Landlord Atlas

Can a landlord charge for a pet in Colorado, and what does the law require for an assistance animal?

Verified September 20, 2026 Correction October 8, 2026 All Colorado topics →

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.

Cited to C.R.S. § 38-12-106 (1), (2), (3) and 33 more cited sources · Verified September 20, 2026

A non-refundable pet fee charged before the tenancy starts is treated as an application fee and may recover only the cost of processing the application. None of this may be charged for a service animal, and since August 12, 2026 Colorado law presumes that letting a tenant keep an assistance animal, a term that includes an emotional support animal, is a reasonable accommodation and that banning them outright is discrimination. A landlord may ask for reasonable documentation unless the need is obvious; the professional who writes it must have met the patient, and only a doctor or physician assistant may do that by telemedicine, while a therapist, counselor or nurse must meet the patient in person. No lease needs to state a pet policy, and the only breed rule binds developments financed by the state housing division. Faking an assistance animal is an offense only after a written or verbal warning, and the first fine is $25.

Colorado pets & assistance animals at a glance

Which law governs The money and lease rules sit in the residential landlord-tenant article, Title 38 article 12 of the Colorado Revised Statutes: part 1 carries the deposit definition, the two-month general cap and the pet-deposit and pet-rent ceilings (sections 38-12-102, 38-12-102.5 and 38-12-106), part 8 the lease-content rules, part 9 the application-fee rules that reach a non-refundable pet fee collected before the tenancy, and part 2 the mobile home park rules. The assistance-animal rule is the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act's housing part (Title 24 article 34 part 5, as amended in 2026) together with the service-animal rights in part 8 (section 24-34-803); the certifier's duties are licensing law in Title 12 (articles 240, 245 and 255); the misrepresentation offenses are in Title 18 (sections 18-13-107.3 and 18-13-107.7); the pet mandate for publicly financed developments is section 24-32-735; the Civil Rights Commission's rules (3 CCR 708-1) and the Division of Housing's park rules (8 CCR 1302-15) add the inquiry list and the park deposit ceiling.
Where in the state the answers differ Statewide — every answer applies across the state
Which landlords are covered Every residential landlord. Part 1 of article 12 carries no exemption, and 'landlord' means the owner, manager, lessor, sublessor, successor in interest or agent of the owner of a residential premises (section 38-12-102, subsection 2, and section 38-12-502, subsection 5). The assistance-animal rules bind every housing provider: Colorado's single-family and owner-occupied exemptions are expressly limited to familial status and do not reach disability (section 24-34-502, subsection 8), and the service-animal charge bar in section 24-34-803 carries no size, ownership or occupancy qualifier. Developments financed by the Division of Housing and mobile home park lots carry their own rules, stated below as separate rows.
Pet deposit

Yes, up to a ceiling the statute sets for a pet deposit as such. $300 (section 38-12-106, subsection 1): a landlord may not require an additional security deposit of more than three hundred dollars as a condition of permitting the tenant's pet animal. Whether it counts toward the general deposit cap is not stated in the statute.

A landlord who allows a pet may take a separate pet security deposit of up to $300, and it must be refundable. Section 38-12-106 calls the pet deposit an additional security deposit, and section 38-12-102.5 limits a security deposit to the amount of two monthly rent payments; neither section says whether the pet deposit counts toward that two-month limit. 'Pet animal' takes the broad definition in section 35-80-102, subsection 10: dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats, gerbils, ferrets, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, but not livestock or farm working animals. The section contains no per-animal multiplier: the ceiling is on the additional deposit, however many pets the lease allows. The pet-charge section itself carries no assistance-animal carve-out; that exclusion lives in Title 24 and is stated under assistance animals below. Both ceilings were added by HB 23-1068 and took effect January 1, 2024.

Refundability: The pet deposit must be refundable (section 38-12-106, subsection 1). Any charge, regardless of its name, whose primary function is to secure performance is a security deposit (section 38-12-102, subsection 6).

The general deposit cap it sits against: Two months' rent for the ordinary security deposit (section 38-12-102.5, subsection 1, in force since August 7, 2023). From January 1, 2027, subsection 2 adds an exception for a post-closing occupancy arrangement; the deposits page carries the general cap.
Pet rent and pet fees

Yes, within a ceiling the statute sets on pet rent or a pet fee. Monthly pet rent may not exceed the greater of $35 a month or 1.5 percent of the monthly rent (section 38-12-106, subsection 2).

Pet rent is capped at the greater of $35 a month or 1.5 percent of the monthly rent, and a non-refundable pet fee charged before the tenancy starts is treated as an application fee, which may recover only the actual cost of processing the application. Pet charges need not appear in an advertised total price, because a fee the tenant can avoid is not a mandatory fee under the total-price rule (section 6-1-737, subsection 1, paragraph (m)). Pet rent may not be treated as rent for eviction purposes.

Monthly pet rent: Pet rent is capped at the greater of $35 a month or 1.5 percent of the monthly rent. A lease clause that characterizes pet rent, or any amount other than the set monthly payment for occupancy, as rent for which eviction is available is void and unenforceable (section 38-12-801, subsection 3, paragraphs (a)(V) and (b)), subject to the mobile home park and owner-occupied duplex, triplex and accessory-dwelling exceptions in subsections 4 and 8.

A one-time pet fee: A non-refundable pet fee collected before the tenancy begins is a 'rental application fee': any sum, however denominated, or any nonrefundable fee that precedes the onset of tenancy (section 38-12-902, subsection 5). It is lawful only to the extent it covers the landlord's actual cost of processing the application (section 38-12-903, subsection 1), and a violation carries $2,500 plus costs and fees, or $50 where the landlord cures within seven days (section 38-12-905). Colorado has no general bar on non-refundable fees and no reasonableness standard; both pet ceilings are numeric.
Pet policy in the lease, and changing it mid-tenancy

No — no statute requires a lease to state a pet policy, and no written-rules provision governs one.

No Colorado statute requires a lease to state a pet policy, supplies a default when the lease is silent, limits the number of pets, or governs a mid-term change to a private landlord's pet rule: section 38-12-801's mandatory lease contents are a copy of the lease, the landlord-identity statement and the source-of-income statement, and the rules-amendment machinery in section 38-12-214 binds mobile home park management only. One housing class carries a mandate: a development that receives financing from the Division of Housing on or after January 1, 2026 must allow up to two pet animals (dogs and cats only, in that section) subject to enumerated reasonable conditions (section 24-32-735), stated as its own row below.
Breed, size and weight restrictions

Yes, for a private landlord — the only bar reaches a named publicly financed or agency-managed housing class.

Colorado law says nothing about a private landlord's breed, size or weight rule for pets. The only breed rule in housing binds developments financed by the Division of Housing on or after January 1, 2026, which may not impose breed prohibitions or weight restrictions on the pets they must allow. The dangerous-dog statute (section 18-9-204.5) is animal control, not a housing rule, and the insurance breed-underwriting bar is a separate statute stated below.

Size and weight: In the financed class, a prohibition on breeds and a weight restriction are both excluded from the 'reasonable conditions' a development may impose (section 24-32-735, subsection 1, paragraph (c)(II)); a size limit is not among the excluded conditions. Outside that class no statute reaches breed, size or weight.
Assistance animals: the state instrument and who it binds

Yes — a state statute or rule sets what a landlord may request or what a certifier must meet for an assistance animal in housing. Both a statute and an administrative rule under it speak to it. State law incorporates a federal statute or codified regulation by reference.

Since August 12, 2026, permitting an assistance animal, which includes an emotional support animal, is presumed to be a reasonable accommodation, and a complete prohibition on assistance animals is presumed to be a discriminatory housing practice (section 24-34-502.2, subsection 2, paragraph (b)(II)(A) and (B), added by HB 26-1045). A housing provider does not discriminate solely by requesting reasonable documentation of the disability or the disability-related need unless the disability or need is obvious (paragraph (b)(II)(C)), and is entitled to an interactive process before the presumption applies (paragraph (b)(II)(A)). A provider may act on documented, specific conduct of an assistance animal that poses a direct threat or causes substantial physical damage to property (section 24-34-502, subsection 1, paragraph (a)(III)(C)). Separately, since 2014 a qualified individual with a disability has the right to be accompanied by a service animal in housing without paying an extra charge (section 24-34-803, subsection 1), and the same right extends to a trainer with an animal in training (subsection 2). The General Assembly's stated purpose in the 2026 act was to restore, in state law, protections that federal guidance had carried.

Who it binds: Every housing provider. The Anti-Discrimination Act's single-family (three or fewer owned) and owner-occupied four-family exemptions apply only with respect to familial status and do not reach disability (section 24-34-502, subsection 8, paragraph (a)); the only disability-side exclusion is a private club not open to the public that provides lodging non-commercially. The service-animal charge bar in section 24-34-803, subsection 1, has no size, ownership or occupancy qualifier.

The rule's currency: 3 CCR 708-1, Rules 60.4 and 60.6 (Colorado Civil Rights Commission), entire rule effective December 15, 2014, in the Code of Colorado Regulations as the Secretary of State publishes it, current with rules effective on or before August 13, 2026.
What counts as an assistance animal 'Assistance animal' includes an emotional support animal and a service animal (section 24-34-301, subsection 2.5, added in 2026). 'Emotional support animal' means an animal that provides solely emotional support to alleviate a symptom or effect of a disability (subsection 8.5). 'Service animal' takes the meaning of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act regulations (subsection 23), and 'qualified individual with a disability' the Act's meaning (subsection 20). 'Disability' for the housing part is a physical or mental impairment, excluding current illegal use of a controlled substance (section 24-34-501, subsection 1.3), and 'reasonable accommodation' expressly includes public and common-use spaces (subsection 3.5). The criminal offense carries a second, differently anchored definition: an 'assistance animal' there is an animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation under the federal Fair Housing Act or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (section 18-13-107.3, subsection 5).
Documentation a landlord may request, and what a certifier must meet

The statute does not enumerate questions; it protects a request for reasonable documentation supporting the claim of disability or disability-related need unless the disability or need is obvious (section 24-34-502.2, subsection 2, paragraph (b)(II)(C)). The Commission's rule bars inquiry into whether an applicant has a disability or into its nature or severity, subject to five permitted inquiries put to all applicants: ability to meet the requirements of ownership or tenancy, qualification for a disability-restricted dwelling, qualification for a disability priority, current illegal drug use, and conviction for manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance (3 CCR 708-1, Rule 60.4(B)).

The law tests the certifier's conduct before issuing. Telehealth is allowed for some license classes and not others. The statute contemplates an agency form that the agency has not posted, so the landlord duty tied to it has no trigger.

Who may certify: Three licensing ladders, one per Title 12 article: physicians and physician assistants (section 12-240-144), mental-health professionals including psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors and addiction counselors (section 12-245-229), and nurses (section 12-255-133). Each licensee must be legally and professionally qualified to make the determination and sufficiently familiar with the patient and the disability. The statute does not limit the means by which a person may demonstrate a disability or a disability-related need (subsection 2, paragraph (c), of each section).

The relationship test: No day count anywhere in Colorado law. The test is qualitative: the licensee must be sufficiently familiar with the patient and the disability (section 12-240-144, subsection 3, paragraph (b), and its parallels).

Telehealth: A physician or physician assistant may have met the patient in person or by telemedicine (section 12-240-144, subsection 3, paragraph (a)). A mental-health professional or a nurse must have met the patient in person (sections 12-245-229 and 12-255-133, subsection 3, paragraph (a)). The telemedicine words are the only textual difference among the three sections.

The certifier's duties: A licensee approached by a patient seeking an assistance animal as a housing accommodation must either make a written finding on disability and a separate written finding on whether the need for the animal relates to it, or make a written finding that there is insufficient information (section 12-240-144, subsection 1, and its parallels). A licensee may not make the determination without having met the patient (in person, or by telemedicine for a physician or physician assistant), being sufficiently familiar with the patient and the disability, and being legally and professionally qualified (subsection 3). A breach is unprofessional conduct subject to board discipline (sections 12-240-121, subsection 1, paragraph (h), and 12-245-224, subsection 1). A written finding is an affirmative defense to the misrepresentation offense, and its absence is not proof of the offense (section 18-13-107.3, subsection 4).

Colorado does not test the letter; it tests the professional's conduct before the letter is written. A landlord may ask for reasonable documentation unless the need is obvious, and may not ask about the nature or severity of a disability beyond the Commission's five permitted inquiries. The professional who supplies the documentation must have met the patient, and only a physician or physician assistant may do so by telemedicine; a therapist, counselor, social worker or nurse must have met the patient in person. Colorado sets no minimum treatment period, no online-certificate rule, no annual re-evaluation, no records rule for animals and no deadline for the landlord's answer. Section 24-34-309 lets the Civil Rights Division create a form and, if the Division posts one, requires a landlord who asks for documentation to supply that form, which the tenant need not use; the Division has not posted an assistance-animal form, so the landlord duty tied to it has no trigger today.
Charges for an assistance animal

No — a state bar on an extra charge reaches an emotional support animal on the face of the definition it hangs on; the bar operates as a presumption that permitting the animal is a reasonable accommodation, in a statute.

A service animal may not carry an extra charge in housing, and has not since 2014 (section 24-34-803, subsection 1). Since August 12, 2026, permitting an assistance animal, a term that expressly includes an emotional support animal, is presumed to be a reasonable accommodation, so the $300 pet deposit and the pet rent in section 38-12-106 may not be charged for an animal a landlord must permit as an accommodation; discrimination in the terms, conditions or privileges of housing is independently unlawful (section 24-34-502, subsection 1, paragraph (a)(I)). Before August 12, 2026, only a service animal was protected from an extra charge by state law. The pet-charge section itself contains no assistance-animal exception; a reader who opens only section 38-12-106 will find nothing excluding an assistance animal.

The definition it hangs on: 'Assistance animal' includes an emotional support animal and a service animal (C.R.S. 24-34-301, subsection 2.5).

Remedy: Withholding or denying a right secured by section 24-34-803 is a petty offense (section 24-34-804, subsections 1 and 2), and the violator is liable for the penalties in section 24-34-602: a court order requiring compliance, attorney fees and costs, and either actual damages plus damages for noneconomic loss (capped at $50,000) or a statutory fine of $5,000 payable to each plaintiff for each violation (section 24-34-602, subsection 1, as amended by HB 25-1239, in force August 6, 2025). A discriminatory housing practice under the Anti-Discrimination Act is enforced through the Civil Rights Division and the courts.
Damage caused by an assistance animal

The tenant is liable for damage the animal causes like any other tenant, by express words.

The owner or handler of a service animal is liable for any damage to persons, premises or facilities, including places of housing, caused by the animal (section 24-34-803, subsection 4). For assistance animals generally, a provider may act on documented, specific conduct that poses a direct threat or causes substantial physical damage (section 24-34-502, subsection 1, paragraph (a)(III)(C)), and the ordinary security deposit remains available for actual damage to the premises (section 38-12-103, subsection 1, paragraph (b)(IV)).
Misrepresenting an assistance animal

An offense or sanction that reaches a misrepresentation made to obtain housing: a civil infraction, a petty offense, and licensing discipline, reaching the person claiming the animal. Penalty terms: $25 for a first offense; $50 to $200 for a second offense; and $100 to $500 for a third or later offense. A prior warning is an element of the offense.

A person who intentionally misrepresents entitlement to an animal as an assistance animal to obtain a housing accommodation, after a prior written or verbal warning that doing so is illegal, and knowing that the animal is not an assistance animal or that the person has no disability, commits a civil infraction (section 18-13-107.3): a $25 fine for a first offense, $50 to $200 for a second, and $100 to $500 for a third or later offense. The prior warning is an element of the offense, not a procedural step; without it there is no offense. A companion section makes the same misrepresentation of a service animal a petty offense with the same ladder (section 18-13-107.7). The offense reaches only the person claiming the animal; the professional who signs is exposed to licensing discipline, not to the offense, and lying to a professional is not itself an offense. A written finding by a licensed professional is an affirmative defense, and its absence proves nothing.

The landlord-side offense: Withholding, denying or depriving a qualified individual with a disability accompanied by a service animal of a right secured by section 24-34-803 is a petty offense, and harming the animal is a class 2 misdemeanor (section 24-34-804, subsections 1 and 2).

Who enforces it: Both offenses are prosecuted as ordinary offenses; a written finding by a Title 12 licensee is an affirmative defense; a first conviction under either section may be sealed after three years (section 24-72-706, subsection 1, paragraph (b)).
Can cities add their own rules

State law says nothing either way about local pet rules in housing.

No Colorado statute authorizes or preempts local rules on pets in housing: the landlord-tenant article carries no preemption clause on pet deposits, pet rent or pet policies, the 2025 and 2026 acts contain no preemption or devolution section, and the Anti-Discrimination Act's housing part binds any person with no local-government clause. Two adjacent provisions are not pet authority: the service-animal owner's exemption from state or local licensing fees (section 24-34-803, subsection 5) and the dangerous-dog statute (section 18-9-204.5), which is animal control. Denver has no pet ordinance of its own; the $300 deposit and $35-or-1.5-percent pet-rent figures in the city's renter and landlord guides restate state law.
Housing classes with their own pet rule

Developments financed by the Division of Housing on or after January 1, 2026: pets must be allowed, subject to the stated conditions; breed, size or weight restrictions are barred. A development that receives financing from the Division of Housing on or after January 1, 2026 must allow each household to keep up to two pet animals, meaning a dog or cat commonly kept for companionship, subject to reasonable conditions: policies on nuisance behavior, leashing and waste, liability insurance, and prohibitions on dangerous dogs (section 24-32-735, subsections 1 and 2). 'Reasonable conditions' do not include prohibitions on breeds or weight restrictions (subsection 1, paragraph (c)(II)). The section was added by HB 25-1207, in force August 6, 2025, and binds by the date of the financing. Text: C.R.S. § 24-32-735 · (1)(b), (1)(c), (2), (3).

Mobile home park lots (the Division of Housing's park program rules) (from November 30, 2021): pet deposit — capped; pet rent and fees — allowed, no cap. In a mobile home park the management may not charge or collect a nonrefundable pet deposit, and may collect a refundable pet deposit only if the security deposit and the refundable pet deposit together do not exceed one month's rent (8 CCR 1302-15, Rules 6.6.1 and 6.6.2, in force since November 30, 2021). Any recurring pet charge must either be part of the rent or fall under an exception to the entry-fee prohibition; pet rent charged as rent may not be discriminatory or retaliatory and carries every rent rule, including the rent-increase notice, frequency and non-compliance rules in section 38-12-204 (Rule 6.7). The park landlord must keep, for twelve months after the tenancy, a record of each request relating to pets or service animals and whether it was approved (section 38-12-223, subsection 1, paragraph (d)(II)). This combined one-month ceiling is stricter than the two-months-plus-$300 residential answer. Text: 8 CCR 1302-15 · Rules 6.6.1, 6.6.2, 6.7, 6.7.1. Text: C.R.S. § 38-12-223 · (1)(d)(II).
Insurance and dog breeds C.R.S. 10-4-110.8(16) — An insurer may not refuse to issue, cancel, refuse to renew, or raise the premium or rate for a homeowner's policy, a dwelling fire policy, a commercial policy for multifamily units, or a renter's or owner's contents policy on the basis of the breed or mixture of breeds of a dog kept at the dwelling, and may not ask about breed except to ask whether a particular dog is known or declared to be dangerous (section 10-4-110.8, subsection 16, paragraphs (a) and (c)). A reasonable action based on sound underwriting and actuarial principles remains allowed for a particular dog known or declared dangerous (paragraph (b)). The bar was added by HB 23-1068 effective January 1, 2024 and extended to commercial multifamily and renter's contents policies by HB 25-1207 effective August 6, 2025. Policy types it reaches: homeowner, dwelling fire, commercial multifamily, and renter. Text: C.R.S. § 10-4-110.8 · (16)(a)–(d).
How state law refers to the federal rules Colorado incorporates federal statutes and codified regulations by reference for its core definitions: 'disability' and 'qualified individual with a disability' take the Americans with Disabilities Act's meaning and 'service animal' the Act's implementing regulations (section 24-34-301, subsections 7, 20 and 23); the criminal offense defines an 'assistance animal' as an animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation under the federal Fair Housing Act or section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and 'disability' to include a handicap as the Fair Housing Act and 24 CFR 100.201 define it (section 18-13-107.3, subsection 5). The licensing sections expressly preserve the right of pet ownership in public housing under 42 U.S.C. section 1437z-3 (section 12-240-144, subsection 2, paragraph (b), and its parallels), and the Commission's rule declares the state's disability law substantially equivalent to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act (3 CCR 708-1, Rule 60.1(A)). The 2026 act's declared purpose was to restore in state law protections that federal guidance had carried. No Colorado statute or rule incorporates any HUD notice; the status of the federal instruments is on the federal section of the 50-state page.
Changes already signed into law SB 26-054 (Session Laws 2026, chapter 61): From January 1, 2027, the two-month general deposit cap in section 38-12-102.5 does not apply to a post-closing occupancy arrangement (new subsection 2, in force August 12, 2026 but operating on and after January 1, 2027). The pet-deposit and pet-rent ceilings are unchanged; the two-month general cap gains an exception that the deposits page will carry. Text: C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5 · (2).
Leading court decisions None carried — the answers rest on the statutes and rules cited

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Colorado Pet & Assistance Animal Laws (verified September 20, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/pets/colorado/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Colorado assistance-animal documentation at a glance

Each row is what the state's own statute or rule says about that slot; a row that reads not stated is a slot no state text addresses. The full text of each slot, with its section, is in the table above.

Slot What the state's text says
Who may certify, and on what test The law tests the certifier's conduct before issuing.
The certifier's minimum relationship period A qualitative test, no day count
Telehealth Allowed for some license classes
Online registration or certificate Not stated
Form Agency form contemplated, not posted
Medical records Not stated
Written answer from the landlord Not stated
Annual re-evaluation Not stated
Proof of vaccination or licensing Not stated

Housing classes in Colorado with their own pet rule

Each row is a housing class whose own instrument sets at least one pet cell differently from the private-market answers above; a dash is a cell the class's instrument does not set, so the residential answer on this page does not carry over to it either way. The full text of each row is in the table above.

Class Pet deposit Pet rent and fees In the lease Breed, size, weight Extra charge for an assistance animal From
Developments financed by the Division of Housing on or after January 1, 2026 — — Pets must be allowed Barred —
Mobile home park lots (the Division of Housing's park program rules) Capped Allowed, no cap — — — November 30, 2021

Federal law on pets and assistance animals, in every state

The federal layer for the pets and assistance-animals topic, carried once for the whole site. It is a dated history rather than a single rule: the Fair Housing Act's accommodation duty has not changed since 1988 and the regulation under it has never contained the word animal, while the HUD guidance that most writing on this subject still quotes was withdrawn in September 2025, permanently rescinded in May 2026, and replaced by an enforcement position that governs HUD's own cause determinations and nothing else. Every row names who it binds, and most of the rows that carry real figures bind only federally assisted, public or rural-development housing. No state record restates these rows; a state record says only where its own law references or extends them. Each row below says who it binds before it says what it does. The full text of each row, with its citations, is on the 50-state page.

Notes and caveats

Common questions: Colorado pets & assistance animals

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

Can a landlord charge a pet deposit in Colorado, and is there a limit?
Yes, up to a ceiling the statute sets for a pet deposit as such. $300 (section 38-12-106, subsection 1): a landlord may not require an additional security deposit of more than three hundred dollars as a condition of permitting the tenant's pet animal. Whether it counts toward the general deposit cap is not stated in the statute.
Can a landlord charge pet rent or a non-refundable pet fee in Colorado?
Yes, within a ceiling the statute sets on pet rent or a pet fee. Monthly pet rent may not exceed the greater of $35 a month or 1.5 percent of the monthly rent (section 38-12-106, subsection 2).
Does a Colorado lease have to state a pet policy?
No — no statute requires a lease to state a pet policy, and no written-rules provision governs one. No Colorado statute requires a lease to state a pet policy, supplies a default when the lease is silent, limits the number of pets, or governs a mid-term change to a private landlord's pet rule: section 38-12-801's mandatory lease contents are a copy of the lease, the landlord-identity statement and the source-of-income statement, and the rules-amendment machinery in section 38-12-214 binds mobile home park management only.
Can a Colorado landlord restrict pets by breed, size or weight?
Yes, for a private landlord — the only bar reaches a named publicly financed or agency-managed housing class. Colorado law says nothing about a private landlord's breed, size or weight rule for pets.
Does Colorado have its own assistance-animal law for rentals?
Yes — a state statute or rule sets what a landlord may request or what a certifier must meet for an assistance animal in housing. Both a statute and an administrative rule under it speak to it.
What documentation can a Colorado landlord ask for when a tenant requests an assistance animal?
The statute does not enumerate questions; it protects a request for reasonable documentation supporting the claim of disability or disability-related need unless the disability or need is obvious (section 24-34-502.2, subsection 2, paragraph (b)(II)(C)). The Commission's rule bars inquiry into whether an applicant has a disability or into its nature or severity, subject to five permitted inquiries put to all applicants: ability to meet the requirements of ownership or tenancy, qualification for a disability-restricted dwelling, qualification for a disability priority, current illegal drug use, and conviction for manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance (3 CCR 708-1, Rule 60.4(B)).
Can a Colorado landlord charge a pet deposit or pet rent for an emotional support animal?
No — a state bar on an extra charge reaches an emotional support animal on the face of the definition it hangs on; the bar operates as a presumption that permitting the animal is a reasonable accommodation, in a statute. A service animal may not carry an extra charge in housing, and has not since 2014 (section 24-34-803, subsection 1).
What is the penalty for falsely claiming an assistance animal in Colorado?
An offense or sanction that reaches a misrepresentation made to obtain housing: a civil infraction, a petty offense, and licensing discipline, reaching the person claiming the animal. Penalty terms: $25 for a first offense; $50 to $200 for a second offense; and $100 to $500 for a third or later offense.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (September 20, 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).

Citations

How this record was verified: Direct reading of the Colorado Revised Statutes, 2026 edition, in the Office of Legislative Legal Services' complete-title files: Title 38 article 12 part 1 (sections 38-12-102, 38-12-102.5 and 38-12-106 for the deposit definition, the two-month cap and the pet-deposit and pet-rent ceilings), part 8 (section 38-12-801 for lease content and the rent-characterization bar), part 9 (sections 38-12-902, 38-12-903 and 38-12-905 for the application-fee definition that reaches a pre-tenancy pet fee) and part 2 (sections 38-12-214 and 38-12-223 for park rules and park records); Title 35 section 35-80-102 for the pet-animal definition the deposit section borrows; Title 6 section 6-1-737 for the total-price rule; Title 24 article 32 (section 24-32-735, the pet mandate for developments financed by the Division of Housing) and article 34 parts 3, 5 and 8 (sections 24-34-301, 24-34-309, 24-34-501, 24-34-502, 24-34-502.2, 24-34-602, 24-34-803 and 24-34-804) read in full with every credit line; Title 12 sections 12-240-144, 12-245-229 and 12-255-133 read in full and compared word for word, with the discipline sections 12-240-121 and 12-245-224; Title 18 sections 18-13-107.3 and 18-13-107.7 read in full with the sealing provision at section 24-72-706; Title 10 section 10-4-110.8 subsection 16 with its credit line. The Session Laws of Colorado 2026 chapter 202 (HB 26-1045, approved May 28, 2026, in force August 12, 2026) read in full from the General Assembly's own PDF, and the enacted-chapter roll for the 2026 regular session (437 measures) checked title by title. The Code of Colorado Regulations searched on the Secretary of State's own application, with 3 CCR 708-1 (the Civil Rights Commission's rules, Rule 60) and 8 CCR 1302-15 (the Division of Housing's mobile home park program rules) read in full; compilation current with rules effective on or before August 13, 2026. The Colorado Civil Rights Division's site opened for the assistance-animal form contemplated by section 24-34-309 (none posted). The state appellate opinion archive searched for assistance-animal and service-animal housing decisions; Boulder Meadows v. Saville, 2 P.3d 131 (Colo. App. 2000), read in full and found to carry no animal fact.

What was read to state each absence on this page: