Colorado Rental Application Form
Colorado's Rental Application Fairness Act, C.R.S. 38-12-901 to 905, permits an application fee only where the entire amount covers the landlord's cost of processing the application, measured as the actual expense or the average expense per applicant. Every applicant pays the same amount, every applicant gets a receipt, the unused remainder goes back, and a portable tenant screening report must be accepted in place of a fee.
Find out where you stand in Colorado
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
Introduction
The ceiling on a Colorado rental application fee is an arithmetic problem on the landlord's side of the desk, not a figure in the statute. C.R.S. 38-12-903(1), part of the Rental Application Fairness Act, provides that a landlord shall not charge a prospective tenant a rental application fee unless the landlord uses the entire amount of the fee to cover the landlord's costs in processing the rental application. The statute then offers two ways to measure those costs: the actual expense the landlord incurs in processing that application, or the average expense the landlord incurs per prospective tenant in the course of processing multiple rental applications. Either basis is permitted, and neither produces a number the state publishes, because there is nothing for Colorado to publish. Two consequences follow that would not follow from a flat cap. The first is uniformity. Section 38-12-903(2)(a) forbids charging one applicant a different amount than another applicant who applies to rent the same dwelling unit, and, where the landlord offers more than one dwelling unit for rent at the same time, a different amount than an applicant for any other unit on offer. A landlord working from an average therefore cannot price one listing higher than the rest. The second is that the money has to be accounted for after the fact rather than justified in advance. Section 38-12-903(3) requires every paying applicant to be given either a disclosure of the landlord's anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used or an itemization of the actual expenses incurred, with information on how any average was determined, plus a receipt for the fee in every case. Section 38-12-903(4) then requires the remainder of anything not spent on processing to be remitted to the applicant, with a good-faith effort to do so within twenty calendar days after the application is processed. Running alongside all of that is the rule that can remove the fee entirely. Since August 7, 2023, Section 38-12-904(1.5)(a) has provided that a landlord shall accept a portable tenant screening report from a prospective tenant, and Section 38-12-903(2)(b) separately bars charging a rental application fee where the applicant provides one. That is a command rather than an invitation, and it is advertised rather than buried: the landlord has to put the advisement of that right in twelve-point bold-faced type where applicants will see it. The whole of part 9 is backed by statutory damages of two thousand five hundred dollars plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees under Section 38-12-905(1). So the useful Colorado question is not how much, but what the fee was actually spent on, and whether a report the applicant already owns would have made the charge unlawful in the first place.
Key Things to Know
- 1
A Colorado landlord does not get to decide whether to take a screening report the applicant already paid for. Section 38-12-904(1.5)(a) reads that, except as provided in subsection (1.5)(f), a landlord shall accept a portable tenant screening report from a prospective tenant. Three conditions may still be attached under Section 38-12-904(1.5)(b): that the report was completed within the previous thirty days, that it is made available to the landlord at no cost to access or use in the rental application process, and that the applicant states there has not been a material change in the information, including name, address, bankruptcy status, criminal history or eviction history, since the report was generated. One condition that used to sit on that list is gone. The power to insist the report arrive directly from the consumer reporting agency or through a qualifying third-party website was repealed effective January 1, 2026, and the most recent official printed compilation of the statutes is the 2024 edition, which still shows the subsection that no longer applies.
- 2
The portable-report advisement has a typeface requirement, which is unusual enough to be worth knowing by sight. Section 38-12-904(1.5)(d) requires the landlord, before taking any tenant-screening action for which it would expect to collect an application fee, to tell the applicant in substantially similar language that the applicant may provide a portable tenant screening report and that doing so bars the landlord from charging either a rental application fee or a fee to access the report. Section 38-12-904(1.5)(e) then says where it has to appear: in advertisements and other public notices of the unit's availability in at least twelve-point bold-faced type, on the home page of the landlord's or agent's website in at least twelve-point bold-faced type, in the paper or online rental application in at least twelve-point bold-faced type, or orally with written confirmation that the applicant received it.
- 3
Two separate pieces of paper are owed to a Colorado applicant who pays a fee, and they do different jobs. Section 38-12-903(3)(a) requires either a disclosure of the landlord's anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used or an itemization of the actual expenses incurred, and where the amount is based on an average cost, information regarding how that average rental application fee is determined. Section 38-12-903(3)(b) separately requires a receipt for any application fee received, given to every prospective tenant, electronic unless the applicant asks for paper. The disclosure or itemization is what lets the charge be measured against the processing cost. The receipt is what proves the charge happened at all.
- 4
The unused part of the fee comes back on a stated clock, in force since the Act was added effective August 2, 2019. Section 38-12-903(4) provides that a landlord who receives a rental application fee and does not use the entire amount to cover the costs of processing shall remit the remaining amount to the prospective tenant, and shall make a good-faith effort to remit it within twenty calendar days after processing the application. A second twenty-day figure sits nearby and does something different: under Section 38-12-904(1.5)(f) a landlord is exempt from the portable-report duties only by taking no more than one application fee at a time for the unit, or one per prospective tenant or tenant group in a shared unit, and refunding the total fee to each applicant within twenty calendar days after written communication from either side declining to enter into a lease agreement.
- 5
The remedy attaches to any breach of the Act, not only to the fee amount. Section 38-12-905(1) makes a landlord who violates any provision of part 9 liable to the aggrieved prospective tenant for two thousand five hundred dollars, plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees. Section 38-12-905(2) requires the prospective tenant to notify the landlord of an intention to sue not less than seven calendar days before filing. Section 38-12-905(3) then gives the landlord a cure window: correct the violation within seven calendar days of that notice and the payment is a fifty dollar penalty instead of the larger figure. Section 38-12-905(4) runs the other way, exposing anyone who purposefully and in bad faith brings a meritless claim to the landlord's costs and fees.
- 6
A Colorado denial has to come with its reasons attached, in writing. Section 38-12-904(2)(a)(I)(A) requires a landlord who denies a rental application to provide the prospective tenant a written notice of the denial that states the reasons for the denial. Where the application caused the landlord to obtain a consumer report, subparagraph (B) adds a copy of that report and an advisement of the applicant's right to dispute its accuracy with the consumer reporting agency under C.R.S. 5-18-106. Subparagraph (II) closes the obvious gap: if the specific screening criteria cannot be directly cited because a proprietary screening system was used, the landlord shall instead provide a copy of the screening company's report with only the proprietary information redacted. Delivery may be electronic unless the applicant requests paper, and Section 38-12-904(2)(b) sets a good-faith deadline of not more than twenty calendar days after the decision to deny.
- 7
Colorado puts a ceiling on the income a landlord may demand, which is the mirror image of how income usually gets discussed. Under Section 38-12-904(1)(d), for an applicant renting without a housing subsidy, the landlord shall not consider or inquire about the applicant's amount of income except for the purpose of determining that annual income equals or exceeds two hundred percent of the annual cost of rent, and shall not require an applicant to have an annual income that exceeds that multiple. Section 38-12-904(1)(c) applies the same test to subsidy applicants against only the portion of rent they themselves pay, and bars the landlord from considering or inquiring about their credit score, an adverse credit event or the lack of a credit score unless federal law requires it. Both were added effective August 7, 2023, and Section 38-12-904(1.8) makes a breach of either one unlawful discrimination on the basis of amount of income under C.R.S. 24-34-502(1)(q), with its own enforcement track on top of the part 9 remedy.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Rental Application Form in Colorado, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Rental Application Form guide walks through them.
Open the Rental Application Form guideCustomize your Rental Application Form Template with DocDraft
Colorado Requirements for Rental Application Form
The Fee May Not Exceed What Processing Actually Cost
C.R.S. 38-12-903(1) permits a rental application fee only where the landlord uses the entire amount of the fee to cover the landlord's costs in processing the rental application. Those costs may be based on the actual expense the landlord incurs in processing the application, or on the average expense the landlord incurs per prospective tenant in the course of processing multiple rental applications. There is no dollar figure in the statute and none is published anywhere by the state, because the landlord's own processing cost is the whole of the ceiling. In force since the Rental Application Fairness Act was added effective August 2, 2019, and unamended since August 7, 2023.
One Amount, Across Every Unit on Offer at Once
Section 38-12-903(2)(a), as amended effective August 7, 2023, provides that a landlord shall not charge a prospective tenant a rental application fee in a different amount than one charged to another prospective tenant who applies to rent the same dwelling unit, or, where the landlord offers more than one dwelling unit for rent at the same time, any other dwelling unit offered by the landlord. The second limb reaches across the landlord's whole open portfolio, so a single figure has to serve every listing that is live at the same moment.
A Portable Tenant Screening Report Must Be Accepted, and Ends the Fee
Section 38-12-904(1.5)(a) provides that, except as provided in subsection (1.5)(f), a landlord shall accept a portable tenant screening report from a prospective tenant. Section 38-12-904(1.5)(c) bars any fee to access or use it, and Section 38-12-903(2)(b) bars a rental application fee altogether where one is provided. The landlord may require that the report was completed within the previous thirty days, that it is available at no cost to access or use, and that the applicant states there has not been a material change in its information since it was generated. The former power to require the report come directly from the consumer reporting agency or a qualifying third-party website was repealed effective January 1, 2026, so a form or policy copied from an older compilation of the statutes will overstate what may be demanded.
The Advisement, in Twelve-Point Bold-Faced Type
Section 38-12-904(1.5)(d) requires the landlord, before taking any tenant-screening action for which it would expect to collect an application fee, to advise the applicant in substantially similar language of the right to provide a portable tenant screening report and of the fee consequences of doing so. Section 38-12-904(1.5)(e) prescribes where it goes: in advertisements and other public notices of the unit's availability in at least twelve-point bold-faced type, unless the format makes that impracticable in which case it matches the rest; on the home page of a website maintained by the landlord or the landlord's agent in at least twelve-point bold-faced type; in the paper or online rental application in at least twelve-point bold-faced type; or orally, with written confirmation of receipt by the prospective tenant.
A Disclosure or an Itemization, and a Receipt to Everyone
Section 38-12-903(3)(a) requires the landlord to provide any prospective tenant who has paid a fee either a disclosure of the landlord's anticipated expenses for which the fee will be used or an itemization of the landlord's actual expenses incurred, and, where the amount is based on an average cost, information regarding how that average rental application fee is determined. Section 38-12-903(3)(b) separately requires a receipt for any application fee received, to every prospective tenant, electronic unless the applicant requests a paper receipt. Keep both: the disclosure or itemization is what the charge is measured against, and the receipt is what establishes the charge was made.
The Unused Remainder, With a Twenty-Day Good-Faith Deadline
Section 38-12-903(4) provides that a landlord who receives a rental application fee and does not use the entire amount to cover the costs of processing shall remit the remaining amount of the fee to the prospective tenant, and shall make a good-faith effort to do so within twenty calendar days after processing the application. The duty turns on what the money was spent on rather than on the outcome, so it is owed to an approved applicant as well as a declined one. Separately, a landlord relying on the exemption in Section 38-12-904(1.5)(f) must refund the total fee to each prospective tenant within twenty calendar days after written communication from either side declining to enter into a lease agreement.
A Written Denial Notice That States the Reasons
Section 38-12-904(2)(a)(I)(A) requires a landlord who denies a rental application to provide the prospective tenant a written notice of the denial that states the reasons for the denial. Subparagraph (B) adds, where the application resulted in the landlord obtaining a consumer report, a copy of that report and an advisement of the right to dispute its accuracy with the consumer reporting agency under C.R.S. 5-18-106. Subparagraph (II) provides that where the specific screening criteria cannot be directly cited because of the use of a proprietary screening system, the landlord shall instead provide a copy of the report from the screening company with only the proprietary information redacted. Delivery may be electronic unless paper is requested, and Section 38-12-904(2)(b) sets a good-faith deadline of not more than twenty calendar days after the decision to deny.
What the Landlord May Not Reach or Demand
Section 38-12-904(1)(a) bars considering any rental history or credit history beyond seven years immediately preceding the date of the application. Section 38-12-904(1)(b) bars considering an arrest record of a prospective tenant from any time, and any conviction that occurred more than five years before the date of the application, subject to a short enumerated list of exceptions in the same subsection. Section 38-12-904(1)(d) bars considering or inquiring about an applicant's amount of income except to determine that annual income equals or exceeds two hundred percent of the annual rent, and bars requiring more than that multiple; Section 38-12-904(1)(c) applies the same test to a subsidy applicant against only the rent portion they pay and bars inquiry into their credit score, an adverse credit event or the lack of a credit score unless federal law requires it. Section 38-12-904(1.8) makes a breach of either income provision unlawful discrimination on the basis of amount of income under C.R.S. 24-34-502(1)(q). Colorado prescribes no conditional-offer sequence and no individualized assessment.