Colorado Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Colorado
Colorado law bars cities and counties from controlling rent on existing private residential housing, but allows voluntary rent-limiting agreements and, since 2021, inclusionary land-use rules that restrict rents on newly built or redeveloped units when the developer is given alternatives.
Cited to C.R.S. § 38-12-301 (2026 Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 38 — official Office of Legislative Legal Services publication) , HB21-1117 (official bill record — local land-use authority over rents on newly constructed units, § 29-20-104(1)(e.5)) · Verified October 1, 2026 · Full Colorado rent-increase rules →
Colorado landlord-tenant laws by topic
Colorado security deposits
Colorado caps security deposits at two months' rent — a rule in force since August 2023 — and a major 2025 rewrite of the return rules took effect on January 1, 2026: deposits are due back within 30 days (a lease can stretch that to 60 at most), any retention needs a written statement of the exact reasons limited to four permitted causes, and tenants can demand the landlord's photos, receipts, invoices, and estimates within 14 days.
Colorado rent increase notice
Colorado limits how often rent can rise — no more than once in any 12-month period of consecutive occupancy, no matter what kind of lease the tenant has or whether anything is in writing — but sets no limit on how much.
Colorado late fees
Colorado allows no late fee at all unless rent is at least seven calendar days late, and the fee is capped at the greater of $50 or 5% of the past-due amount — note it keys to the amount actually unpaid, not the full month's rent.
Colorado entry notice
Colorado has no general statute requiring advance notice before a landlord enters a rental home — for most entries, notice periods, purposes, and timing are governed by the lease, so a well-drafted entry clause matters.
Colorado eviction process
In Colorado, a landlord who wants to evict a residential tenant for unpaid rent must first serve a written 10-day demand, and since April 2024 must also have a legal reason ("cause") to evict or to refuse to renew most leases.
Colorado application & screening fees
Colorado regulates rental application fees by cost rather than by a dollar cap: the whole fee must go to the landlord's actual or average cost of processing the application, and no application fee may be charged at all when the applicant supplies a portable tenant screening report.
Colorado deposit interest
Colorado requires no interest on a residential security deposit, and the legislature's recent work on the subject makes that a current answer rather than a stale one.
Colorado habitability & repairs
Colorado deems every residential landlord to warrant that the premises are fit for human habitation when the tenancy starts and will stay fit throughout it, and backs that promise with the most elaborate remedy scheme in the country.
Colorado lease termination
Since April 2024 a Colorado landlord of a covered home cannot end a tenancy or decline to renew it without cause, so there is no no-cause notice period for most residential landlords to give.
Colorado lease disclosures
A written Colorado lease must name the landlord or agent, carry a source-of-income statement, and be copied to the tenant within seven days, and before any lease is signed the landlord must give a signed radon disclosure with the state health department's brochure.
Colorado pets & assistance animals
In Colorado a landlord may charge a pet deposit of up to $300, which must be refundable, and pet rent of up to $35 a month or 1.5 percent of the rent, whichever is more; the law calls the pet deposit an additional deposit but does not say whether it counts toward the ordinary two-month deposit cap.
Colorado mobile home park laws
Colorado's Mobile Home Park Act, C.R.S. sections 38-12-200.1 to 38-12-224, covers communities of five or more mobile homes where the resident owns the home and rents the lot: lot rent may be raised only once in any twelve months and only on sixty days' written notice, a tenancy may be ended only for the grounds the act lists, closing a park or changing its use takes twelve months' notice plus relocation costs or a buyout paid by the park owner, and home owners get a one-hundred-twenty-day opportunity to buy the park when the owner moves to sell.
Colorado Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Colorado metro area and county.
Editable Colorado deposit kit · Editable Colorado disclosure packet — editable documents built on the verified Colorado rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.
Changes since last full verification
The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).
- Correction, October 8, 2026 — Illinois: the Rent Concession Act's legend ("Concession Granted" across the face and text of the lease) applies to a concession the written lease does not expressly mention (765 ILCS 730/2 and /3). Oregon: ORS 90.245 bars a rental agreement from making the tenant waive chapter 90 rights; it protects the tenant and does not bar the landlord from agreeing to a longer notice. Ohio: a written lease must give an entity owner's or agent's principal place of business in the county or, failing one there, in Ohio (section 5321.18(A)). Delaware: any lease term that conflicts with the Code is unenforceable unless the Code allows it (section 5101(a)). Colorado: section 38-12-106 calls the $300 pet deposit an additional security deposit and section 38-12-102.5 caps a security deposit at two months' rent; neither says whether the pet deposit counts inside the cap, and the pages now say so. New York: the good-cause page no longer names a fixed list of opted-in localities; the state housing agency publishes the current list and the Attorney General keeps its own. Maine: the Attorney General's Total Price Disclosure Statement is listed as a document (14 M.R.S. § 6030-J).
How this record was verified: Direct read of the Colorado Revised Statutes in the 2026 edition published by the General Assembly's Office of Legislative Legal Services (the files for Titles 2, 6, 13 and 38 on olls.info). October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read there: C.R.S. §§ 38-12-101 to 38-12-106, 38-12-204, 38-12-207, 38-12-209, 38-12-213, 38-12-222, 38-12-301, 38-12-402, 38-12-503, 38-12-510, 38-12-701, 38-12-702, 38-12-902, 38-12-903, 38-12-1004, 38-12-1301 to 38-12-1307 and 38-12-1502; 13-40-101 to 13-40-123 and 13-6-311; 6-1-737; and 2-4-108. The acts behind them were read on the General Assembly's site, among them SB23-184, HB23-1068, SB21-173, HB21-1121, SB24-094, HB25-1090, HB25-1168, HB25-1240 and HB25-1249, with SB26-054 and HB26-1196 for their January 1, 2027 operative dates. The Colorado Rules of County Court Civil Procedure and forms JDF 99 A and JDF 126 were read on the Judicial Branch's site.