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Colorado

Colorado Landlord-Tenant Laws

Security deposit limits, eviction notices, rent control, and more for Colorado.

How we research these summaries

Every rule on this page is drawn from state statutes and municipal codes and summarized with AI assistance. Each one cites the statute it's based on and links to a published text of that law so you can read it firsthand. Where a page says a city or county has no local rule on a topic, that means none was found for the topics covered here — not that none exists. Local governments also regulate rental housing in ways these pages don't track, including registration, licensing, inspections and habitability standards. These summaries may be incomplete or out of date, laws change often, and every property and tenancy has specifics a summary can't capture — so treat this as a starting point for your own research, not as legal advice, and check with the local jurisdiction and a qualified attorney before acting on your particular situation.

What to Know in Colorado

Sources last checked July 2026

Colorado limits a landlord to one rent increase per twelve months of continuous occupancy, regardless of lease type, under C.R.S. § 38-12-702; without a written lease, it also needs at least 60 days' notice. Security deposits are capped at two months' rent, and Colorado has no rent-control cap — C.R.S. § 38-12-301 bars any county or municipality from enacting one. Eviction or non-renewal requires cause once a tenant has occupied a unit for twelve months, under House Bill 24-1098, with 90 days' notice for a no-fault reason such as a sale or an owner moving in.

  • Colorado requires a landlord to have cause to evict or to decline to renew once a tenant has lived in the unit for at least twelve months (HB24-1098, effective April 19, 2024).
  • Colorado's notice to quit is not a single figure — it scales with how long the tenant has lived in the unit (C.R.S.
  • No rent control — no statutory cap on rent increases
  • Two different Colorado rules govern rent increases and they have different scopes.
  • Security deposits capped at 2 months' rent
5 rules summarized · Each linked to the law it cites

Security Deposit Limits

Security Deposit Limits

What is the security deposit limit in Colorado?

Colorado caps security deposits at two months' rent: on and after August 7, 2023, a landlord may not require a tenant to submit a security deposit in an amount that exceeds the amount of two monthly rent payments (C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5). A separate rule limits what a landlord may KEEP rather than what they may collect. Since January 1, 2026, an amount retained by a landlord is presumed to unreasonably exceed the actual damages the landlord incurred if the amount retained is 125% or greater than those actual damages (C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3.5)(b)), and the landlord bears the burden of proving the actual damages. That 125% figure is a ceiling on withholding measured against documented damage — it is not a second cap on the size of the deposit itself.

C.R.S. §§ 38-12-102.5, 38-12-103(3.5)(b)

Eviction Notice Requirements

Eviction Notice Requirements

What are the eviction notice requirements in Colorado?

Colorado requires a landlord to have cause to evict or to decline to renew once a tenant has lived in the unit for at least twelve months (HB24-1098, effective April 19, 2024). A tenant who has not been a tenant of the premises for at least twelve months is exempt from that protection, as are short-term rentals, owner-occupied single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes, mobile home spaces leased to the home owner, employer-provided housing, and occupants not known to the landlord to be tenants (C.R.S. § 38-12-1302). For a no-fault reason — demolition or conversion, substantial repairs, sale, the owner or a family member moving in, refusal of a new lease, or a history of late rent — the landlord must give at least 90 days' notice (§ 38-12-1303(3)). For cause, the notice is generally 10 days: nonpayment of rent, a material lease-covenant violation, and a repeat violation each carry a 10-day notice under C.R.S. § 13-40-104. Shorter notice applies to substantial violations — conduct endangering people or property, violent or drug-related felonies, or a declared nuisance — which carry a 3-day notice with no right to cure (C.R.S. § 13-40-107.5).

C.R.S. §§ 38-12-1302, 38-12-1303, 13-40-104, 13-40-107.5

Rent Increase Notice Periods

Rent Increase Notice Periods

How much notice is required for rent increases in Colorado?

Two different Colorado rules govern rent increases and they have different scopes. Where there is no written agreement between the landlord and tenant, a landlord may increase the rent only upon at least sixty days' written notice (C.R.S. § 38-12-701(2)(a)). That 60-day requirement reaches undocumented or oral tenancies — where a written lease governs, the lease's own terms control the notice given for an increase. Separately, and regardless of lease type, a landlord may not increase rent more than one time in any twelve-month period of consecutive occupancy (C.R.S. § 38-12-702). That once-a-year limit applies whether or not there is a written rental agreement, whatever the length of the tenancy, and whether the tenancy is fixed-term, month-to-month, or for an indefinite term.

C.R.S. §§ 38-12-701, 38-12-702

Rent Control / Rent Increase Caps

Rent Control / Rent Increase Caps

Is there rent control in Colorado?

Colorado sets no statewide cap on the size of a rent increase, and local governments may not impose one: no county or municipality may enact any ordinance or resolution that would control rent on either private residential property or a private residential housing unit (C.R.S. § 38-12-301(1)). Attempts to repeal that preemption in recent legislative sessions did not pass, and it remains in force. The statute does leave room for voluntary agreements between a landlord and a municipality in exchange for affordable-housing incentives, and for deed-restricted affordable units — neither of which is general rent control.

C.R.S. § 38-12-301

Move-Out & Lease Termination Notice

Move-Out & Lease Termination Notice

What is the move-out notice requirement in Colorado?

Colorado's notice to quit is not a single figure — it scales with how long the tenant has lived in the unit (C.R.S. § 13-40-107(2)): at least 91 days for a tenancy of one year or longer; at least 28 days for six months or longer but less than a year; at least 21 days for one month or longer but less than six months; at least 3 days for one week or longer but less than one month, or for a tenancy at will; and at least 1 day for a tenancy of less than one week. The section was amended and renumbered by HB24-1098 in 2024. For a covered tenancy of twelve months or more, a landlord ending the tenancy for a no-fault reason must also satisfy the separate for-cause requirements, including 90 days' notice under C.R.S. § 38-12-1303 — the two requirements stack rather than replace one another.

C.R.S. § 13-40-107

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