Key Takeaways
- Late rent payments: In Colorado, the rent grace period is seven days. After that, landlords can charge up to $50 or 5% of the past due rent payment, whichever is greater, if the late fee is disclosed in the lease.
- Required disclosures: Colorado law requires landlords to disclose whether elevated radon levels have been detected in the unit and whether the unit contained bed bugs within the last eight months. The lease agreement must also include a statement outlining the implied warranty of habitability.
- Security deposits: Security deposits are capped at the equivalent of two months’ rent, and landlords must return the security deposit within one month of the lease ending or the tenant moving out.
- Evictions: For landlords with five or fewer single-family rentals, most eviction causes require 5-day notice. However, no fault evictions require 90-day notice and evictions due to a substantial lease violation only require 3-day notice.
- Fair Housing protections: Colorado law extends Fair Housing protections to immigrant renters by prohibiting landlords from requesting a renter’s immigration or citizenship status or discriminating against a renter for their immigration or citizenship status.
- Transparent pricing: Colorado landlords are now required to advertise the total cost of their rental in a listing, including the base rent and nonoptional fees.
Table of Contents
- Overview of Rental Laws in Colorado
- What’s New in 2026: Recent Legal Updates in Colorado
- Compliance Tips for Landlords
- Ensure Compliance with Apartments.com
- FAQs
Overview of Rental Laws in Colorado
Rent control and rent increases
Colorado prohibits counties and municipalities from passing rent control legislation (C.R.S. § 38-12-301). However, landlords cannot raise rent more than once in a 12-month period (C.R.S. § 38-12-702).
For tenancies with no written lease agreement, landlords must give tenants at least 60 days’ notice of a rent increase (C.R.S. § 38-12-701). There’s no regulation around the notice landlords must give when there is a written lease agreement, but they can only increase rent if the lease allows for it.
Lease agreement rules
Here are a few things Colorado landlords must disclose in a lease agreement:
- Elevated radon levels: Landlords must disclose in writing whether radon tests have been conducted for the property, any radon concentration detected, and any mitigation or remediation performed (C.R.S. § 38-12-803).
- Bed bugs: Landlords cannot rent out units they know or suspect have bed bugs. Upon request, landlords must disclose whether the unit contained bed bugs within the past eight months and the last date the unit was found to be free of bed bugs (C.R.S. § 38-12-1005). If a landlord conducts a bed bug inspection, they must notify the tenant 48 hours in advance and provide written results of the inspection within two business days (C.R.S. § 38-12-1003(1))
- Warranty of habitability (NEW): The lease agreement must include a statement that tenants are entitled to safe and habitable housing, and the address or online portal where tenants can deliver written notice of an uninhabitable condition. These statements must be in at least twelve-point, bold-faced font (C.R.S. § 38-12-505(3)).
In Colorado, a lease agreement cannot:
- Assign a penalty based on an eviction notice or eviction action.
- Include a fee-shifting clause that does not award attorney fees only to the prevailing party in the court dispute.
- Require tenants to waive their basic rights.
- Require tenants to pay a fee for failing to provide notice of nonrenewal unless the fee coincides with the landlord’s actual losses due to the tenant’s failure to provide notice.
- Require tenants to pay a markup price for services billed by a third party, except for an administrative fee that doesn’t exceed either $10 or 2% of the bill.
- Require tenants to pay a markup price for utilities, except for an administrative fee that doesn’t exceed either $10 or 2% of the bill. (NEW)
Learn more: Create state-compliant lease agreements
Security deposits
According to C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5, Colorado landlords cannot charge more than the equivalent of two months’ rent for a security deposit.
According to C.R.S. § 38-12-103, Landlords must return the security deposit within one month of the lease ending or the tenant moving out, whichever is later, unless the lease specifies a longer time up to 60 days. If a landlord keeps some or all of the security deposit, they must provide the tenant with a written statement listing the exact charges along with any remaining portion of the security deposit.
Late fees
In Colorado, rent is considered late after seven days past the due date. Colorado caps late fees at $50 or 5% of the past due rent payment, whichever is greater, but landlords cannot charge a late fee unless it’s disclosed in the lease (C.R.S. § 38-12-105).
If the tenant makes more than two rent payments that are late by more than 10 days during the period of the lease agreement, the landlord may pursue eviction by serving a written 90-day notice to quit (C.R.S. § 38-12-1303(3)(f)).
Learn more: Avoid late payments and collect rent online
Eviction procedures
|
Cause for eviction |
Notice for multifamily property managers |
Notice for landlords with 5 or fewer single-family rentals |
|
Nonpayment of rent |
10-day notice to pay or quit |
5-day notice to pay or quit |
|
Lease violation |
10-day notice to cure or quit |
5-day notice to cure or quit |
|
Repeat lease violation |
10-day notice to quit |
5-day notice to quit |
|
Causing a nuisance |
10-day notice to cure or quit |
5-day notice to cure or quit |
|
Substantial lease violation (i.e., illegal, dangerous, or violent activity) |
3-day notice to quit | 3-day notice to quit |
|
No-fault evictions |
90-day notice to quit |
90-day notice to quit |
Colorado landlords must have cause for initiating an eviction, such as wrongful entry, nonpayment of rent, repeat lease violations after receiving notice to cure, or violent activity (C.R.S. § 38-12-1303). In most cases, independent landlords must serve a 5-day notice. In the case of illegal, dangerous, or violent activity, landlords can serve a 3-day notice to quit (C.R.S. § 13-40-107.5(4)).
The only exceptions to these rules are cases of domestic abuse. Colorado law protects survivors of domestic abuse by prohibiting landlords from evicting tenants for lease violations due to domestic abuse against the tenant (C.R.S. § 13-40-107.5(5)(c)).
In some cases, landlords can initiate a no-fault eviction. Landlords must still have a reason for a no-fault eviction, including:
- Demolition of the property
- Substantial repairs and renovations
- Personal use of the property by the landlord
- Selling the property
- Tenant refusing to sign new lease with reasonable terms
- Tenant submits rent at least 10 days late more than twice during the lease period
For no-fault evictions, landlords must give tenants a 90-day notice to move out (subsection (3)). If the no-fault eviction is due to repairs or renovations that are expected to last less than 180 days, the tenant can notify the landlord within 10 days of receiving notice that they’d like to return to the property. The landlord must then give the tenant the first right of refusal to sign a new lease with reasonable terms (subsection (3)(b)(I)(E)).
All eviction notices must list the reason for eviction and the date by which the tenant must move out.
Maintenance and habitability requirements
Colorado law defines habitable conditions as the following:
- Functioning appliances
- Waterproofed and weather-protected roofing
- Functioning gas and plumbing
- Running hot and cold water
- Functioning heating
- Functional electrical wiring and equipment
- Common areas free of trash and pests
- Appropriate pest control
- Appropriate trash receptacles
- Floors, stairways, elevators, railings, doors, and locks all in good condition
- In compliance with building and health codes
Upon receiving written notice of an uninhabitable condition on the property, the landlord has 72 hours to begin repairing the condition. If the uninhabitable condition poses a direct threat to the tenant’s life, health, or safety, that timeline shortens to 24 hours (C.R.S. § 38-12-503(2)(b)(I)).
If a tenant gives a landlord 10 to 60 days’ written notice of an uninhabitable condition and the landlord does not make repairs in that time, the tenant can break the lease with no penalties. If the landlord makes repairs and the same uninhabitable condition recurs within six months, the tenant has 30 days to serve at least 10 days’ notice that the same uninhabitable condition has occurred and the tenant intends to break the lease if repairs are not made (C.R.S § 38-12-507).
Learn more: Streamline maintenance requests
Fair Housing extensions
Colorado law extends protections to immigrant renters. Landlords cannot request a renter’s immigration or citizenship status, refuse to lease a unit because of an applicant’s immigration or citizenship status, or evict a tenant for their immigration or citizenship status. Landlords also cannot disclose a tenant’s immigration or citizenship status or harass or retaliate against a tenant for their immigration or citizenship status.
What’s New in 2026: Recent Legal Updates in Colorado
Price transparency
H.B. 25-1090 added C.R.S. § 6-1-737, which requires landlords to advertise the total cost of their rental, including base rent and all nonoptional fees. This went into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Utility billing
While utilities are not included in the required fee disclosure, C.R.S. 6-1-747(4)(a) extends § 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI) to specifically protect tenants against utility bill markups. Landlords cannot require tenants to pay above the amount charged by a utility provider.
The only exception to this is an administrative fee to cover processing costs, but the fee must be disclosed in the lease agreement and cannot be more than either $10 or 2% of the bill.
Warranty of habitability disclosure
All Colorado lease agreements are required to outline the tenant’s right to safe and habitable conditions without retaliation from the landlord. The lease must also include a statement in English and Spanish explaining where the tenant can submit notice of an uninhabitable condition. Both statements must be in at least twelve-point, bold-faced font.
Compliance Tips for Landlords
Update lease templates
Ensure your lease templates include the following:
- All required fees in addition to base rent
- A disclosure of any administrative fee for utility billing
- A warrant of habitability statement in twelve-point, bold-faced font that informs tenants of their right to safe and habitable conditions
- Information on where to report uninhabitable conditions in both English and Spanish, printed in twelve-point, bold-faced font
Additionally, check that your lease templates don’t include any prohibited clauses like a waiver of a jury trial or a fee for failure to provide notice of nonrenewal.
Adjust fee structures
Edit your rental listing to include all required monthly fees. On Apartments.com, Nevada listings that include nonoptional fees will have a “Total Monthly Price” badge, signaling to renters that the price they see is what they’ll pay.
Document procedures for legal compliance
Keep detailed records of rent increases, notices to quit, repairs, and communications with tenants to demonstrate compliance with Colorado law in case of disputes. When you communicate with tenants on Rental Manager Messages, you can archive old conversations to make sure you never lose important information.
Ensure Compliance with Apartments.com
Managing legal responsibilities as a landlord can be challenging, especially with so many other priorities on your plate. From screening tenants to collecting rent, staying compliant and organized is no small task. However, it’s much easier to stay on top of everything when you have the right tools.
Apartments.com can help. Our Rental Tools suite simplifies the rental process while ensuring compliance at every step. From creating property listings and drafting state-compliant lease agreements to handling maintenance requests and tracking your expenses, streamline your workflow while ensuring every action is compliant with federal and state laws.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice. For guidance specific to your situation, you should consult a qualified attorney or other relevant professional.
FAQs
Is rent control in effect in Colorado?
No, rent control is not in effect in Colorado. Colorado law prohibits any county or municipality from passing rent control legislation.
What’s the legal process for evicting a tenant in Colorado?
The eviction notice periods required for landlords who manage five or fewer single-family rentals are as follows:
- Nonpayment of rent, lease violation, causing a nuisance: 5-day notice to cure or quit
- Repeat lease violation: 5-day notice to quit
- Illegal, dangerous, or violent activity: 3-day notice to quit
- No-fault evictions: 90-day notice to quit
Does Colorado law require landlords to disclose all fees upfront?
Yes, Nevada law requires property managers to advertise the total price of their rental in a listing. This means that the listed price should include both base rent and all nonoptional monthly fees.
What’s the maximum security deposit allowed in Colorado?
The maximum amount Colorado landlords can charge for a security deposit is the equivalent of two months’ rent.
When is rent considered late in Colorado?
In Colorado, rent is considered late after seven days past the due date. Landlords can charge a late fee of up to $50 or 5% of the past due rent, whichever is greater, but only if the late fee is disclosed in the lease.
