A month-to-month tenancy in Colorado renews automatically at the end of each rental period and continues until either side ends it with proper written notice. Colorado month to month lease laws set the notice periods by how long you have lived in the unit, cap how often rent can go up, require landlords to have a qualifying reason to end most tenancies after 12 months, and impose strict deadlines on returning your security deposit. The rules below apply whether your agreement is written or oral.
How to End a Month-to-Month Lease
Either the tenant or the landlord ends a month-to-month lease by giving written notice. The number of days required depends on how long the tenancy has run:1Justia. Colorado Code 13-40-107 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy
- One year or longer: at least 91 days’ notice
- Six months to less than one year: at least 28 days’ notice
- One month to less than six months: at least 21 days’ notice
- One week to less than one month: at least 3 days’ notice
The notice has to be in writing, and it has to expire at the end of a rental period. If your rent runs on a calendar month, count backward from the last day of the month you want to leave and make sure the required days fall before that date. Missing by a day pushes your move-out to the next month, along with another month’s rent.
Tenants can use these notice periods for any reason. Landlords can only use them freely on properties that fall outside Colorado’s just cause eviction rules; on covered properties, the notice period alone isn’t enough.
When a Landlord Needs a Reason to End the Tenancy
Since 2024, most Colorado landlords cannot end a residential tenancy or file for eviction without a qualifying reason under the statute.2Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-1303 – Cause for Eviction Required – No-Fault Evictions Qualifying reasons fall into two groups. Fault-based grounds cover things like nonpayment of rent, material lease violations, health or safety violations, and nuisance conduct. No-fault grounds are business reasons unrelated to how the tenant is behaving: demolition or conversion of the property, substantial renovations that require the unit to be vacant, owner or family move-in, withdrawal of the unit from the rental market for sale, the tenant’s refusal to sign a new lease with reasonable terms, or a documented pattern of late rent payments. A no-fault termination notice must state the legal and factual basis in writing; a vague notice won’t stand up in court.
The just cause requirement does not apply to every rental. It doesn’t reach short-term rentals, employer-provided housing, tenants unknown to the landlord, or owner-occupied single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes where the owner lives on-site or in an adjacent property they use as a primary residence, as long as the property has fewer than four units.3Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-1302 – Applicability It also doesn’t apply during the tenant’s first 12 months of occupancy. In your first year in the unit, a landlord in a covered property still has broader authority to end the tenancy without stated cause. After 12 months, the just cause protections kick in.
Rent Increases
Rent can go up only once in any 12-month stretch of continuous occupancy, regardless of whether your agreement is written, oral, month-to-month, or fixed-term.4Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-702 – Limit on Frequency of Residential Rent Increases
Notice depends on whether you have a written lease. Without a written agreement, the landlord must give you at least 60 days’ written notice before the new rent takes effect. If you do have a written month-to-month lease, the notice rules in the lease control. A landlord cannot use a termination notice to sidestep either requirement.5Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-701 – Notice of Rent Increase
Colorado does not cap the size of a rent increase. The protection is about frequency and warning, not amount.
Getting Your Security Deposit Back
After a month-to-month tenancy ends, the landlord has one month to return your full deposit, measured from the termination date or the date the landlord accepts the surrendered unit, whichever is later. A written lease can extend that window up to 60 days, but only if the lease says so explicitly.6Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-103 – Return of Security Deposit
If the landlord keeps any part of the deposit, they must send a written statement itemizing each deduction along with whatever balance remains, within that same deadline. Miss the deadline, and the landlord forfeits the right to withhold anything at all, even for legitimate damage. A landlord who intentionally holds onto the deposit without justification can be ordered to pay triple the wrongfully withheld amount plus attorney fees and court costs. Before filing suit, the tenant has to give the landlord at least seven days’ written notice of intent to sue.6Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-103 – Return of Security Deposit
Habitability and Repairs
Every residential lease in Colorado, including a month-to-month, carries an implied warranty that the unit is fit to live in.7Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-503 – Warranty of Habitability A unit is uninhabitable if it lacks working plumbing, heat, hot water, electricity, weatherproof walls and windows, functioning exterior locks, or adequate pest control. Common areas must be clean and sanitary.
Repair deadlines are tied to severity. If a condition threatens life, health, or safety, the landlord must start fixing it within 24 hours of learning about it. For other habitability problems, the deadline to begin is 72 hours. The landlord doesn’t have to finish overnight, but must keep at it until the condition is resolved within a reasonable time.
Retaliation
Because a month-to-month lease can be ended on relatively short notice, tenants can be exposed to retaliation for speaking up. Colorado law prohibits landlords from retaliating against tenants who complain about unsafe conditions, join a tenants’ association, or exercise any legal right under the habitability statutes.8Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-509 – Retaliation Prohibited responses include raising rent, cutting services, terminating or refusing to renew the lease, threatening eviction, or piling on new fees.
A tenant doesn’t have to show retaliation was the landlord’s only motivation. It’s enough that the protected activity was a motivating factor. A court can award up to three months’ rent or three times actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees, and the tenant has the option to terminate the lease.
Required Disclosures
Colorado landlords must give tenants specific information around the start of a tenancy. These rules apply to month-to-month agreements just like any other lease.
Late Fees
Rent has to be at least seven calendar days past due before a landlord can charge a late fee, and the fee cannot exceed the greater of $50 or 5% of the overdue amount.9FindLaw. Colorado Code 38-12-105 – Late Fees Charged to Tenants and Mobile Home Owners A lease term that sets higher fees or a shorter grace period is unenforceable.
Bed Bug History
A landlord can’t offer a unit for rent if they know or reasonably suspect it has bed bugs. On a prospective tenant’s request, the landlord must disclose whether the unit had bed bugs in the previous eight months and the date the unit was last inspected and found bed bug free.10Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-1005 – Bed Bugs You have to ask; it’s not automatic.
Radon
Before you sign, the landlord must give you a written radon disclosure that includes a bold-print warning about the risks, any known test results, and a copy of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s radon brochure. You sign to confirm you received it.11Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-803 – Elevated Radon
Lead-Based Paint
Federal law requires landlords renting units in buildings built before 1978 to provide an EPA-approved lead hazard pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards, and share available inspection reports. A knowing violation can trigger civil penalties and triple damages.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
When the Landlord Can Enter
Colorado has no general statute setting a required notice period before a landlord enters the unit. Your privacy comes from the common-law covenant of quiet enjoyment, which means a landlord should give reasonable advance notice for routine entries like repairs or inspections. The one specific rule is for bed bug work: any entry by the landlord, an inspector, or a pest control professional for bed bug-related purposes requires at least 48 hours’ written or electronic notice, though a lease can set a different minimum for this situation.13Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-1004 – Bed Bugs – Access to Dwelling Unit and Personal Belongings – Notice – Costs Genuine emergencies threatening life or property don’t require prior notice.
Special Situations
Active-Duty Military
If you get orders for a permanent change of station or a deployment of 90 days or more, you can end a month-to-month lease early without penalty under federal law, and termination covers dependents listed on the lease. Deliver written notice with a copy of your orders by hand, private carrier, certified mail with return receipt, or electronic means. The lease ends 30 days after the next rent due date following the month you deliver notice.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3955 – Termination of Residential or Motor Vehicle Leases
Foreclosure
If the property is foreclosed on, the new owner must give you at least 90 days’ written notice before requiring you to move, even if state law would allow a shorter period. This applies to month-to-month tenants regardless of lease terms.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 5220 – Foreclosure Mitigation Efforts – Section: Effect of Foreclosure on Preexisting Tenancy
Fair Housing
A landlord cannot refuse to renew a month-to-month lease, change its terms, or treat you differently because of your race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status. If you suspect a nonrenewal is discriminatory, you can file a complaint with HUD or the Colorado Civil Rights Division.16U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act