Violation of fair housing statute is a defense to eviction

The Colorado Supreme Court has held that a landlord who has violated fair housing laws may be disabled from evicted the tenant who was the victim of that discrimination. Miller v. Amos, 543 P.3d 393 (Colo. 2024). The court reasoned that the statutory rights to be free from discrimination not only provide claims but can operate as a valid defense to an assertion of property rights. In this case, the landlord repeatedly demanded that the tenant have sex with him. When she refused, he sued to evict her. In that eviction action, she raised the state fair housing statute as a defense (sexual harassment constitutes sex discrimination), and the state supreme court agreed that the state fair housing law could be used as a defense when the the lease was an oral one that otherwise could be terminated for any reason.