Class action lawsuit against Denver apartment complex alleges safety concerns, fraud

Dozens of tenants have a class action lawsuit against their Denver apartment complex alleging safety violations and fraud.

The lawsuit comes weeks after CBS Colorado investigated conditions at the Civic Lofts complex when elevators in their 14-floor building broke down for days. The elevators are not up and running, but tenants say they want more to be done.

The lawsuit is still in the early stages but could potentially have lasting impacts for renters across Denver. The suit looks into safety standards and possible hidden fees. It also looks into whether an apartment complex has to tell renters before they sign a lease if the building has a license to rent.

At the Civic Loft apartments, Alexandria Zavala gets nervous every time she takes the elevator, ever since she got stuck in January.

"All of a sudden, it had completely stopped. I live on the fourteenth floor, so it had stopped on the thirteenth," Zavala said. "It was the last number I saw before it completely turned black."

That's when Zavala says the elevator began to drop and tilt with no way out. 

"There is no buzzer sound that was able to be pushed in order to let anybody know that I was in there," Zavala explained. "Let alone, there wasn't a call button [that worked]."

So Zavala says she called 911, and Denver Fire arrived to rescue her. According to DFD reports, this was their 18th response to these elevators since the beginning of 2024.

"I do have a couple disabilities, so taking the stairs is a little bit more difficult for me," Zavala said. "Being on the elevator, not only is still scary, but I just never know when it's going to break."

CBS Colorado's investigation showed the elevator had failed past inspections, and the building didn't have a rental license.

Within days of our story airing, the complex remedied the issues, but not before city's licensing office reports fining the complex for a fourth time in almost two years for not having a rental license -- totaling $2,648. 

Tenants have now hired legal counsel in a class action lawsuit against the property, led by attorney David Krivit with Krivit Law.

"Typically, it's tough for a lawyer to help one tenant and really be effective," Krivit said. "We've done it before, but there were so many people affected that we decided we wanted to really help the whole building."

Thirty tenants, including Zavala, are in the lawsuit that includes safety complaints as well as alleges fraudulent junk fees.

"Most importantly, the electric bills sometimes will double, unexplainably from one month to the next," Krivit said. "So this is part of this, what looks like potential fraud," Krivit said.

The lawsuit also alleges Civic Lofts fraudulently hid the fact that it didn't have a rental or elevator license from prospective tenants.

Civic Loft's property management group, Centerspace, declined to interview, but Kelly Webber, the senior vie president of strategic services, Kelly Webber told CBS Colorado in a statement in part, "Civic Lofts has a current elevator license and has successfully passed a rental inspection; however, we are unable to comment on any matters related to legal action at this time."

Meanwhile, Krivit Law is seeing similar issues, extending beyond Civic Lofts.

"We have seen a trend of apartment complexes, especially owned by outside sources, cutting expenses and making things unsafe," Krivit said.

The alleged issues at Civic Lofts are things Zavala says she wants to help future renters avoid.

"Future tenants that come in might have to go through the same thing, and if all of the people who currently live here are gone, no one has that voice to advocate for them, and they're repeating the cycle," Zavala said.