Rental application & screening fee law in Colorado
Limited to actual screening cost
Colorado's Rental Application Fairness Act limits application fees to the landlord's actual processing cost, requires the same fee for every applicant, and prohibits any fee when the applicant supplies a portable tenant screening report.
What the law says
Colorado's Rental Application Fairness Act (C.R.S. §§ 38-12-902 through 38-12-904) does not set a fixed dollar cap. Instead, the entire application fee must be used to cover the landlord's actual cost of processing the application, and the amount must be uniform for every applicant for the same unit.
If an applicant provides a portable tenant screening report, the landlord may not charge a screening fee at all. The Act was expanded effective January 1, 2026, including changes to portable-report validity and coverage of subsidy applicants.
Recent changes
The Rental Application Fairness Act was expanded effective January 1, 2026.
Beyond the fee limit
The price rule is only part of the law. Colorado also imposes these obligations:
- No fee may be charged when the applicant supplies a portable tenant screening report.
- The fee must be disclosed and itemized, with a receipt provided.
- Any unused portion of the fee must be refunded.
- The same fee must be charged to every applicant.
Read the law
What's the actual limit in Colorado?
Fee limits change with inflation adjustments, local ordinances, and new legislation. Use our free calculator to look up the current limit for your rental's ZIP code.
Calculate your fee limitsThis page is provided for general information only and is not legal advice. Fee rules change — caps re-index to inflation, new legislation takes effect, and cities adopt their own ordinances — so always confirm against the official statutory text linked above before relying on it. The federal Fair Housing Act applies everywhere, regardless of state or local fee rules.