A Colorado rental application form helps a landlord choose a prospective tenant who is well suited to rent a particular property. The form requests personal and employment information plus consent for a credit check (sometimes called a consumer report). Applications often collect a non-refundable fee, commonly equal to the cost of getting the relevant screening reports.
After receiving a Colorado rental application, most landlords use the following process to evaluate the potential tenant:
Colorado eviction cases are matters of public record which anyone can access. While third-party services often automatically check eviction history as part of a screening report, this also can be checked manually, with the following process:
The sample rental application provided on this page complies with federal law restricting the information a landlord can request. In general, it’s illegal under the Federal Fair Housing Act to screen tenants by asking for information about the following, or using these as a basis for approving or denying an application:
There are narrow exemptions from the Fair Housing Act for things like senior housing or certain very-small scale landlords, but local regulations may still apply. Always consult an attorney before attempting to ignore federal requirements.
Colorado state law restricts the information landlords can use from a tenant’s rental, financial, and criminal history. Landlords must respect the following limitations when evaluating a rental application: [3]
A landlord may not consider any information in a tenant’s rental history that dates from more than seven years before the application being considered.
A landlord may not consider any information in a tenant’s financial history that dates from more than seven years before the application being considered. The applicant’s income cannot be used for any purpose except to determine that annual income is 200% of the annual rent or more.
In most cases, the landlord cannot require the tenant’s income to be 200% of the annual rent or more. The only exception is when the tenant is applying to rent with the assistance of a housing subsidy. This lets a landlord require annual income at least 200% of the annual rent, but such applications cannot consider credit information unless required by federal law.
A landlord may not consider any information in a tenant’s criminal history that dates from more than five years before the application being considered, except for the following criminal convictions or deferred judgments:
When taking an action which may disadvantage a potential tenant, a landlord may have to provide an adverse action notice informing the tenant about the decision (sometimes called a “conditional approval,” if the application is approved subject to meeting additional conditions). Federal regulations require an adverse action notice whenever a landlord collects a credit report and takes one of the following actions:
An adverse action notice must contain the following details:
While not legally required, it also is expedient for a landlord to explain the reasons for the adverse action, since this establishes a written record of issues with the application.
Colorado has the following regulations on fees relating to a new rental:
Local jurisdictions may impose stricter regulations than the statewide standard. Always check local laws.
This is the official summary provided by the Colorado General Assembly for HB19-1106, as enacted:
The act states that a landlord may 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. A landlord also may not charge a prospective tenant a rental application fee that is in a different amount than a rental application fee charged to another prospective tenant who applies to rent:
The act requires a landlord to provide to any prospective tenant who has paid a rental application 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. The landlord is required to make a good-faith effort to refund any unused portion of an application fee within 20 days.
The act states that if a landlord uses rental history or credit history as criteria in consideration of an application, the landlord shall not consider any rental history or credit history beyond 7 years immediately preceding the date of the application. If a landlord considers criminal history as a criterion, the landlord shall not consider an arrest record of a prospective tenant from any time or any conviction of a prospective tenant that occurred more than 5 years before the date of the application; except that a landlord may consider any criminal conviction record or deferred judgment relating to certain criminal offenses involving methamphetamine, any offense that required the prospective tenant to register as a sex offender, any offense that is classified as a homicide, or stalking.
If a landlord denies a rental application, the landlord shall provide the prospective tenant a written notice of the denial that states the reasons for the denial.
A landlord who violates any of the requirements created in the act is liable to the person who is charged a rental application fee for triple the amount of the rental application fee, plus court costs. A landlord who corrects or cures a violation not more than 7 calendar days after receiving notice of the violation is immune from liability. A person who intentionally and in bad faith brings a meritless claim against a landlord is liable for the landlord’s court costs and reasonable attorney fees in defending the claim.
Except as provided in subsection (1.5)(f) of this section, a landlord shall accept a portable tenant screening report from a prospective tenant.
(a) If a landlord uses rental history or credit history as criteria in consideration of an application, the landlord shall not consider any rental history or credit history beyond seven years immediately preceding the date of the application, and the landlord must comply with subsections (1)(c) and (1)(d) of this section. (b) If a landlord uses criminal history as a criterion in consideration of an application, the landlord shall not consider an arrest record of a prospective tenant from any time or any conviction of a prospective tenant that occurred more than five years before the date of the application; except that a landlord may consider any criminal conviction record or deferred judgment relating to:
(I) The unlawful distribution, manufacturing, dispensing, or sale of a material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains methamphetamine, as described in section 18-18-405 ; (II) The unlawful possession of materials to make methamphetamine and amphetamine, as described in section 18-18-412.5 ; (III) Any offense that required the prospective tenant to register as a sex offender pursuant to section 16-22-103 ; or (IV) Any offense described in part 1 or part 6 of article 3 of title 18 . (c) If a landlord uses financial information, including rental history or credit history, as a criterion in consideration of a rental application from a prospective tenant who is seeking to rent with the assistance of a housing subsidy, the landlord shall not consider or inquire about the prospective tenant’s:
(I) Amount of income, except for the purpose of determining that the prospective tenant’s annual amount of income equals or exceeds two hundred percent of the portion of the annual cost of rent that is to be paid by the prospective tenant; or (II) Credit score, adverse credit event, or lack of credit score unless the landlord is required by federal law to consider a credit score or a lack of a credit score. (d) If a landlord uses financial information, including rental history or credit history, as a criterion in consideration of a rental application from any prospective tenant who is seeking to rent without the assistance of a housing subsidy, the landlord shall not consider or inquire about the prospective tenant’s amount of income, except for the purpose of determining that the prospective tenant’s annual amount of income equals or exceeds two hundred percent of the annual cost of rent. A landlord shall not require a prospective tenant to have an annual amount of income that exceeds two hundred percent of the annual cost of rent. (e) Notwithstanding subsections (1)(c) and (1)(d) of this section, nothing in said subsections precludes a landlord who is receiving funding from a governmental entity, quasi-governmental entity, or nonprofit organization that requires landlords to income-qualify tenants for income-restricted rental units from gathering any financial information about a prospective tenant for the purpose of determining the prospective tenant’s eligibility for an income-restricted rental unit if the funding source requires the landlord to collect such information as a condition for the receipt of funding.
