Ash House owner sues City of Boulder after officials suddenly ordered students to vacate apartments

Update: On Sept. 17, the City of Boulder filed a motion in Boulder County District Court requesting that the court lift the temporary order preventing it from enforcing its closure of the Ash House apartment building. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Sept. 20.

The owners of the Ash House, a student apartment building on University Hill, have sued the City of Boulder after officials ordered dozens of tenants to vacate the building on Monday with just a few hours’ notice. The city’s order came after the property owner added bedrooms without obtaining the necessary permits, which the city claims created safety risks.

The property owner, 891 12th St LLC, filed a civil complaint in Boulder County District Court, alleging the city’s actions were taken without evidence of immediate danger to tenants and violated its due process rights.

“The effect of that denial, and of the City’s actions well in excess of its authority under the Code, now threaten to place dozens of University of Colorado students out [on] the streets, indefinitely,” Andrew Peters, a lawyer for a Denver-based firm, wrote in the Sept. 16 complaint.

A Boulder County District Court judge then issued a temporary restraining order on Tuesday, Sept. 17, barring the city from enforcing its notices to vacate. 

On Tuesday afternoon, several tenants were moving back into their apartments after scrambling to pack their belongings and find alternative accommodations on Monday. Several tenants said they were given just three hours to vacate the property by 6 p.m. yesterday. 

“I had class until five yesterday,” one tenant told Boulder Reporting Lab. “So I had an hour to move all my stuff out.” (This student was named in a previous version of this story, but has sense requested not to be named.)

She said she received a text from her landlord Tuesday morning stating she could temporarily move back in. The text said, “There is no safety concern.” She stayed in a hotel room last night and doesn’t know what she will do once the injunction is lifted. 

In a news release on Monday, officials said the property owner had added 15 new bedrooms to the building without obtaining the required permits. Most of these bedrooms were already occupied, creating safety risks, according to the city.

The complaint disputes the safety concerns. It states the owner made “certain improvements” to 13 of its units by “extending four-foot ‘pony’ walls up to the ceiling, and adding doors to the newly partitioned area,” arguing these modifications were not load-bearing and therefore did not require a permit.

“The City has not articulated any imminent threat to life, safety, or health, and has not given Owner an opportunity to demonstrate that the alleged violations do not amount to threats to life, safety, or health,” the complaint states. “A genuine controversy exists between Owner and the City as to whether the City may order that the Property be vacated, and Owner’s tenants thrown out onto the street.” 

Adding to the confusion for the students is that several had not signed a lease. One student said she expects at least one of her roommates will need to move out. She currently pays rent for two rooms, and her roommate in the fourth room pays her her portion of the rent. She is worried about how her roommate’s portion of the rent will be paid if she is forced to move out permanently. 

“What we know is that the apartment was approved for three bedroom units and then it was turned into four, so one of us was kept off of the lease the entire time,” Leydon Hemsworth, a CU Boulder sophomore living at the Ash House, told Boulder Reporting Lab. “I don’t know if we can break the lease or what, but one of us is going to be out of a room.”

Hemsworth said he and his roommates met with a CU lawyer Tuesday morning. “We’ve just been trying to find anything that can help us out in this situation, because it’s so messed up,” he said.

One student, who didn’t want to be named, found a new lease with his roommates on Monday night, not knowing how long it would be before they would be allowed back in their apartment. Four Star Realty was crowded with students trying to find new living arrangements Tuesday morning, the student said.

City officials declined to comment on the circumstances or timing of the order on Tuesday, citing pending litigation.

The restraining order is set to expire on Oct. 1, according to the judge’s ruling. A preliminary injunction hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 26 at 10 a.m.