Colorado Lease Renewal Laws: Just-Cause Grounds and Notice Rules

Colorado lease renewal laws changed significantly in April 2024, when House Bill 24-1098 took effect and required most landlords to have a specific reason before declining to renew a residential lease. If you have lived in your unit for at least twelve months and the property is not otherwise exempt, your landlord now needs either a for-cause ground (something you did) or a no-fault ground (a legitimate business or personal reason) to end the tenancy at lease expiration, and must give you 90 days’ written notice. Tenants, in turn, owe their own written notice on a sliding scale that starts at 91 days for anyone who has lived in the unit a year or more.

When For-Cause Protections Apply

The twelve-month threshold catches many tenants off guard. HB 24-1098’s for-cause requirements only kick in once you have occupied the property for a full year, so during a standard one-year lease you generally will not have this protection until the very end of the term. If a non-renewal notice arrives during your first year, the law does not require your landlord to give any reason.¹

Several categories of housing are excluded from for-cause protection entirely:

Short-term rentals.
Owner-occupied single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes, or units on a property adjacent to the owner’s primary residence, as long as the building has fewer than four units.
Lot spaces leased to mobile home owners, which are governed by separate mobile home park rules.
Housing tied to an employment agreement.
Situations where the landlord does not know you are occupying the property as a tenant.

If none of these apply and you have been in the unit for at least a year, your landlord needs a recognized reason to decline renewal.

Reasons a Landlord Can Decline to Renew

The statute splits permitted grounds into two categories.

For-Cause Grounds

A landlord can decline renewal when a tenant has violated the lease in ways recognized by Colorado’s forcible entry and detainer statutes, such as failing to pay rent or creating a nuisance that interferes with other tenants’ quiet enjoyment. A tenant who has been late paying rent three or more times during a rental period also gives the landlord valid grounds. If the landlord offers a new lease on reasonable terms and the tenant refuses to sign, that refusal itself counts as cause.²

No-Fault Grounds

Even when a tenant has done nothing wrong, a landlord may decline renewal because:

The landlord or a family member intends to move in.
The landlord plans to take the unit off the rental market to sell it.
The unit needs substantial repairs or renovations beyond routine maintenance and beyond what the warranty of habitability already requires.
The landlord intends to demolish the building.
The landlord plans to convert the unit to non-residential use or to a short-term rental.

Each no-fault ground carries additional documentation requirements. A demolition or conversion claim, for instance, has to include a project description and a timeline showing that the work will actually begin.²

Relocation Assistance

If a landlord pursues a no-fault non-renewal but violates the notice requirements or other restrictions in the process, the landlord owes relocation assistance equal to two months’ rent. That amount rises by one additional month’s rent if the household includes a child under 18, someone aged 60 or older, a person with a disability, or a person whose income is at or below 80 percent of the area median income.

Landlord Notice Requirements

A landlord ending a covered tenancy on no-fault grounds must give written notice at least 90 days before the lease expires. The notice has to state the specific reason and explain how the landlord qualifies to use it. Colorado also requires the landlord to attempt personal service on at least two separate days before posting the notice on the tenant’s door.²

Tenant Notice Requirements

Tenants who want to leave at the end of a lease term must also give written notice, and the lead time depends on how long the tenancy has lasted:

One year or longer: at least 91 days.
Six months to one year: at least 28 days.
One month to six months: at least 21 days.
One week to one month, or a tenancy at will: at least 3 days.
Less than one week: at least 1 day.

These periods come from Colorado Revised Statutes Section 13-40-107 and apply to every tenant, whether or not HB 24-1098 covers the property.³

Missing a deadline can cost you. If you stay past the end of your lease without giving proper notice, your landlord can hold you responsible for additional rent. On a standard year-long lease, the 91-day rule is the one to watch: you need to decide roughly three months before the lease ends whether you plan to stay.

Rent Increases and New Terms

A landlord can propose new terms at renewal, including a higher rent, but HB 24-1098 requires that any new lease offer include “reasonable terms.” The statute does not define the phrase precisely, though a landlord who doubles the rent on an unchanged unit is almost certainly outside the line.²

Written notice is required before any increase takes effect. For increases under 10 percent, the landlord must give at least 30 days’ notice. For increases of 10 percent or more, the notice period extends to at least 60 days. HB 24-1098 also bars landlords from raising rent in a discriminatory, retaliatory, or unconscionable way to sidestep the for-cause requirements.

You can negotiate a renewal offer, but declining one that is genuinely reasonable gives your landlord grounds for a 90-day non-renewal notice.

What Happens If Nobody Sends Notice

If a fixed-term lease expires and neither side has given the required notice, the tenancy converts to a month-to-month holdover once you stay and the landlord keeps accepting rent. The original lease terms generally carry over; the difference is that there is no set end date.

Either party can end a month-to-month holdover with at least 21 days’ written notice, the statutory notice period for tenancies of one month or longer but less than six months.³

For tenants in properties covered by HB 24-1098, a month-to-month holdover does not strip away for-cause protection. The landlord still needs a valid reason to end the tenancy even though the lease is no longer a fixed term.

Retaliation and Discrimination Limits

Colorado Revised Statutes Section 38-12-509 prohibits a landlord from raising rent, cutting services, refusing to renew, threatening eviction, or harassing you in response to a good-faith complaint about the unit’s condition, involvement in a tenants’ association, or exercise of any right under the warranty of habitability.⁴

You do not have to prove retaliation was the landlord’s only motivation, only that your protected activity was a motivating factor. A court that finds retaliation can award up to three months’ rent or three times your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees and costs, and can allow you to terminate the lease.

The federal Fair Housing Act applies to renewals as well. A landlord cannot refuse to renew based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability, and must make reasonable accommodations in policies and practices where necessary for a tenant with a disability to use and enjoy the dwelling.⁵

Security Deposit Deadline After Move-Out

If your lease is not renewed, or you decide to leave, Colorado sets a clear return deadline for security deposits. The landlord must return the deposit within one month after the lease ends or you surrender the unit, whichever comes last. The lease can extend this period, but never beyond 60 days.⁶

A landlord can withhold amounts for unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear, but not for ordinary deterioration. Any withholding must come with a written itemized statement. Colorado does not cap the amount of a security deposit by statute, so the lease itself controls the number.

Active-Duty Military Early Termination

The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act sits alongside these renewal rules for one specific group. If you receive permanent change of station orders or a deployment of 90 days or longer, you can terminate a residential lease early by providing written notice and a copy of your orders, and a landlord who refuses to honor a valid SCRA termination faces federal penalties. Spouses and dependents are covered in many cases.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 38 Section 38-12-1302
2
Colorado General Assembly. HB24-1098 – Cause Required for Eviction of Residential Tenant
3
Justia Law. Colorado Code 13-40-107 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy
4
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 38 Section 38-12-509
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act
6
Justia Law. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 38 Section 38-12-103