Is there a legal limit on late fees in Colorado?

The greater of $50 or 5% of the amount of the past-due rent payment (C.R.S. 38-12-105(1)(b)). Colorado applies no reasonableness test to late fees. The hard statutory cap displaces reasonableness balancing.

Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Colorado?

Yes — in Colorado a late fee must be stated in the lease.

Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Colorado?

Effectively barred. A late fee may be imposed only once per late payment unless the aggregate stays within the statutory cap, so daily accrual beyond the greater-of-$50-or-5% ceiling is unlawful.

What late fees can a landlord charge in Colorado?

Verified July 9, 2026 Updated August 23, 2026 All Colorado topics →

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. The rules on this page reflect the law in force today. The following measure would change it:

SB26-054 (2026) — Already CHAPTERED: on and after January 1, 2027, post-closing occupancy agreements (home-seller rent-backs) become exempt from the two-month security deposit cap of § 38-12-102.5. No other change to the cap.Status: Signed 2026-04-20; the act took effect August 12, 2026, and the exemption itself operates on and after January 1, 2027 per the amended statute's own text. The figures shown do not yet reflect it. (checked 2026-08-12).

Colorado has one of the strictest late-fee statutes in the country: no 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.

Cited to C.R.S. 38-12-105 (current-code mirror) (1)-(5) and 3 more Colorado statutes · Verified July 9, 2026

The fee must be disclosed in the rental agreement, noticed in writing within 180 days of the missed due date, imposed only once per late payment (no daily fees or interest on fees beyond the cap), and never charged on the portion of rent a subsidy program pays. A tenant cannot be evicted or have a tenancy terminated over unpaid late fees alone, and rent payments cannot be applied to fees before rent. Violations carry an automatic $50-per-violation penalty; if the landlord fails to cure within seven days of written notice, the tenant can sue for $150 to $1,000 per violation plus damages, costs, and attorney fees, and offending lease clauses are void. Separately, since January 1, 2026 the consumer-protection code bars a landlord from charging any late or overdue fee on a charge that is not rent, and from charging a payment-processing fee unless the tenant has a cost-free way to pay (C.R.S. § 6-1-737(4)).

Colorado late fees at a glance

Statutory cap	The greater of $50 or 5% of the amount of the past-due rent payment (C.R.S. 38-12-105(1)(b))
Mandatory grace period	7 days
Must be in the lease	Yes
Daily fees	Effectively barred. A late fee may be imposed only once per late payment unless the aggregate stays within the statutory cap, so daily accrual beyond the greater-of-$50-or-5% ceiling is unlawful. No interest may be charged on a late fee. The once-per-payment rule and the interest bar are at 38-12-105(1)(g)-(h); the ceiling itself is the (1)(b) cap.
Reasonableness standard	Colorado applies no reasonableness test to late fees. The hard statutory cap displaces reasonableness balancing. Additional structural rules: no late fee unless rent is at least 7 calendar days late; the fee must be disclosed in the rental agreement; written notice of the fee must come within 180 days of the due date; no fee may be charged on rent portions payable by a subsidy provider; and a tenant may not be evicted, excluded, or terminated for unpaid late fees alone (38-12-105(1)).

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Colorado Late Fee Laws (verified July 9, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/late-fees/colorado/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Colorado statute in the citations section below.

Check a late fee against the Colorado rules — free, no signup, built on the same verified Colorado rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

It is the GREATER of $50 or 5% — not the lesser — Sources occasionally flip the cap to 'lesser of,' which understates what landlords of small-rent units may charge.
Seven days late before any fee — contrast Washington — No late fee may be charged until rent is at least 7 calendar days late. Contrast WA, where fees can reach back to day one once the 5-day grace period lapses.
In force since October 2021 — The scheme was enacted by SB21-173, effective October 1, 2021.
Mirror numbering varies; the figures do not — Subsection numbering of the penalty-and-cure scheme differs between code mirrors ((2)–(5) vs (3)–(5)), but the substantive figures are identical in each — the automatic $50 penalty, the 7-day cure window, and the $150–$1,000 per uncured violation. The citation pinpoint is therefore given as a range.
The 2026 'junk fee' law left the caps alone but added fee bans — HB25-1090 (ch. 94, 2025; in force January 1, 2026) did not change the § 38-12-105 late-fee caps, but its new C.R.S. § 6-1-737(4) bars a landlord from requiring a tenant to pay: (e) any fee or charge for the overdue payment of a fee, charge, or amount that is not rent — so late fees attach to rent only; (d) a rent-processing or payment-processing fee unless a cost-free way to pay is reasonably accessible to the tenant; (b) any fee or charge that rises by more than two percent over the course of a lease of one year or less (utilities excepted); plus fees for property taxes, for common-area maintenance, for goods or services not actually provided, for anything needed to meet the landlord's own obligations (including habitability), and utility charges above the provider's bill except under the § 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI) markup allowance or the ratio-utility-billing rules in § 6-1-737(4.5) (HB26-1013, ch. 11, eff. March 26, 2026). A violation is a deceptive trade practice under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, with the tenant's written-demand remedy in § 6-1-737(5). The act applies to conduct on or after January 1, 2026.
A 2026 payment-options bill died — HB26-1047 was killed in committee on February 24, 2026.

Common questions: Colorado late fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Is there a legal limit on late fees in Colorado?: The greater of $50 or 5% of the amount of the past-due rent payment (C.R.S. 38-12-105(1)(b)). Colorado applies no reasonableness test to late fees. The hard statutory cap displaces reasonableness balancing.
Is there a grace period before rent is late in Colorado?: 7 days.
Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Colorado?: Yes — in Colorado a late fee must be stated in the lease.
Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Colorado?: Effectively barred. A late fee may be imposed only once per late payment unless the aggregate stays within the statutory cap, so daily accrual beyond the greater-of-$50-or-5% ceiling is unlawful.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (July 9, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official state sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Updated, August 23, 2026 — Colorado's late-fee record now states the fee prohibitions of C.R.S. § 6-1-737(4), in force since January 1, 2026 (HB25-1090, ch. 94, read on the official 2026 Colorado Revised Statutes): no late or overdue fee on any charge that is not rent; no payment-processing fee unless a cost-free way to pay is reasonably accessible; no fee or charge that rises more than two percent over a lease of one year or less (utilities excepted); no fees for property taxes, common-area maintenance, goods or services not provided, or the landlord's own obligations; utility charges limited to the provider's bill except under § 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI) or the ratio-utility-billing rules of § 6-1-737(4.5) (HB26-1013, effective March 26, 2026). The § 38-12-105 caps (greater of $50 or 5%, seven days late, once per payment) are unchanged.

Statute citations

C.R.S. 38-12-105 (current-code mirror) (1)-(5) (verified 2026) Unofficial mirror
SB21-173 'Rights in Residential Lease Agreements' (official bill record, eff. 2021-10-01) (verified 2026) Official source
C.R.S. 6-1-737 (2026 Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 6 — official Office of Legislative Legal Services edition, HTML) (4)(b), (4)(d), (4)(e), (4.5), (5) (verified 2026) Official source
HB25-1090 'Protections Against Deceptive Pricing Practices' (official bill record; ch. 94, eff. 2026-01-01) § 2 (adding C.R.S. 6-1-737), § 4 (amending 38-12-801(3)(a)(VI)), § 5 (effective date/applicability) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Colorado's official CRS text is published via LexisNexis without stable deep links (GA-class sourcing situation), so verification pairs official session-law sources with current code mirrors: the HB25-1249 enrolled act read verbatim from the official leg.colorado.gov PDF (full text extracted) and re-confirmed against the official bill-page summary (independent reads matched on the 30-day return deadline, wrongful-retention standard, 125% presumption, walk-through, and carpet/paint rules, and confirmed NO deposit-cap change); official bill pages read for SB23-184 (deposit cap), SB21-173 (late fees), HB21-1121 (rent-increase notice/frequency), HB23-1068 (pet deposits), HB23-1115 (rent-control repeal — died), HB25-1092 and HB26-1047 (died), and SB26-054 (PCOA exemption; dates corrected 2026-08-12 against the chaptered session law: act effective 2026-08-12, exemption operative on and after 2027-01-01). Statute text quoted from the colorado.public.law and FindLaw mirrors (official: false), with §§ 38-12-105 and 38-12-701 each read twice on the mirror, with both reads matching. Checked 2026-07-09. Supplement 2026-08-23: C.R.S. § 6-1-737 read in full on the official 2026 C.R.S. Title 6 HTML edition published by the Office of Legislative Legal Services (olls.info), cross-checked against the HB25-1090 signed act (leg.colorado.gov PDF, § 2 and § 4 read) — the § 6-1-737(4) fee prohibitions added to late_fees; the eviction citation now references the 2026 C.R.S. download page, the 2025 page having been withdrawn.