Colorado Lease Non-Renewal: When Can a Landlord End a Tenancy?

Are Colorado residential leases forever? Not exactly, but for many landlords, an expiring lease no longer means the tenancy automatically ends.

Imagine you own a small rental property, say a fourplex in Denver. Three of your tenants are easy. The fourth pays rent on the first of every month and has never broken his lease. He is also exhausting. He disputes every utility bill, sends long emails at midnight, complains constantly about the other tenants, and has twice threatened to sue you over the landscaping. Nothing he does violates the lease. He is just a tenant you no longer want. His lease is up at the end of January, and you have decided your life would be a lot simpler if there was a different tenant in that unit.

A few years ago, this was the easiest problem in landlord-tenant law. When the lease ended, so did the tenancy. Unfortunately, for most Colorado landlords, that quiet exit no longer exists, and if you handle it wrong, you can end up with a non-renewal notice that has no legal effect, a tenant with every right to stay, and real monetary losses.

The Law Changed in 2024

In 2024, Colorado passed House Bill 24-1098, and it rewrote the ending of every residential lease in the state. For most residential tenancies, a landlord now needs a legal reason, called “cause,” to end the tenancy, and choosing not to renew an expiring lease counts as ending the tenancy. C.R.S. § 38-12-1303. A tenant who breaks the lease during the term is a different subject, with its own rules and remedies, and a topic for another post. This post is about the tenant whose lease is simply coming to an end, and for that situation the statute recognizes exactly six causes for non-renewal.

Not every rental is covered. The biggest exemptions are tenants who have been in the property less than twelve months, short-term rentals, employer-provided housing, and a single-family home, duplex, or triplex where the owner lives on the property. C.R.S. § 38-12-1302. An exempt landlord needs no reason to non-renew but still must serve a written notice to quit on time: 91 days before the end of a tenancy of a year or more, 28 days for six months to a year, and 21 days for one to six months. C.R.S. § 13-40-107. Everyone else needs cause.

The Six Causes: When a Landlord Can Still Say No

Unless an exemption applies, a landlord may decline to renew only for one of six reasons:

1. The landlord plans to demolish the unit or convert it to something other than a long-term rental;
2. The landlord needs to make repairs so substantial that the tenant cannot safely live there during the work;
3. The landlord or a family member will move into the unit;
4. The landlord is taking the property off the rental market to sell it;
5. The tenant refuses to sign a renewal on reasonable terms; or
6. The tenant has a real record of late payment: more than two payments during the tenancy, each more than ten days late, each documented with the required notice.  See C.R.S. § 38-12-1303.

Each of these reasons comes with fine print. Demolition or conversion must be backed by a permit or license application. If repairs will take less than 180 days, the tenant gets first dibs on a new lease when the work is done. A family member who moves in must actually move into the property within three months, and the unit cannot be re-listed for 90 days; the sale ground carries similar re-listing limits. And a renewal offer is only “reasonable” if any rent increase is not retaliatory or unconscionable, comes with 60 days’ notice, and is the only increase in a twelve-month period. C.R.S. §§ 38-12-701, 38-12-702.

Notice that two of the six causes turn on tenant conduct. A documented record of late payments and a refusal to sign a reasonable renewal are the statute’s answer for the tenant whose own behavior, rather than the landlord’s plans, is driving the non-renewal.  Those are the only ways a landlord can choose to not renew a lease with a residential tenant in Colorado. “This tenant is a pain in the arse” is not on it.

The 90-Day Notice

If there is cause to non-renew a lease, the landlord must serve the tenant with a written notice 90 days before the tenant must leave, stating the cause, the facts behind it, and the move-out date. C.R.S. § 38-12-1303. The Colorado courts publish a form for this, JDF 99 C. The form is titled “Notice of No-Fault Eviction” because the statute files non-renewal under its broad definition of eviction, but it is the non-renewal notice. A defective notice, or no notice, means the non-renewal has no effect and the tenant is entitled to stay, and a landlord who forces the issue without a court order faces claims for unlawful removal. C.R.S. §§ 38-12-1304, 38-12-510.

How can a landlord navigate these lease renewal requirements?

• Decide early. The renewal decision should be made at least 120 days before the lease ends. That leaves time to send a renewal offer, let the tenant respond, and still serve a proper 90-day notice if the tenant refuses. A landlord who starts thinking about it 60 days out has already lost the year.

• Paper everything. The late-payment cause only works if a written late notice went out every time rent was late, even when the fee was waived. Good records from day one are the whole game.

• Negotiate. Nothing stops a landlord and tenant from agreeing to part ways. One clean way for a landlord to not renew, or end a tenancy early, is to make an offer of a modest payment in exchange for a signed termination agreement and the keys. This is often referred to as a cash for keys” agreement. If a landlord goes this route, it is important to properly and carefully document the arrangement with firm deadlines and waivers.

Whatever you do, DO NOT FAKE A REASON. Announcing that a daughter is moving in and then re-listing the unit after the tenant leaves is exactly what the statute is designed to prevent. A tenant who spots the unit back online has both a grudge and grounds to file a lawsuit. 

The Bottom Line

In Colorado, the end of the lease is no longer automatically the end of the tenancy. Non-renewal now takes a valid cause, a precise 90-day notice, and a paper trail. Coakley Law protects your business by helping Colorado landlords draft leases, plan non-renewals, and advise or step in when tenancy has to end. For questions or to learn more about your options, call us at 303-500-1778 or email us.