

Complete the fields below to generate a Colorado tenant answer worksheet (PDF). It organizes your case caption, your responses to the landlord’s allegations, the defenses you assert, your supporting facts, and what you ask the court to do — so you can copy the information cleanly onto the official JDF 103 Eviction Answer. The worksheet is not filed with the court by itself.

A Colorado eviction is a court case called a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action, governed by the Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 13, Article 40. The landlord is the plaintiff; you, the tenant, are the defendant. The landlord starts the case by filing a complaint and having a summons served on you. Your response is the Answer — the document in which you tell the court which of the landlord’s claims you dispute and what defenses you have. Filing an Answer and showing up is how you keep the case from ending in an automatic loss.

This worksheet does not replace the court’s form. Colorado publishes an official JDF 103 Eviction Answer, and the landlord is generally required to hand you a blank copy with the summons. The worksheet’s job is to help you think through the case before you write on the official form: which allegations you admit or deny, which defenses fit your facts, and what you are asking the court to do. Because the PDF this page builds is titled a Worksheet, no one will mistake it for the filing itself.

The single most important thing in an eviction case is the deadline. Under C.R.S. § 13-40-111, the summons must command you to appear “at a time and on a day not less than seven days but not more than fourteen days from the day of issuing the same to answer the complaint.” In plain terms, you have somewhere between seven and fourteen days from when the summons is issued, and the exact date and time are printed on the summons. Read that date first, before anything else.

The statute is blunt about the consequences: “If you do not respond to the landlord’s complaint by filing a written answer with the court on or before the date and time in this summons or appearing in court at the date and time in this summons, the judge may enter a default judgment against you.” A default judgment means you lose without a trial — “you will have to move out, and it may mean that you will have to pay money to the landlord.” The court can enter it without the landlord even appearing. So the deadline is not a formality; it is the whole ballgame. If the date is close, file something in writing and appear, even if your Answer is not perfect, and ask the court and legal aid for help.

An Answer is your chance to explain why the landlord should not win. Colorado law recognizes several defenses to an FED action. You do not need to prove them in the Answer itself — you raise them, then support them with evidence at the hearing. Common defenses include:

• Defective, short, or improper notice or demand. Before most evictions the landlord must serve a written notice — usually a 10-day Demand for Compliance or Possession (JDF 101) for unpaid rent or a lease violation under C.R.S. § 13-40-104, or a three-day notice to quit for a substantial violation under C.R.S. § 13-40-107.5. If the notice was missing, gave too few days, demanded the wrong amount, or was not properly served, that can defeat the eviction.
• Payment or tender of rent. If you paid the rent demanded within the notice period, or tried to pay and the landlord refused, the nonpayment ground can fall away. Keep receipts, bank records, and any text messages or emails about payment.
• Breach of the warranty of habitability. Colorado tenants are entitled to a habitable home (C.R.S. § 38-12-503), and a breach can be raised as a defense or counterclaim — more on this below.
• Retaliation. A landlord may not evict to punish you for asserting a legal right (C.R.S. § 38-12-509) — more below.
• Improper service of the summons. The FED summons and complaint must be served on you following the statute’s rules. Service that does not comply can be challenged.
• Wrong party or no right to possession. The person suing must actually be entitled to possession, and you must be the correct defendant. If the plaintiff is not the owner or authorized agent, or the tenancy or facts are misstated, say so.

Warranty of habitability (C.R.S. § 38-12-503, 38-12-507)

Every Colorado rental carries an implied warranty of habitability: the landlord is “deemed to warrant that the residential premises is fit for human habitation” (C.R.S. § 38-12-503). A landlord breaches the warranty when a condition materially interferes with the tenant’s life, health, or safety and the landlord fails to act after receiving written or electronic notice — generally within 24 hours for a condition that threatens life, health, or safety, and within 72 hours for other uninhabitable conditions. In a nonpayment eviction, C.R.S. § 38-12-507(1)(c)(I) lets the tenant “assert, as an affirmative defense, an alleged breach of the warranty of habitability, provided that the landlord . . . has previously received written or electronic notice of an alleged breach.” So the key facts are: what was wrong, when you told the landlord in writing, and what the landlord did or did not do.

There is an important catch. When a tenant raises habitability, the court generally orders the tenant to deposit the rent as it comes due into the court registry while the case is decided (a tenant found indigent may be excused from the deposit). Plan for that if habitability is your defense, and bring dated repair requests, photos, and any code-enforcement or housing-authority records.

Retaliation (C.R.S. § 38-12-509)

Colorado prohibits retaliation. A landlord may not raise rent, cut services, terminate, or bring or threaten an eviction to punish a tenant for making a good-faith habitability complaint to the landlord or a government agency, or for organizing or joining a tenants’ association. Critically, § 38-12-509(1.5) expressly lets a tenant assert retaliation “as an affirmative defense” in a possession action. If your eviction followed close on the heels of a complaint or repair request, gather the dates — the timeline is often the strongest evidence of a retaliatory motive.

Once you have used this worksheet to organize your position, put it onto the court’s form and file it. The steps in Colorado are straightforward but time-sensitive:

• Get the official form. Use Colorado’s JDF 103 Eviction Answer. The landlord is generally required to give you a blank copy with the summons, and it is also available from the county court clerk and the Colorado Judicial Branch self-help resources.
• Fill it out from your worksheet. Copy your responses to the allegations, your checked defenses, your supporting facts, and your requested relief onto JDF 103.
• File with the correct county court — the county where the rental property is located — on or before the date and time on your summons. Ask the clerk whether e-filing is required or available.
• Keep a stamped copy as proof you filed on time, and follow any instruction about serving a copy on the landlord or the landlord’s attorney.
• Appear in person at the date and time on the summons. Filing an Answer does not excuse you from showing up; do both.

Because the process is fast, do not wait until the last day. If you need the official form or help completing it, the county court clerk and Colorado eviction self-help resources can point you to it, and legal aid can help you file.

• Missing the deadline. The number-one way tenants lose is by not filing or not appearing by the summons date, which lets the landlord win by default (C.R.S. § 13-40-111).
• Filing only the worksheet. This worksheet is preparation. The court needs the official JDF 103; filing the worksheet instead does not count.
• Not appearing after filing. Filing an Answer and then skipping the court date can still cost you the case — do both.
• Leaving out defenses. Raise every defense that fits (notice, payment, habitability, retaliation, service). Defenses you never raise can be lost.
• No evidence. A defense with no proof is hard to win. Bring receipts, photos, dated repair requests, and messages.
• Habitability without notice. The warranty-of-habitability defense generally requires that the landlord got written or electronic notice of the condition first (§ 38-12-507(1)(c)(I)); undocumented complaints are weaker.
• Forgetting the rent deposit. If you raise habitability, be ready for a possible order to deposit rent into the court registry as it comes due (unless you are found indigent).

• Find the date first. Read the appearance date and time off the summons before anything else and put it on your calendar.
• Respond in writing and appear. File the JDF 103 Answer and show up in person — do both, on time.
• Raise every defense that fits. Notice, payment, habitability, retaliation, and service defenses are all fair to assert if the facts support them.
• Document everything. Gather receipts, bank records, dated repair requests, photos, and messages before the hearing.
• Give notice for habitability. Keep the dated written or electronic notice you gave the landlord about any bad condition — it is the trigger for the defense.
• Budget for the rent deposit. If you raise habitability, be ready to deposit rent into the court registry unless the court finds you indigent.
• Get help. Contact Colorado legal aid, a tenant attorney, or the court self-help center as early as possible.

Eviction moves quickly and the consequences are serious, so getting help early matters. Colorado has statewide and local legal aid programs, court-based self-help centers, and tenant advocacy organizations that assist people facing eviction, often for free. If you cannot afford a lawyer, the county court clerk can point you to self-help resources and the correct forms, and many judicial districts hold eviction dockets where duty counsel or navigators may be available.

Do not let the speed of the process discourage you from responding. Even a short, timely, written Answer that raises your defenses and asks for a trial preserves your rights far better than doing nothing. Use this worksheet to get organized, complete the official JDF 103, file by the date on your summons, and reach out for legal help the same day you are served. If you are also