Colorado Roommate Agreement
The Colorado rules that shape the document: no lodger law for removal, the familial-status-only fair housing exemption, and the statewide ban on local roommate caps.
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Introduction
A roommate agreement is a private contract between co-tenants, not a lease, and it does not bind the landlord or change what the lease says. In Colorado, a handful of state rules sit on top of the national template: there is no lodger statute, so removing a roommate always requires a formal eviction, even under a 2024 law that lets some owner-occupiers skip the usual cause requirement; Colorado's fair housing exemption for owner-occupied shared living covers familial status only, leaving every other protected class fully covered; and a 2024 statute bars cities from capping how many unrelated roommates may live together. Everything else, the rent split, chores, guests, and quiet hours, is covered by the national template.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Colorado has no lodger statute. A roommate with the landlord's explicit or implicit permission is a full 'tenant' under state law, and removing that roommate always requires a formal unlawful detainer, the same process used for any tenant. There is no self-help or notice-only removal available to a co-tenant in Colorado.
- 2
Colorado's fair housing owner-occupied exemption reaches only familial status. An owner sharing a small dwelling may weigh whether a prospective roommate has children, but selection based on race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class remains fully covered by state law, with no matching shelter.
- 3
No Colorado statute gives a tenant the right to add a roommate over the landlord's objection. Unlike New York's Roommate Law, the lease and the landlord's consent control whether a new roommate may move in.
- 4
Colorado's 2024 HOME Act bars every city, town, and county from limiting how many unrelated people may live together in one dwelling based on familial relationship, preempting occupancy caps some Colorado cities previously enforced.
- 5
No Colorado statute sets a joint-and-several or pro-rata default for rent liability among co-tenants on one lease. The lease itself controls; this agreement should state how the roommates reimburse each other explicitly.
- 6
No Colorado statute addresses how departing roommates split a security deposit refund or reimburse each other for damage. The deposit statute governs only the landlord's return of the deposit to the tenant, so the split is left entirely to this agreement.
- 7
A 2024 carve-out lets an owner-occupier or a lease-holding 'master tenant' in a single-family home, duplex, or triplex end another occupant's tenancy without showing a statutory cause, but the underlying removal still requires a normal unlawful detainer filing, not a self-help process.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Roommate Agreement in Colorado, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Roommate Agreement guide walks through them.
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Colorado Requirements for Roommate Agreement
Colorado has no lodger statute. A roommate with the landlord's explicit or implicit permission is a full tenant, and removing that roommate always requires a formal unlawful detainer under C.R.S. 13-40-104 et seq. A 2024 carve-out (C.R.S. 38-12-1302(1)(b)) lets an owner-occupier or master tenant in a single-family home, duplex, or triplex skip the statutory cause requirement, but the eviction filing itself is still required. The agreement should not suggest any self-help removal right.
Colorado's owner-occupied shared-living exemption (C.R.S. 24-34-502(8)(a)(II)) applies only to familial status. Selection or advertising based on race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any other protected class remains fully covered by state fair housing law, with no exemption.
Colorado's HOME Act (C.R.S. 29-20-111) bars local governments from limiting how many unrelated people may live together in one dwelling based on familial relationship, preempting local roommate-count caps some cities previously enforced.
No Colorado statute sets a joint-and-several or pro-rata default for rent liability among co-tenants on one lease. The lease itself controls; the agreement should state how the roommates reimburse each other explicitly.
No Colorado statute addresses how departing roommates split a security deposit refund or reimburse each other for damage. State the split or reimbursement rule explicitly in the agreement.
Colorado's landlord-tenant act defines tenant to include anyone with the landlord's explicit or implicit permission to occupy the unit, sweeping most roommates in as full tenants rather than subtenants. Status depends on the landlord's permission, not on the roommate agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
The lease is between the tenants and the landlord. A Colorado roommate agreement is a separate contract between the co-tenants themselves, covering rent splits, chores, guests, and issues Colorado's landlord-tenant statutes do not address, such as how roommates split a security deposit or handle a non-paying roommate.
No. A Colorado roommate agreement does not bind the landlord and cannot change the lease. If the lease requires landlord consent to add an occupant, that term still controls; this agreement only governs the relationship between the co-tenants themselves.
No. Colorado has no lodger law like California's. A roommate with the landlord's permission to occupy the unit is a full tenant, and removing them always requires a formal unlawful detainer filed through the courts. A 2024 law lets an owner-occupier or lease-holding master tenant skip the usual cause requirement in some homes, but it does not create a self-help or notice-only removal right.
Colorado law defines tenant broadly to include anyone with the landlord's explicit or implicit permission to occupy the unit, so most roommates count as full tenants rather than subtenants. Colorado's general residential provisions do not carve out a separate subtenant or occupant category the way some states do.
No Colorado statute sets a default rule making co-tenants jointly and severally liable for rent, or splits liability pro rata. The lease itself controls whoever signed it. The roommate agreement should state explicitly how the roommates reimburse each other, since state law will not fill that gap.
No Colorado statute addresses this. The state's deposit statute governs only the landlord's duty to return the deposit to the tenant, not how co-tenants divide a refund or reimburse each other for damage. Put the split or reimbursement rule in the roommate agreement, since nothing else will govern it.
No. Unlike New York, no Colorado statute gives a tenant an affirmative right to add an occupant over the landlord's objection. The lease and the landlord's consent control whether a new roommate may move in.
Only narrowly. Colorado's fair housing exemption for owner-occupied shared living applies to familial status only, meaning an owner may weigh whether a prospective roommate has children. Refusing someone based on race, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or another protected class remains fully covered by Colorado law, with no exemption.