Complaint Confidentiality

General Complaints and Your Identity

Because Mobile Home Park Oversight Program staff need contact information to investigate, you can’t file an anonymous complaint. To file a complaint, you must provide the name and mailing address of at least one home owner whom staff can contact to investigate.

During the Investigation

For general complaints, your identity might remain anonymous during the investigation.

Staff take all reasonable steps to avoid disclosing your identity to your landlord without your permission if your complaint is:

• About a general violation that affects multiple residents, and
• Something staff can investigate without revealing your identity

Examples of general violations might include allegations that a landlord:

• Has community rules or enforcement practices that violate state law
• Has generally failed to maintain park roads, trees on park premises, or park-owned utility lines or connections
• Is increasing rent without at least 60 days’ written notice to home owners or more than once in 12 months
• Is requiring home owners to sign a new or renewed lease

After the Investigation

Although staff must take reasonable steps to try to protect your identity after an investigation, some things that might happen are beyond their control.

If staff are required to keep your identity confidential, they can’t share your identity in response to an open records request, subpoena, discovery request, or under any other statutory authority.

However, court filings are public documents. If staff issue a notice about your complaint and you or your landlord appeal by requesting a hearing before the Colorado Office of Administrative Courts, your identity may become public through the appeal process.

Your identity may also become public if your testimony is required to defend a program action in court, or if a discovery request is made via court order.

Complaints That Only Affect You and Your Identity

If your complaint is about a violation that only affects you, staff aren’t required to hide your identity.

If your complaint is about a potential violation that is specific to you, your home, or your lot space, staff will most likely need to disclose your identity to your landlord to investigate your complaint.

Examples of violations that only affect one owner, home, or lot include allegations that the landlord:

• Hasn’t properly maintained pavement, trees, or utility lines or connections on your specific lot space
• Is unlawfully terminating your tenancy
• Charged you an unlawful fee
• Retaliated against you

Even if staff can’t keep your identity confidential, Colorado law protects residents from retaliatory actions by their landlord.