Colorado overhauled its residential security-deposit rules with HB25-1249, effective January 1, 2026 — and a lot of leases and landlord habits are now out of date. The core framework was already strict: a two-month cap, a one-month return deadline, and treble damages for willful over-withholding. The 2026 changes go further, barring charges for normal wear, voiding automatic cleaning fees, and putting hard limits on carpet and paint deductions. Here's the current law, including what changed this year.
The core rules: cap, deadline, and penalty
Three long-standing rules set the frame:
- Deposit cap — two months' rent. Under C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5, a landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit exceeding two months' rent.
- Return deadline — one month (up to 60 days by lease). Under C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1), the landlord must return the deposit within one month after the lease ends, unless the lease specifies a longer period — which may not exceed 60 days. If the landlord keeps any part, a written itemized statement of deductions must go to the tenant within that window.
- Miss the deadline, lose the right to withhold. Failing to provide the written statement within the required time means the landlord forfeits all right to withhold any portion of the deposit (§ 38-12-103(2)).
- Willful retention — treble damages. A landlord who willfully retains a deposit in violation of the statute is liable for three times the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney's fees and court costs (§ 38-12-103(3)). Before suing for that penalty, the tenant must give the landlord seven days' written notice of intent to file.
That treble-damages exposure is why the itemized statement and the deadline aren't optional paperwork — they're what stands between a routine move-out and a 3× judgment.
What changed on January 1, 2026 (HB25-1249)
HB25-1249 rewrote what a Colorado landlord may deduct. The headline: you can't charge a tenant for the ordinary consequences of living in the unit.
- No deductions for normal wear and tear — or preexisting damage. The statute now defines normal wear and tear as deterioration or uncleanliness from the unit's intended, typical use without negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse — and bars withholding for it, or for any damage or condition that predated the tenancy.
- Automatic cleaning fees are void. A lease clause imposing a standard or automatic cleaning fee, or charging the tenant for routine cleaning after normal occupancy, is now void and unenforceable. Any provision assigning the tenant a fee for repairs, cleaning, or work needed because of normal wear — or for preexisting damage — is against public policy and void.
- Carpet and paint have hard limits. A landlord has no cause to withhold for replacing carpet or repainting unless there is substantial and irreparable damage to the carpet, or substantial damage to the paint, that exceeds normal wear and did not preexist the tenancy. And carpet cannot be treated as substantially and irreparably damaged if it wasn't replaced with new carpet within the 10 years before the tenancy ended — the "10-year carpet rule."
- Walk-through inspection on request. On either party's request, when reasonable and practicable, the landlord and tenant must conduct a walk-through inspection — in person or by telecommunication.
- Documentation on request. The law tightens the standard for justifying a deduction and requires the landlord to provide documentation supporting any deductions when the tenant asks, within the statutory window — and strengthens the tenant's remedies when a landlord retains a deposit in bad faith.
Fix the lease before you use it
The most immediate landlord action is to remove now-void clauses. Any lease that still carries a flat "cleaning fee," a carpet-replacement charge untethered from the 10-year rule, or language that bills the tenant for normal wear or preexisting conditions is not just unenforceable on those terms — it signals non-compliance with the 2026 statute. A deduction has to map to actual, tenant-caused, beyond-normal-wear damage, documented, and delivered with the itemized statement inside the one-month (or lease-set, ≤60-day) window.
For how another state runs the same return-deadline pressure with a different penalty, compare Florida's 15-day / 30-day rule.
Common mistakes (under the 2026 rules)
Charging a flat cleaning fee. Automatic cleaning-fee clauses are void under HB25-1249; routine cleaning after normal occupancy isn't chargeable.
Deducting for carpet or paint by default. Only substantial and irreparable damage beyond normal wear qualifies — and carpet older than 10 years (not replaced with new carpet in that span) can't be charged at all.
Missing the one-month deadline. No itemized statement in time forfeits the right to withhold (§ 38-12-103(2)), and willful retention triggers treble damages plus fees (§ 38-12-103(3)).
Withholding for preexisting or normal-wear conditions. Both are barred; a deduction must be tenant-caused damage beyond normal wear.
Build a compliant Colorado lease — $29 one-time, generated in minutes, updated for HB25-1249 with the two-month cap, the one-month-return terms, and deduction language that leaves out the now-void cleaning and normal-wear charges.
Want the cross-state view? Compare security deposit laws in all 20 states we cover — caps, deadlines, and penalties side by side.
Statutory references
- C.R.S. § 38-12-102.5 — two-month cap on residential security deposits.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1) — one-month return deadline (lease may extend to no more than 60 days); written itemized statement of deductions.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-103(2) — forfeiture of the right to withhold for failure to provide the statement in time.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3) — treble damages, reasonable attorney's fees and costs for willful retention; seven-day pre-suit notice.
- HB25-1249 (effective January 1, 2026) — bar on withholding for normal wear and preexisting damage; void automatic cleaning-fee and normal-wear charge clauses; carpet/paint "substantial and irreparable" limit and the 10-year carpet rule; walk-through-on-request; deduction-documentation duty and strengthened bad-faith remedies.
- C.R.S. § 38-12-104 — separate deposit-return remedy tied to hazardous-condition gas equipment.