Colorado Landlord Tenant Laws: 2026 Guide

Colorado Landlord Tenant Laws: What Independent Landlords Must Know in 2026

Colorado landlord tenant laws changed more in the last two years than in the previous two decades, and most of it lands directly on small landlords rather than large management companies. A statewide just cause eviction law now covers you even if you own a single duplex, a new security deposit deadline took effect January 1, 2026, and a "junk fees" law arrived the same day to police how you advertise rent and what you can charge beyond it. None of it requires a law degree to follow, but it does require knowing which rules actually apply to a landlord with a handful of units instead of a 200-unit portfolio.

Colorado Landlord Tenant Laws at a Glance

Colorado's residential rental rules are spread across several parts of Title 38 of the Colorado Revised Statutes rather than one consolidated code: security deposits under C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5, eviction procedure under C.R.S. § 13-40-104 and following, just cause eviction under C.R.S. §§ 38-12-1301 to -1305, and the new price-transparency rules under HB25-1090. All of it applies regardless of portfolio size, though a few narrow carve-outs exist for owner-occupied small properties, covered below. Denver and Boulder also layer on local rental-licensing and tenant-protection ordinances, so check your city too.

Colorado has no rent control at the state level, and a 2021 law (SB21-173) technically lets cities and counties adopt their own rent stabilization ordinances, but as of mid-2026 none has. That matters because it's easy to confuse Colorado's actual regulatory activity — deposit caps, fee bans, just cause eviction — with rent control, which the state still doesn't have.

Security Deposits: The New 30-Day Deadline and $300 Pet Cap

Since August 7, 2023, C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5 (SB23-184) caps a Colorado security deposit at two months' rent, regardless of how many units you own. Pet deposits are capped separately, at $300, under a 2024 change (HB23-1068) — you can't fold that into the general deposit cap or charge more for a pet on top of it.

The bigger operational change is the return deadline. For years, Colorado's statute used "one month" as the return window, which created confusion about whether that meant 28, 30, or a full calendar month. HB25-1249, effective January 1, 2026, replaced that language with a hard 30 days after the lease terminates or the tenant surrenders the unit, whichever happens last. A written lease can extend that deadline, but never beyond 60 days — you can't negotiate your way to 90 days even with the tenant's agreement in writing.

You have to deliver a written statement itemizing the exact reasons for any amount you withhold, along with the remaining balance, before that deadline runs out. Miss it, and you don't just owe the money back — you forfeit the right to withhold any portion of the deposit at all, even if the damage was real and well-documented. If a court finds you withheld in bad faith, the penalty is treble damages on the amount wrongfully kept, plus the tenant's attorney fees and court costs, though the tenant has to give you seven days' written notice of intent to sue before filing. Colorado doesn't require interest on deposits statewide, though Boulder's local ordinance does for rentals inside city limits.

Getting the itemization right the first time avoids that exposure entirely — document unit condition with photos at both move-in and move-out, and keep deductions limited to actual damage rather than ordinary use. Vantric's Colorado security deposit law page has the full statutory breakdown. Because the 30-day clock starts the moment a tenant vacates rather than when you get around to inspecting the unit, a system that flags that date automatically — which is what tools like Vantric are built for — beats a reminder you set and then forget.

Rent Increases: No Statewide Cap, But Strict Notice Rules

Despite what a lot of landlords search for, Colorado has no statewide cap on how much you can raise rent. A 2025 bill (HB25-1092) that would have tied rent increases to a fair-market-rent standard was postponed indefinitely in committee and never became law, so there's no 2% or any other percentage ceiling on a renewal increase — that figure gets confused with an unrelated fee cap under the 2026 junk fees law, covered below.

What Colorado does regulate is notice. Under C.R.S. § 38-12-701, if you have no written agreement with a tenant at all, you can raise rent only after giving at least 60 days' written notice, you can't raise it more than once in a 12-month period, and you can't serve a notice to terminate the tenancy as a backdoor way to force through an increase the statute wouldn't otherwise let you make. If you have a written lease — including a written month-to-month agreement — the lease's own terms on timing and notice govern instead of that statutory default, so spell out your rent-increase notice period in the lease itself rather than relying on what the statute requires for tenancies with no agreement at all.

Before you set a renewal number, it helps to know what comparable units in your market are actually charging — Vantric's rental calculator gives you a market-based figure to start from. Our guide to how to raise rent without losing good tenants covers the conversation and the numbers once you've settled on an amount.

Late Fees: What You Can Legally Charge

Colorado does cap late fees, and the cap is narrower than most landlords assume. Under C.R.S. § 38-12-105(1)(b), a late fee can't exceed the greater of $50 or 5% of the rent payment that's actually past due — measured against what's still owed, not the full monthly rent, so a partial payment shrinks the maximum fee you can charge. You also can't charge it until rent is at least seven calendar days late; a lease clause imposing a fee on day two or three is void regardless of what the tenant agreed to.

Two more requirements have to be met before a late fee is collectible at all: it has to be disclosed in the rental agreement, and you have to give the tenant written notice of the fee within 180 days after the rent was due. Skip either step and the fee isn't enforceable. Charge an unlawful fee anyway, and the tenant can recover a $50 penalty per violation after a seven-day cure window, and if you don't cure it, a statutory penalty of $150 to $1,000 per violation plus attorney fees on top. Our guide to late fees for rent covers how to structure a compliant clause, and Vantric's Colorado late fee law page has the full statutory detail.

The 2026 Junk Fees Law: What You Can and Can't Charge

HB25-1090, Colorado's price-transparency law, took effect January 1, 2026, and it's the change most small landlords haven't caught up to yet because it targets advertising, not the lease itself. Under the Division of Real Estate's summary, every rental ad now has to display a single total monthly price — in a font at least as prominent as any other pricing shown — that includes every mandatory fee a tenant would actually pay, aside from utilities billed directly by the provider and government taxes. Advertising a low base rent and tacking on an "amenity fee" or parking charge later in the process is no longer legal.

The law also restricts what you can charge at all. You can't bill a tenant for lease administration, for a service you never actually render, or for online rent payment unless you also offer a free way to pay. If your lease includes a markup on a pass-through cost — a utility bill-back or a third-party service fee — that markup is capped at 2% of your actual cost or $10 a month, whichever is smaller. That 2% figure is the one landlords often misremember as a rent-increase cap; it isn't one, and it only applies to that narrow fee markup.

Violations fall under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act as deceptive and unconscionable practices. A tenant can send you a written demand for a refund, and if you don't resolve it within 14 days, they can sue for the fees, actual damages, attorney fees, and 18% annual interest on top. Before you post your next listing, check your ad copy against the total-price rule, and review your lease's fee schedule against the same law — both take effect on the same date and both get enforced the same way.

Just Cause Eviction: Why You May Not Be Able to Non-Renew Anymore

The change most likely to catch a small Colorado landlord off guard is HB24-1098, effective April 19, 2024, which created a statewide just cause requirement at C.R.S. §§ 38-12-1301 to -1305. Once a tenant has lived in a covered unit for twelve months, you generally can't end the tenancy or decline to renew without a statutory reason — nonpayment, a lease violation, or one of a specific list of no-fault grounds such as demolition, a substantial repair project that requires vacancy, an owner or immediate family member moving in, or a sale of the property with the buyer intending to occupy it. Each no-fault ground requires 90 days' written notice, not the shorter notice periods that apply to ordinary lease terminations.

The exemptions are narrow and easy to misread. Owner-occupied single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes are exempt only if you actually live on site or immediately adjacent — a landlord who owns a duplex but lives elsewhere doesn't qualify. If you've been treating annual lease renewal as optional on your end because a tenant hasn't caused problems, this law is the reason you may not be able to do that anymore once they cross the 12-month mark.

If a tenant stays past a lease term without your consent rather than being on a tenancy you're trying to end, that's a different situation with its own traps — our holdover tenant guide covers how accepting rent after the lease expires can create a new tenancy you didn't intend. And because just cause eviction interacts directly with the eviction process itself, getting the ground and the notice period right before you file matters more in Colorado now than it used to.

The Eviction Process Step by Step

Self-help eviction is illegal in Colorado no matter how far behind on rent a tenant is. C.R.S. § 38-12-510 makes changing locks, shutting off utilities, or removing a tenant's belongings without a court order unlawful, and it's expensive if you do it anyway — actual damages plus the greater of three months' rent or $5,000, plus the tenant's attorney fees, with the court able to order the tenant restored to possession. Utility shutoffs can also draw a separate criminal tampering charge. The court process, while slower, is the only route that doesn't expose you to that liability:

1. Serve the correct notice. Nonpayment of rent requires a 10-day demand for rent or possession under C.R.S. § 13-40-104(1)(d). A narrow exception drops this to 5 days for an "exempt residential agreement" — a single-family home, owned by a landlord with five or fewer single-family rentals total, where the lease itself states the 10-day period doesn't apply. Condos and townhomes don't qualify, and if the lease is silent, you're at 10 days regardless of how many units you own. Curable lease violations use the same 10-day structure; a "substantial violation" — conduct that endangers people or property, a violent or drug felony, or an on-site crime carrying at least 180 days — drops to a 3-day notice with no right to cure.
2. File in county court. Forcible entry and detainer cases are filed in the county where the property sits, with filing fees generally running $85 to $135 plus separate sheriff fees for service.
3. Wait for the return date. The summons sets a return date 7 to 14 days after it issues, and service has to happen at least 7 days before that date under C.R.S. § 13-40-111.
4. Get judgment and the writ. If the tenant doesn't pay, cure, or contest successfully, the court enters judgment, and a writ of restitution typically issues about 48 hours later.
5. Let the sheriff execute. Only the sheriff can carry out the physical removal, and scheduling depends on the county's caseload.

Budget five to nine weeks for an uncontested case. Mandatory pre-eviction mediation applies if the tenant receives SSI, SSDI, or Colorado Works assistance, though landlords who own five or fewer single-family rentals and no more than five total units are exempt from that requirement — skipping mediation when it's required can get your case dismissed outright. If a case turns contested, whether over a habitability defense, a just-cause dispute, or a claim that notice wasn't served correctly, bringing in a landlord-tenant attorney early tends to be cheaper than losing a case you tried to run alone.

Squatters: What Colorado's Fast-Track Law Actually Covers

A true squatter — someone who occupied a vacant unit with no agreement or consent from you, ever — is a different legal category from a tenant, and Colorado built a faster remedy for that situation back in 2018, six years before most states caught up. Under C.R.S. § 13-40.1-101 (SB18-015), you file a verified motion for a temporary mandatory injunction in county court, the court holds a hearing within one court day, and if it's granted, the sheriff has to remove the occupant within 24 hours of receiving the order. The Colorado Judicial Branch publishes the forms you need to file.

The catch is the definition: this process only works against someone who never had any current or prior consent to be there. A former tenant, an ex-partner who moved out and came back, or anyone you once let in falls outside it entirely and requires a standard eviction instead — falsely swearing that such a person is "unauthorized" is perjury with civil liability attached.

Adverse possession, meanwhile, remains a near-nonissue for a landlord who checks on a property regularly: Colorado requires 18 years of continuous, hostile possession, or 7 years with color of title and proof the claimant paid all assessed taxes, and a 2008 reform added a good-faith requirement that defeats most knowing squatters outright. Our full guide on how to get rid of a squatter walks through the decision tree between a squatter, a trespasser, and a holdover tenant, and Vantric's Colorado squatters rights page has the statutory detail.

Most of what changed in Colorado over the past two years isn't hard to comply with once you know it exists — it's easy to miss because it's spread across several bills with effective dates months apart. Start a free trial of Vantric to track deposit deadlines, lease terms, and just-cause notice windows across your Colorado portfolio in one place, or explore the full set of free landlord tools to see what fits your rentals today.