You’ve served the 10-day demand. The envelope is taped to the door. And now — nothing visible changes for a while, but a lot is about to happen behind the scenes. If you’re a first-time Colorado landlord, the stretch between “notice served” and “unit emptied” can feel like a black box. It shouldn’t.

In the 55+ post-eviction cleanouts our crews have handled across Denver metro, we’ve watched this timeline play out dozens of times. The law gives you a path. The sheriff gives you a window. Your tenant gets due process. And then, usually between day 20 and day 25 after that first notice, you get your unit back — often in a condition you didn’t expect.

This is a plain-English guide to what actually happens, what the law says, what the sheriff will and won’t do, and what to have ready when the keys are finally back in your hand.

Nothing here is legal advice. Colorado eviction law changed materially in 2024 (HB24-1098) and local court procedures vary by county. Before you act, confirm specifics with a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney.

The 23-Day Average: Colorado’s Eviction Timeline at a Glance

The best-case Colorado eviction — uncontested, filed on time, sheriff’s schedule open — runs about 23 days from notice to lockout. Contested evictions, holiday bottlenecks, or sheriff backlogs can stretch it to 45 days or more.

Here are the five phases. Time the rest of your planning against them.

Phase 1: The Demand (Days 1–10)

Colorado law requires a written demand before most evictions. The standard notice is a 10-Day Demand for Compliance or Possession under CRS §13-40-104 for most violations including non-payment. A shorter 3-day notice applies for specific lease violations (drug-related activity, substantial damage, threats of violence). Post it, mail it, and document service. Photos help.

Your tenant now has 10 calendar days to cure (pay up, fix the violation) or move out. Most don’t.

Phase 2: Filing the FED Complaint (Day 11)

If the demand period expires without cure, you file a Forcible Entry and Detainer (FED) complaint with the county court where the property sits — Denver County, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Adams, Douglas, Boulder. Filing fees in 2026 are around $100 plus service costs. Process servers typically charge $50–$100 to deliver the summons.

Phase 3: Court Date (Days 18–22)

Colorado FED cases move quickly. Hearings are typically set 7–14 days after filing. Show up with your lease, your notice, your ledger, and photographs. If your tenant doesn’t appear, you’ll usually get a default Judgment for Possession the same day. If they contest, expect one continuance and a trial 10–20 days out.

Phase 4: Writ of Restitution (Day 22–23)

After judgment, Colorado requires a 48-hour waiting period before the court will issue the Writ of Restitution. The Writ is your legal authorization to retake possession. It’s also what the sheriff needs to actually show up.

Phase 5: The Sheriff Executes (Days 25–35)

This is the step that catches new landlords off guard. You don’t execute the eviction — the sheriff does. You schedule the lockout through the sheriff’s civil division, and their calendar is often booked 3–10 business days out. In Denver and Arapahoe counties, summer lockouts can push two weeks.

On lockout day, the sheriff arrives, ensures the tenant leaves, and gives you the unit. They do not move property. They do not clean. They do not haul. That’s on you — and it’s where most of the stress of an eviction actually lives.

What the Sheriff Will and Won’t Do

In our experience, about half of first-time landlords expect the sheriff to do more than the law actually requires. Here’s the reality.

The sheriff will:

• Arrive at a scheduled time with the Writ
• Knock, announce, and ensure any occupants leave
• Stand by while you change the locks
• Return possession of the unit to you

The sheriff will not:

• Move any of the tenant’s belongings
• Clean, haul, or dispose of anything
• Mediate disputes about property
• Stay beyond the few minutes needed to complete the lockout

When the deputies leave, everything inside is legally yours to deal with — and that includes everything the tenant left behind.

What Our Crews Find Inside (The Honest Version)

This is the part that most how-to guides skip, because it’s uncomfortable. Across 55+ post-eviction units we’ve cleared in Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, and the suburbs, a few patterns repeat. Prepare for them.

Abandoned Property — Way More Than You Expect

The single most common surprise: the tenant didn’t take anything. In maybe one in three evictions, we arrive to find full furniture, clothing, food in the fridge, and personal effects — sometimes a decade’s worth. The tenant who fought you in court on Monday is often gone without a suitcase by Wednesday.

Here’s the part many first-time landlords don’t realize: Colorado is unusually landlord-friendly for post-eviction property specifically. Once the sheriff has executed the Writ, you generally don’t have to store and notice the tenant the way you would for a voluntary mid-lease abandonment. We walk through exactly why below, and our Colorado abandoned tenant property guide has the full detail. The short version: a two-person crew, a truck, and an afternoon is a legally viable turnaround.

Hoarding Conditions

Maybe one in twenty units we clear has clear hoarding behavior behind the door — stacks of newspapers chest-high, unopened packages from 2019, narrow goat paths between piles. This is rarely visible from the outside before the lockout. Expect to budget for specialized hoarding cleanup and biohazard precautions on top of standard cleanout costs.

Biohazards

Medical sharps, blood residue on carpet, used drug paraphernalia, rotting food, and — more often than landlords assume — bedbugs. Don’t let untrained crew handle these. Anyone doing the cleanout should be licensed and insured, with proper PPE. If your crew won’t touch it, that’s a red flag.

Firearms Left Behind

We find firearms in Denver-metro evictions more often than most people expect — handguns in nightstand drawers, sometimes long guns in closets. Colorado law has specific requirements for handling found firearms, and you do not want to make the wrong call. Our firearms-during-eviction protocol walks through the safe, legal handoff.

Pets Left Behind

The hardest one. We’ve found dogs, cats, reptiles, and once a tank of saltwater fish in post-eviction units. Colorado treats live animals as property, but the Humane Society and local animal control take priority calls when an animal is abandoned. Here’s how we handle pets found during an eviction in Denver.

Property Damage Hidden Behind Stuff

Once the furniture is out, you’ll often find damage that wasn’t visible during walk-throughs: punched drywall, cigarette burns in hardwood, subfloor rot from pet urine, kitchen cabinets pulled off hinges. This is why move-in photos matter. Without them, disputes over the security deposit tilt toward the tenant.

Post-Eviction Abandoned Property: Why Same-Day Cleanout Is Legal in Colorado

This is where Colorado law actually works in your favor — and where many landlords hesitate unnecessarily because they’ve read rules meant for voluntary-abandonment scenarios.

In most states, a landlord who finds belongings after a tenant leaves must send written notice, store the property for a statutory period (often 15–30 days), and only then dispose of what’s unclaimed. That regime still applies in Colorado when a tenant voluntarily leaves property behind — for example, if they skip out mid-lease and you find the unit half-furnished.

But after a sheriff-executed eviction, Colorado gives landlords substantially more flexibility. As explained in our Colorado abandoned tenant property guide, once the Writ of Restitution has been served and the sheriff has completed the lockout, the landlord is generally not required to provide pre-disposal notice before handling what’s left behind. That distinction — abandoned-after-eviction vs. abandoned-mid-tenancy — is why same-day post-eviction cleanouts are viable here in a way they aren’t in most neighboring states.

What that means in practical terms: once the deputies leave and the unit is legally yours again, you can call a crew the same afternoon, have the space cleared by evening, and have the unit photo-ready for the next showing within 48 hours. No storage unit to rent. No 15-day holding pattern. No notice letters to certified-mail before you can move on.

Best-practice habits we still recommend — not because Colorado law requires them, but because they cost almost nothing and protect you if anything ever gets disputed:

1. Photograph the unit before any cleanout work starts. Room by room, every angle. This is the single most valuable 10 minutes of the day.
2. Note any obviously valuable items (jewelry, firearms, electronics, documents) in case the tenant later asks about specific property.
3. Keep the disposal receipts. Paper trail from your cleanout crew showing what was hauled and when.
4. Check your lease. Some leases contract for a specific abandonment procedure that’s more tenant-protective than state default — if so, your lease wins.

None of this is legal advice, and statutes can amend — confirm your specific situation with a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney. But for the vast majority of sheriff-executed evictions, the law clears a path for you to turn the unit around quickly, and that’s exactly the window we’re built to operate in.

The Prepared Landlord’s Checklist

By the time the sheriff calls to confirm your lockout slot, you want three things already lined up.

1. A cleanout crew on the calendar. Book before the lockout date, not after. Same-day availability is possible (it’s literally our name), but a scheduled slot is less stressful than scrambling post-lockout.
2. A disposal plan. Decide upfront whether you’re hauling everything same-day (Colorado allows this post-eviction), or keeping anything that looks valuable in case the tenant returns to ask. Both are legal; same-day clears the unit faster, selective holding reduces the small chance of a property dispute.
3. A locksmith or rekey kit. The sheriff won’t change your locks. You’ll want that done before the deputies leave the property.

Bring to the lockout itself: a camera (photograph every room before touching anything), a clipboard (rough inventory of what’s left), contractor bags, and patience.

Why Landlords Call Us — And Why We Keep a Denver-Metro Crew on Standby

Junk Same Day runs a fleet of two-person crews across Denver, Aurora, Arvada, Lakewood, Thornton, Westminster, Littleton, Parker, and the surrounding metro. We specialize in the exact narrow window where most landlords feel alone: sheriff just left, clock on the property is running, and the unit needs to be rentable again fast.

Our eviction cleanouts are built around the real-world constraints: same-day availability for emergencies, licensed and insured crews for biohazard exposure, documented inventory photos for every unit (cheap insurance even though Colorado doesn’t require them post-eviction), and sheriff-day scheduling so a truck is in your driveway when the deputies pull away.

Most full-unit post-eviction cleanouts in the metro run $349–$750, depending on volume. We give flat, inclusive quotes before we start — including disposal fees, labor, and hauling — and we do not charge for the time it takes us to photograph and inventory what we remove.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Colorado eviction actually take?

For uncontested non-payment cases, budget 23 days from the 10-day demand to sheriff lockout. Contested cases or sheriff backlogs push this to 35–45 days. Denver and Arapahoe counties are typically slower than rural counterparts.

Can I change the locks before the sheriff is there?

No. Self-help evictions are illegal in Colorado. Changing locks or cutting utilities before the Writ is executed exposes you to treble damages, attorney fees, and potential criminal liability.

What do I do with the tenant’s stuff after lockout?

Colorado is landlord-friendly here: after a sheriff-executed eviction, you generally aren’t required to store belongings or send pre-disposal notice before handling what’s left behind. That’s why same-day cleanouts are viable. Best practice — not legally mandated but smart insurance — is to photograph every room before touching anything, note any obviously valuable items, and keep the disposal receipts. Full walkthrough of Colorado’s abandoned-property rules here.

Does the sheriff help remove anything?

No. Colorado sheriffs execute the Writ of Restitution and restore possession of the unit. Moving belongings, cleaning, and hauling are the landlord’s responsibility.

What if I find a firearm or live animal?

Stop, don’t touch, and call the appropriate authority — firearms go to local law enforcement for safe handling, live animals go to Denver Animal Protection or the local equivalent. Our crews follow documented protocols for both. Firearms protocol · Pets protocol.

How much does a post-eviction cleanout cost in Denver metro?

Most full-unit cleanouts run $349–$750 for a one-bedroom, $500–$900 for two-bedroom, and $750–$1,500 for larger or hoarding-condition units. Quotes are flat and inclusive of labor, disposal fees, and hauling.

When You’re Ready, We’re There

There’s no glamorous way to say it: serving an eviction notice means you’re in for 3–5 weeks of paperwork, court, and uncertainty, with a unit-turnover sprint at the end. The part you can control is what happens after the sheriff hands you the keys.

We clean out post-eviction units across Denver metro every week. Same-day is available. Firearms, biohazards, hoarding conditions, and Colorado’s landlord-friendly post-eviction rules are all built into our standard workflow. Call (303) 324-6014, text a photo to the same number, or book a pickup online — and plan on having your unit rentable again within 48 hours of the lockout.

Junk Same Day · (303) 324-6014 · Licensed, insured, 4.8 stars across 146+ reviews · Serving Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Arvada, Thornton, Westminster, Littleton, Parker, Centennial, and the surrounding metro.