There have been so many changes in landlord-tenant law over the last year, it’ll make your head spin. On top of all the pandemic-related public health orders that continue to affect the landlord-tenant landscape, Colorado’s legislature has also adopted a host of new laws impacting landlord-tenant relations. Here’s a recap:
The CDC’s Eviction Moratorium in 2021
On June 24, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Eviction Moratorium extended its eviction moratorium to July 31, 2021. As you know by now (this all began on September 4, 2021!), the CDC Eviction Moratorium prohibits the eviction of a covered person in the event of a rent-payment default. To obtain the protections, a tenant must tender a CDC-approved Declaration Form to the landlord. We’ll see what happens with this, but the Director of the CDC has announced that “this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.”
Colorado Executive Orders
Governor Polis allowed most of his executive orders limiting evictions to expire around the turn of the new year. Under the current Executive Order, tenants are entitled to a 30-day notice following a default before a landlord may initiate eviction proceedings. According to Governor Polis, these protections, too, are likely to end permanently on July 31, 2010. After that, we will go back to the statutory 10-, 5-, and 3-day notice periods that are required for residential, exempt residential, and commercial rental properties.
Senate Bill 173: Rights in Residential Lease Agreements
Time to revise your leases! SB173 places restrictions on late fees in residential leases and mobile home parks and implements a host of changes to court procedures for eviction cases. The Bill prohibits:
- Any late fee unless the rent payment is late by at least 7 calendar days.
- Any late fee in an amount that exceeds the greater of $50; or 5% of the amount of the rent obligation that remains past due.
- Any late fee that is not disclosed in the rental agreement.
- Any eviction where the sole default is the nonpayment of late fees.
- Any late fee resulting from the late payment or nonpayment of any portion of the rent that a rent subsidy provider, rather than the tenant, is responsible for paying.
- Any late fee in excess of one per month for each late payment.
- Interest on late fees.
- Recouping any amount of a late fee from a rent payment made by a tenant.
- Charging a late fee unless the landlord provided the tenant written notice of the late fee within 180 days after the date upon which the rent payment was due.
House Bill 1121: Residential Tenancy Protections
HB1121 increases eviction and tenancy protections for residential tenants by modifying eviction procedures and limiting a landlord’s right to raise the rent. First, the Bill extends the duration of the automatic stay of enforcement that follows the entry of a judgment for possession in favor of a landlord. That’s the period of time that the landlord must wait before it physically removes a tenant after it wins in court. Previously, a landlord had to wait 48 hours before physically carrying out an eviction. Now, under the new law, a landlord must wait 10 days. HB1121 also prohibits a landlord from increasing rent more than one time in a 12-month period and it extends the written notice requirement for raising rent or terminating a residential tenancy where there is no written rental agreement between the landlord and tenant from 21 to 60 days.
House Bill 1134 – Report Tenant Rent Payment Information To Credit Agencies
Under HB1134, the state will select a group of 10 landlords and at least 100 residential tenants who will participate in a pilot program allowing the landlords to report both timely and untimely payments of rent to credit reporting agencies. Participating tenants will participate in financial education course before their payment history is report. An aim of HB1134 is to help lower-income individuals improve their credit by allowing their timely rent payments to be considered. HB1134 is part of a larger group of bills aimed at improving financial education in Colorado (see, e.g., Senate Bill 21-148 which created Colorado’s Financial Empowerment Office and House Bill 1200 which revises financial literacy standards for CO high school students).
Zumbrennen Law handles all kinds of landlord-tenant matters ranging from the preparation, review, and negotiation of residential and commercial leases, evictions, and dispute resolution.
Changes from 2020
With the pandemic going on, it was easy to miss some of the important changes that happened in 2020. Here’s are some of the notable changes:
- Colorado Real Estate Commission Rule 5.11 – Money Belonging to Others: Effective July 30 2020, Colorado-licensed real estate brokers must establish and maintain a special escrow/trust bank account to hold and segregate money belonging to others when NOT acting as a real estate broker. A list of banks that provide the right kind of escrow/trust accounts can be found here.
- HB20-1332 – Source of Income: House Bill 1332 made it unlawful to discriminate in housing on the basis of source of income.
- SB20-224 – Immigrant Tenant Protection Act: Senate Bill 224 made it unlawful for a landlord to demand, request, or collect information regarding immigration or U.S. citizenship status.
- HB20-1048 – CROWN Act of 2020: House Bill 1332 made it unlawful in housing to discriminate on the basis of hairstyle.
Zumbrennen Law handles all kinds of landlord-tenant matters ranging from the preparation, review, and negotiation of residential and commercial leases, evictions, and dispute resolution.
Recent Comments