The covered fee cannot be charged before the rent payment is late by at least seven calendar days.
Five percent uses the amount of the past-due rent payment.
General statewide cap under SB23-184.
HB25-1090 addresses mandatory or not reasonably avoidable charges in covered pricing information.
Aggregate tenant billing cannot exceed the utility provider’s charge for the residential premises.
Colorado charge guides
Each page below is indexable because its legal layer has been checked against Colorado General Assembly or Office of Legislative Legal Services sources.
Security Deposit
Colorado security deposit limits, return deadlines, deductions, documentation and 2026 tenant protections.
Open guide →30/60-Day Deadline
Understand Colorado’s 30-day default deposit deadline and when a lease may extend the period up to 60 days.
Open guide →Normal Wear & Tear
Colorado’s expanded 2026 statutory definition of normal wear and tear and its effect on deposit deductions.
Open guide →Walk-Through Inspection
Colorado’s 2026 walk-through inspection process for identifying move-out damage before the tenancy ends.
Open guide →Carpet Replacement
Colorado’s new 2026 rules for carpet replacement deductions, partial damage and the 10-year carpet rule.
Open guide →Painting Charges
Colorado’s 2026 statutory limits on whole-unit and partial painting deductions from security deposits.
Open guide →Deposit Documentation
Colorado rules for itemization, photographs, inspection records, receipts, invoices and estimates supporting deductions.
Open guide →Two-Month Deposit Limit
Colorado’s statewide cap on required residential security deposits and the current 2026 framework.
Open guide →Wrongful Withholding
Colorado’s 2026 wrongful-withholding framework, seven-day pre-suit notice and potential treble-damages remedy.
Open guide →RUBS & Utility Billing
Colorado rules for ratio utility billing systems, allocation disclosure, common-area exclusions, utility markups and the 2027 metering requirement for qualifying new construction.
Open guide →Rental Fees & Total Price
Colorado renter guide to total-price disclosure, mandatory fees, certain prohibited lease fee provisions and the utility-price exception under HB25-1090 and HB23-1095.
Open guide →Rent Late Fees
Colorado residential rent late-fee rules covering the seven-calendar-day trigger, rental-agreement disclosure, the greater-of-$50-or-5% ceiling and prohibited late-fee practices.
Open guide →Why Colorado matters for bill checking
Colorado is now unusually specific across several stages. For a rent late fee, the workflow starts with the due date, seven-day threshold, past-due balance and lease disclosure. Before signing, the total-price and fee-disclosure layer can help identify mandatory charges. For RUBS, the utility layer lets renters test the provider total, common-area exclusions, added fees and allocation method. For move-out charges, separate rules address documentation, preexisting condition, carpet and painting.
Core official sources
Current 2026 Title 38 statutory text. Section 38-12-105 contains the statewide residential late-fee timing, amount, disclosure and prohibited-practices framework.
Colorado General AssemblySB21-173 — Rights in Residential Lease Agreements ↗Official enacted-bill page for the legislation that created Colorado’s modern residential late-fee protections in C.R.S. § 38-12-105.
Colorado General AssemblyHB25-1249 — Tenant Security Deposit Protections ↗Official enacted-bill page summarizing Colorado’s 2026 security-deposit changes, inspections, documentation, carpet, paint and wrongful-withholding rules.
Colorado General AssemblyHB25-1249 Enrolled Act ↗Primary enrolled act amending C.R.S. §§ 38-12-102 and 38-12-103, effective January 1, 2026.
Colorado General AssemblySB23-184 — Protections for Residential Tenants ↗Official enacted-bill page for the statewide two-month security-deposit maximum.
Colorado General AssemblyHB25-1090 — Protections Against Deceptive Pricing Practices ↗Official enacted-bill page for Colorado’s total-price disclosure framework and tenant-fee provisions. The General Assembly lists the session-law effective date as January 1, 2026.
Colorado General AssemblyHB23-1095 — Prohibited Provisions in Rental Agreements ↗Official enacted-bill page summarizing prohibited residential lease provisions, including specified fee markups and third-party service charges, subject to statutory scope and exceptions.
Colorado General AssemblyHB26-1013 — Ratio Utility Billing Systems ↗Official enacted-bill page for Colorado’s current ratio utility billing system requirements. The bill became law and the session-law effective date shown by the General Assembly is March 26, 2026.