Rent Increases in Colorado: What Are My Rights?
Colorado law limits how often your landlord can raise your rent and, in some cases, how much notice you must get first. It covers the notice and timing rules and the state's ban on local rent control. It also covers your protection if a rent increase is used to punish you.
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If you and your landlord never signed a written lease, Colorado law sets a notice rule for rent increases. Your landlord must give you at least 60 days written notice before raising your rent. This rule applies even where another law might normally allow less notice.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If you have no written lease, your landlord cannot try to make you move out mainly to raise your rent. This is not allowed when doing that would skip the 60-day notice rule for a rent increase.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Your landlord can raise your rent only once in any 12-month period you live there. This is true whether or not you have a written lease. It does not matter how long you have rented there. It also does not matter if your rental has a fixed end date, is month-to-month, or has no end date at all.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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No city or county in Colorado is allowed to pass a law limiting how much your landlord can raise your rent. State law bans local rent control on private housing.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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A city, county or property owner can still agree in writing to limit rent increases for an affordable housing deal. This kind of agreement does not break Colorado's ban on local rent control.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Before you do anything else, look at your rent increase notice and talk to your landlord about it. Ask why the rent is going up and if your landlord will lower it.
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Keep a copy of any rent increase notice your landlord gives you. Write down the date you got it. This can help you check if your landlord followed Colorado's notice and timing rules.
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Count the days from when you got the written notice. If you have no written lease and got less than 60 days notice, the increase does not yet follow Colorado's rule.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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Colorado law bans your landlord from raising your rent to punish you for using certain rights. One protected right is making a good faith complaint about a problem that materially (seriously) harms your life, health, or safety. Another is joining or forming a group of renters. A third is using in good faith any other right this state's renter law gives you. You do not have to prove this was your landlord's only reason, just that it helped cause the decision.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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If your landlord raises your rent to punish you for using certain legal rights, Colorado law lets you end your rental early. Ending your rental means you give up your home, so decide where you will live next before you act.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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A court can order your landlord to pay you money if it decides the rent increase was to punish you for using your rights. The court can award 3 months of rent or 3 times your actual money losses, whichever is more. For example, 3 times a $1,500 loss is $4,500. The court can also order your landlord to pay reasonable (fair) lawyer's fees and court costs. You get this money only if you win your case and your landlord pays.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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You might stop paying a rent increase because you believe your landlord raised it to punish you. If your landlord then starts a court case to remove you for not paying, Colorado law lets you raise this as your defense.
✓ Sources checked September 29, 2026
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