Aurora viral video shows alleged landlord harassment: Tenant shares her story
A viral video making the rounds on social media in Colorado shows what appears to be a dramatic confrontation between a landlord and her tenant in Aurora. The footage captures a woman collapsing and shouting claims of being attacked while another woman, tenant Vontese Wines, stands nearby.
What the woman in distress, identified as landlord Lisa Anderson, who also goes by Elizaveta Andersen, may not have known was that the entire encounter had been recorded by Wines's son, including moments leading up to the collapse.
"I knew at that point I was going to need to move," said Wines, reflecting on the incident.
Wines had been renting a townhome on South Hannibal Street in Aurora since November 2024. Her lease, signed with Anderson, required rent to be paid by noon on the first of every month, with a $110 late fee for any delayed payments.
However, according to Wines, Anderson often pressured her to pay before the due date.
"Every single month, she would text a couple of days early to try to get me to pay early," Wines explained, showing text messages to back up her claim. Despite this, Wines says she complied, paying early each time because she had the funds.
Things escalated on March 1st when, according to Wines, Anderson arrived unannounced to deliver an eviction notice. "It wasn't even 12:15 yet, and she showed up with the notice," Wines recalled. The day before, Anderson had texted, warning she would be changing the locks.
"I kind of thought she was trying to intimidate me because she had been texting me a lot prior," Wines added. Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard drilling at her front door. "I was completely shocked," she said.
CBS Colorado reached out to landlord-tenant attorney Steven Flaxman to clarify whether Anderson's actions were in line with Colorado landlord laws. According to Flaxman, the law allows for a late fee to be charged only after the seventh calendar day of the month.
"A late fee cannot be charged until the 7th calendar day of the month," Flaxman said. "If a landlord is charging you a late fee on the second of the month, that's an improper charge."
Wines claims she wasn't even given a chance to pay a late fee before Anderson attempted to change the locks. Wines' doorbell camera shows Anderson telling Wines, "If you don't have this door open, I'm gonna have the locksmith open it, and you'll pay for it."
We reached out to Anderson for comment, but she declined an interview request.
The video shows a tense confrontation between Wines and Anderson, which ends with Anderson collapsing in the dining room, dramatically claiming she was hurt. However, Wines asserts that Anderson had pushed past her into the house and faked the fall.
"That's when you see me turn away, and that's when you see her fall on the floor," Wines said. The incident triggered an anxiety attack for Wines, leaving her shaken.
Just days after the incident, the Wines family packed up and moved out of the home. "I feel a lot more safe over here," Wines said, now settling into a new home.
Despite the relocation, Wines remains uneasy about the ordeal. "Now that I've talked to other tenants, we all have this in common," she said, noting that Anderson had reportedly treated other renters similarly. "This is not fair. A lot of people are being hurt by this."
As the viral video continues to spark conversation online, Wines hopes her story will encourage others to stand up against what she believes are unjust practices.