Colorado Late Fee Laws: The Landlord and Tenant Guide
Seven-Day Grace Period · Hard Statutory Cap · Fifty Dollars or Five Percent · NSF Fees · No Eviction for Late Fees
Colorado is one of the most tenant-protective states in the country for late rent fees, and it got there fast. In 2021 the legislature passed House Bill 21-1121, which added a hard late-fee statute, and in 2023 House Bill 23-1095 sharpened it. The result, now codified at Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105, does three things at once: it grants every residential tenant and mobile-home owner a mandatory seven-calendar-day grace period, it caps the late fee at the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent, and it forbids a landlord from ever evicting a tenant just for failing to pay a late fee. Those bright-line rules — not a vague reasonableness test — drive everything on this page.
This guide walks the full framework in plain English: exactly how much a landlord may charge, when the seven-day grace period starts and how it is counted, why the fee must be disclosed in the lease and asserted within one hundred eighty days, the separate returned-check remedy, and the critical point that a late fee is not rent for Colorado’s ten-day demand for rent or possession. It also covers the special cases — mobile-home parks, subsidized housing — local ordinances, how a tenant recovers a statutory penalty when a landlord breaks the rules, a practical playbook for both sides, real scenarios, and a Colorado-specific FAQ.
Because Colorado wrote its late-fee rules into a single statute with real numbers and real penalties, the safest posture for a landlord is strict compliance with the checklist, and the strongest position for a tenant is knowing that an overcharge, an early fee, or a fee used to threaten eviction is not just unenforceable but can trigger a penalty payable to the tenant. Treat every figure here as a starting point and verify the current statute before you charge, pay, or dispute a fee.
Colorado Late Fees at a Glance
Statutory Cap
Greater of fifty dollars or five percent
Grace Period
Seven calendar days, mandatory
Governing Law
Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105
NSF Fee
Up to twenty dollars, plus treble remedy
Late Fees: The Narrow Legal Question
Before diving into the numbers, it helps to see exactly what Colorado law controls. A late fee is not rent. It is a contractual charge a landlord seeks to add when rent arrives late, and until 2021 Colorado left that charge almost entirely to the lease. That changed with House Bill 21-1121, which created a dedicated late-fee statute, and House Bill 23-1095, which tightened it. Today the governing rule lives in Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105, and it treats a late fee as a tightly regulated charge with fixed limits rather than a matter of private contract.
So the narrow legal question in Colorado is not “what is a reasonable late fee?” the way it is in some states. The statute already answers the amount and the timing. The real questions are: has rent been late for at least seven calendar days, is the fee disclosed in the lease, and does it stay at or below the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent? If all three are true, the fee is generally valid. If any one fails, the fee is unlawful, and the tenant has a statutory remedy. Everything else on this page — the eviction bar, the interest ban, the returned-check rule — orbits those bright lines.
This makes Colorado unusually predictable. A landlord complies by staying inside the numbers, and a tenant can check compliance with arithmetic rather than argument. The statute deliberately removed the guesswork, and in doing so it shifted the risk: a landlord who ignores the checklist is not merely holding an unenforceable fee but is exposed to a penalty the tenant can collect.
Takeaway
Colorado regulates late fees by statute, not by a reasonableness test. Under Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 a late fee is lawful only if rent is at least seven calendar days late, the fee is disclosed in the lease, and it stays at or below the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. Miss any element and the fee is unlawful.
Is There a Statutory Grace Period?
For residential rent, the answer is an emphatic yes. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 provides that a landlord may not charge a tenant or mobile-home owner a late fee unless the rent payment is late by at least seven calendar days. This is a mandatory, state-created grace period. It is not something the tenant has to negotiate into the lease, and a lease cannot shorten it. Rent may be due on the first, but a late fee cannot attach until the payment is at least seven calendar days overdue, which in an ordinary month means the earliest a late fee can appear is the eighth.
The count is in calendar days, not business days, so weekends and holidays are included and do not push the deadline out. That cuts both ways: a tenant does not get extra time because the seventh day lands on a Sunday, and a landlord cannot start the clock earlier by excluding weekends. The seven-day floor is the same whether the property is a downtown Denver apartment, a single-family rental on the Western Slope, or a mobile-home lot — the statute grants the grace period across the board.
A Landlord May Give More, Never Less
Seven calendar days is a floor, not a ceiling. A landlord is free to write a longer grace period into the lease — ten days, or “no late fee if paid by the fifteenth” — and many do as a courtesy or to reduce disputes. What a landlord cannot do is charge a late fee before the seventh calendar day, no matter what the lease says. A lease clause purporting to allow a fee on the second or third day of the month is unenforceable to the extent it conflicts with the statutory grace period, and charging under it is a prohibited act.
Do not charge before the seventh calendar day
The most common early-late-fee mistake in Colorado is charging a fee on day two, three, or five because an older lease says rent is late the day after it is due. Since House Bill 21-1121, that fee is unlawful. Rent may be treated as late for the landlord’s internal purposes, but a late fee cannot be charged until the payment is at least seven calendar days overdue. Count the calendar days, weekends included, and wait until day seven has fully passed.
Takeaway
Colorado guarantees a mandatory seven-calendar-day grace period for residential rent under section 38-12-105. Weekends and holidays count, and a lease cannot shorten it. A landlord may grant a longer cushion but may never charge a late fee before rent is at least seven calendar days late.
The Cap: Fifty Dollars or Five Percent
This is the heart of Colorado late-fee law. Under Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105, a late fee may not exceed the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the amount of the past-due rent payment. Because the statute uses “greater of,” the tenant is charged whichever of the two figures is larger, and that larger figure is the ceiling. This is a true statutory cap, not a reasonableness standard: a landlord who charges above it has violated the law even if the lease authorizes a higher number and even if the landlord’s real costs were higher.
Working the arithmetic makes the rule concrete. On monthly rent of one thousand dollars, five percent is fifty dollars, so the cap is fifty dollars — the two figures are equal. On rent of two thousand dollars, five percent is one hundred dollars, and because one hundred is greater than fifty, the cap is one hundred dollars. On a low-rent unit where five percent would come out to only twenty or thirty dollars, the landlord may still charge up to fifty dollars, because fifty is the greater figure. The floor of the cap is effectively fifty dollars, and it rises with five percent only once the rent crosses one thousand dollars.
| Monthly rent | Five percent | Maximum lawful late fee (greater of the two) |
|---|---|---|
| Six hundred dollars | Thirty dollars | Fifty dollars — fifty is greater than thirty |
| One thousand dollars | Fifty dollars | Fifty dollars — the two are equal |
| Fifteen hundred dollars | Seventy-five dollars | Seventy-five dollars — five percent is greater |
| Two thousand five hundred dollars | One hundred twenty-five dollars | One hundred twenty-five dollars — five percent is greater |
The cap is on the fee, and it is measured against the past-due rent
The five-percent figure is calculated on the amount of the past-due rent payment, not on the annual rent or the full lease value. If a tenant is short only part of the month’s rent, the five-percent figure is measured against that past-due amount. And whatever the arithmetic, the fee can never exceed the greater of that five-percent figure or fifty dollars. A landlord who is unsure should charge the smaller of what the lease allows and the statutory cap, because the statute controls.
Takeaway
Colorado caps the late fee at the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent under section 38-12-105. Below one thousand dollars in rent the cap is effectively fifty dollars; above it the cap rises with the five-percent figure. This is a hard ceiling — a lease cannot authorize more, and charging more is a prohibited act.
When a Fee May Be Charged and the Written-Lease Requirement
A late fee cannot appear out of thin air in Colorado. To be enforceable at all, the fee must be disclosed in the rental agreement. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 provides that a landlord may not require a tenant or mobile-home owner to pay a late fee unless the late fee is disclosed in the written lease. If the lease is silent on late fees, there is simply no late fee to collect. A landlord cannot invent a late fee that the lease never mentions, cannot spring one on the tenant mid-tenancy without a proper new agreement, and cannot charge more than the lease provides — or more than the statutory cap, whichever is lower.
Timing then layers on top of disclosure. Even a properly disclosed fee cannot be charged until the rent is at least seven calendar days late, because the grace period is mandatory. And Colorado adds a second timing rule that catches many landlords off guard: the statute bars charging a late fee unless the landlord gave the tenant written notice of the late fee within one hundred eighty days after the date the rent payment was due. A landlord who lets six months pass and then tries to bill a stale late fee has lost the right to collect it. Disclosure, the seven-day grace period, and the one-hundred-eighty-day notice window are three separate gates, and the fee must clear all three.
The one-hundred-eighty-day clock is easy to miss
Landlords who batch up charges at move-out are the ones who trip on this rule. A late fee tied to a rent payment due many months earlier is uncollectible if the landlord never gave written notice of that fee within one hundred eighty days of the due date. Notify the tenant of a late fee promptly — in the ledger, in a statement, or in writing — and do not save it for a security-deposit deduction long after the fact.
Takeaway
A Colorado late fee is enforceable only if it is disclosed in the lease, charged after rent is at least seven calendar days late, and noticed to the tenant in writing within one hundred eighty days of the due date. No disclosure means no fee; a stale fee noticed too late is uncollectible. Three gates, all under section 38-12-105.
NSF and Returned-Check Fees
A bounced rent check is governed by its own statute, separate from the late-fee rule. Under Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-21-109, when a tenant’s check is returned unpaid, the holder may recover the face amount of the check plus a reasonable posted or contractual bad-check charge not exceeding twenty dollars. That twenty-dollar ceiling is the returned-check service charge itself, and it applies only if the charge was posted or written into the agreement. It is distinct from — and stacks in a limited way with — any lawful late fee triggered because the rent is now late.
Section 13-21-109 also carries a sharper remedy. If the landlord follows the statute’s written-demand procedure and is still not paid within fifteen days after the demand, the tenant can become liable in a civil action for three times the face amount of the check, but not less than one hundred dollars, and the court may award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party. Strict compliance with the demand procedure is required to unlock treble damages, so a landlord who cuts corners on the notice loses the enhanced remedy and is left with the face amount and the twenty-dollar charge.
Keep the NSF charge and the late fee distinct
A returned check can trigger both a late fee — because the rent is now late — and a returned-check charge — because the check bounced — but they rest on different statutes and different limits. The returned-check charge is fixed by Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-21-109 at up to twenty dollars, while the late fee is capped by Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 at the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. Track them as two separate line items, and remember the late fee still cannot be charged until rent is seven calendar days late.
Takeaway
A bounced check is governed by Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-21-109: a posted or contractual returned-check charge of up to twenty dollars, plus, after a proper written demand and fifteen days without payment, treble damages of three times the check but not less than one hundred dollars, with costs and fees. This remedy is separate from any late fee.
Can a Late Fee Lead to Eviction? The Demand-for-Rent Interplay
This is where Colorado’s tenant protections are at their sharpest. A landlord who wants to evict for nonpayment serves a ten-day demand for rent or possession under Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-40-104 for most residential tenancies. That demand is for unpaid rent, and a late fee is not rent. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 goes further and flatly prohibits a landlord from removing or excluding a tenant, terminating a tenancy, or initiating a court process against a tenant solely because the tenant failed to pay one or more late fees. Unpaid late fees, standing alone, can never be the basis for an eviction in Colorado.
That means two things. First, a landlord must not fold a late fee into the rent figure in a ten-day demand; the demand should state the exact past-due rent and nothing else, and overstating it by adding a late fee can defeat the case, a point our Colorado eviction notice laws guide covers in depth. Second, because the eviction bar in section 38-12-105 is independent of the notice rules, even a tenant who has genuinely refused to pay a valid late fee cannot be evicted for that refusal. The home is not on the line over a late fee.
That does not make a valid late fee uncollectible. It means the collection path is different. A landlord may pursue an unpaid, capped, and disclosed late fee as an ordinary debt — in small claims court, for example, or by deducting it from the security deposit at move-out if the lease allows and the fee is valid — a step governed by the Colorado security deposit laws. What a landlord may never do is use the fast eviction machinery to collect it, or threaten eviction to pressure payment.
Never demand a late fee in the ten-day notice
The single most damaging late-fee error in Colorado is including it in a ten-day demand for rent or possession. Demand only the exact past-due rent; count it to the dollar. Because the statute both keeps late fees out of the rent demand and bars eviction for unpaid late fees, overstating the demand hands the tenant a defense and can waste the whole eviction. Collect any valid late fee separately, and never use the threat of eviction to force it.
Takeaway
A ten-day demand for rent or possession under section 13-40-104 may seek only rent, never a late fee, and section 38-12-105 bars eviction solely for unpaid late fees. A valid late fee is collectible as a separate debt — small claims or the deposit — but the eviction process can never be used to collect it or to threaten a tenant over it.
No Double-Charging and No Interest
Colorado closes two loopholes that landlords in other states sometimes exploit. First, Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 prohibits imposing a late fee more than once for each late payment. A landlord cannot charge a fresh late fee every day or every week the rent remains unpaid, cannot compound the fee, and cannot turn one missed payment into a stack of separate charges. One late payment yields at most one late fee, and the total tied to that payment still cannot exceed the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent.
Second, the statute prohibits requiring a tenant or mobile-home owner to pay any amount of interest on a late fee. The capped late fee is the entire permitted charge for a late payment; a landlord cannot add interest on top of it or treat the unpaid fee as an interest-bearing debt that grows over time. Between the once-per-payment rule and the no-interest rule, Colorado prevents a modest late fee from ballooning into a large running balance — the exact abuse the 2021 and 2023 legislation targeted.
| Prohibited act under section 38-12-105 | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Charging before day seven | No late fee until rent is at least seven calendar days late, weekends included |
| Exceeding the cap | No fee above the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent |
| Charging more than once per late payment | One late payment supports one late fee, not a daily or weekly stack |
| Charging interest on a late fee | No interest may be added to or accrued on the late fee |
| Evicting for unpaid late fees | No removal, termination, or court process solely for failure to pay a late fee |
Takeaway
Section 38-12-105 bars charging a late fee more than once for the same late payment and bars charging any interest on a late fee. Combined with the cap and the grace period, these rules stop a small late fee from growing into a large running debt, which is exactly what the 2021 and 2023 legislation set out to prevent.
Special Cases: Mobile Homes and Subsidized Housing
The statutory rules are the baseline, but a few categories of housing carry their own layered protections, and the ordinary analysis is not the whole story for them.
Mobile-Home Parks
Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 applies directly to mobile-home owners who rent lot space in a park — the statute’s title expressly covers late fees charged to tenants and mobile-home owners, and the seven-day grace period, the cap, the disclosure and one-hundred-eighty-day notice rules, and the bans on interest, double-charging, and eviction for late fees all apply. On top of section 38-12-105, mobile-home tenancies are governed by the Mobile Home Park Act at Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-201 and following, which layers additional notice, cure, and eviction protections around a park homeowner. A park cannot use a late fee to short-circuit those protections.
Subsidized Housing (Section 8 and Similar)
In the Housing Choice Voucher program and similar subsidized tenancies, a late fee generally applies only to the tenant’s own share of the rent, not to the portion the housing authority pays, and the program contract or lease rider may cap or bar the fee entirely. A landlord who accepts a voucher agrees to the program’s terms for the term of the contract, so the program rules ride on top of state law. The section 38-12-105 cap, grace period, and prohibitions still apply, but they apply within the narrower band the program allows — and the five-percent figure is measured only against the tenant’s share.
Commercial Units
The whole analysis on this page is about residential leases. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 is a residential landlord-tenant protection, so commercial tenancies are not governed by its cap, grace period, or prohibitions, and a commercial late fee is generally left to the contract and common-law limits on penalties. A landlord who rents both residential and commercial space must apply the statute to the residential units and not assume the same freedom that a commercial lease allows.
Takeaway
Mobile-home owners get the full protection of section 38-12-105 plus the Mobile Home Park Act, subsidized tenancies limit a late fee to the tenant’s share and may bar it, and commercial leases fall outside the statute. The cap, grace period, and prohibitions apply to every residential tenancy, with extra layers for mobile homes and vouchers.
Local Ordinances
Colorado’s home-rule cities can and do add tenant protections on top of state law, and where a local ordinance is more protective, it generally controls. Jurisdictions such as Denver, Boulder, Aurora, and Fort Collins have adopted their own rental-licensing, habitability, or tenant-protection measures, and some regulate fees, notice, or the eviction process more tightly than the state baseline. A late fee that satisfies section 38-12-105 can still run into a stricter local rule, so the statute is a floor of tenant protection, not a ceiling.
Because coverage varies by city and sometimes by the type or size of the property, the only reliable step is to check the ordinance for the specific address. A landlord should confirm whether the property sits inside a city with additional rental regulation and, if so, what that city says about fees and notice before charging a late fee. A tenant in one of these cities should check whether the local rules give more protection than the state baseline — and remember that the state cap, grace period, and eviction bar apply everywhere in Colorado regardless of the local rules.
Check the ordinance for the exact address
Local rental rules can differ city by city and by building type. Before charging or paying a late fee, confirm the local requirements for that exact address on top of the state statute — any additional fee limit, notice rule, or licensing requirement. When a local ordinance is stricter than state law, the local rule generally wins, but the section 38-12-105 floor — seven-day grace, the cap, no interest, no eviction for late fees — still applies statewide.
Takeaway
Cities such as Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins can add rental protections beyond state law, and the more protective rule controls. A fee that passes the state statute can still fail a local ordinance, so check the rules for the property’s exact address — while remembering the section 38-12-105 floor applies everywhere.
How a Tenant Contests an Unlawful or Excessive Late Fee
Because Colorado wrote the late-fee rules into a statute with a built-in penalty, a tenant challenging a fee has real leverage. Under section 38-12-105, a landlord who violates the statute owes the aggrieved tenant a penalty of fifty dollars for each violation. The landlord then has seven days to cure after receiving written or electronic notice of the violation. If the landlord fails to cure within that window, the tenant may recover a penalty of at least one hundred fifty dollars but not more than one thousand dollars for each violation, plus compensatory damages and costs including reasonable attorney fees. The remedy is designed to make compliance the cheaper path for the landlord.
Check the three gates
Confirm the fee is disclosed in the lease, that rent was at least seven calendar days late, and that the amount does not exceed the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. If any gate fails, the fee is unlawful.
Give the landlord written notice to cure
Send written or electronic notice describing the violation. This starts the landlord’s seven-day cure period under section 38-12-105 and preserves the tenant’s right to the larger penalty if the landlord does not fix it.
Watch for the eviction bar and the notice
If the landlord folded the late fee into a ten-day demand for rent or possession, or threatened eviction over an unpaid late fee, that is itself a violation, because the statute bars using eviction to collect a late fee.
Dispute a deposit deduction
If the landlord took an unlawful or stale late fee from the security deposit, challenge it in the deposit accounting and, if needed, in small claims court to recover it along with any statutory penalty.
Recover the statutory penalty
If the landlord does not cure, pursue the penalty of at least one hundred fifty dollars but not more than one thousand dollars per violation, plus damages, costs, and reasonable attorney fees. Keep written records of every payment, fee, and notice.
Takeaway
A tenant contesting a late fee in Colorado has a statutory penalty on their side: fifty dollars per violation, then, after an uncured seven-day notice, at least one hundred fifty and up to one thousand dollars per violation plus damages, costs, and attorney fees. Check the three gates, give written notice to cure, and recover the penalty if the landlord does not fix it.
The Colorado Landlord and Tenant Playbook
The statute rewards discipline on both sides. For landlords, following the checklist keeps a fee enforceable and avoids the penalty; for tenants, knowing the four bright lines keeps you from paying money you do not owe.
Disclose the fee in the written lease
Landlords: state the late fee, its amount, and that it attaches only after rent is at least seven calendar days late. Keep the amount at or below the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent.
Wait out the seven-day grace period
Do not charge before the seventh calendar day, counting weekends and holidays. Charging early is a prohibited act even if the lease says rent is late the day after it is due.
Charge once, add no interest, notice promptly
Impose only one late fee per late payment, never add interest, and give the tenant written notice of the fee within one hundred eighty days of the due date so it does not go stale.
Keep the fee out of the eviction process
Never demand a late fee in the ten-day demand for rent or possession, and never threaten eviction over an unpaid late fee. Collect any valid fee separately through small claims or the deposit if the lease allows.
Tenants: verify before you pay
Check that the fee is disclosed, that rent was at least seven days late, and that the amount is within the cap. Dispute in writing anything early, excessive, doubled, interest-bearing, or tied to an eviction threat.
Need the eviction notice itself?
If a tenant is genuinely behind on rent, the correct tool is a rent-only demand, not a late-fee charge. See our free Colorado eviction complaint form and the broader Colorado eviction notice laws guide. Demand only rent in the ten-day notice, and pursue any valid late fee separately. Always verify current law before serving.
Compliant Versus Unlawful: Common Scenarios
✓ Compliant
- Disclosed, capped fee after day seven. A late fee written into the lease, charged only after rent is at least seven calendar days late, at or below the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent.
- One fee, no interest. A single late fee for one late payment, with no interest added and no daily or weekly stacking.
- Rent-only ten-day demand. A demand for rent or possession that states the exact past-due rent and leaves any late fee out entirely.
- Fee collected separately. A valid late fee pursued in small claims or deducted from the deposit where the lease allows — never through eviction.
✕ Unlawful
- Fee charged before day seven. A late fee imposed on day two, three, or five, before the mandatory seven-calendar-day grace period has run.
- Fee over the cap. A charge above the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent, or interest added on top of the fee.
- Late fee in the demand or an eviction threat. Folding a late fee into the ten-day demand, or removing or threatening a tenant solely for unpaid late fees.
- Undisclosed or stale fee. A late fee the lease never mentions, or one first asserted more than one hundred eighty days after the rent was due.
The Best Late Payment Is the One That Never Happens
Most late-rent and bounced-check problems trace back to a tenant whose payment history showed red flags before move-in. Comprehensive credit, income, and eviction-history reports surface prior payment problems before you ever sign a lease.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a legal limit on late fees in Colorado?
Yes. Colorado sets a hard statutory cap. Under Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105, a late fee may not exceed the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the amount of the past-due rent payment. This is a real ceiling, not a reasonableness test, so a landlord who charges more than the greater of those two figures has violated the statute regardless of any lease language. The cap was created by House Bill 21-1121 in 2021 and refined by House Bill 23-1095 in 2023. Always verify the current statute before charging or paying a fee.
Does Colorado have a grace period for late rent?
Yes, and it is mandatory. Under Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105, a landlord may not charge a late fee unless the rent payment is late by at least seven calendar days. The seven days are calendar days, so weekends and holidays count, and the clock runs from the date rent was due under the lease. This grace period is set by state law and applies whether or not the lease mentions it; a lease cannot shorten it. Only after the seventh calendar day has passed may a properly disclosed late fee attach.
How much can a Colorado landlord charge as a late fee?
The maximum is the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. So on rent of one thousand dollars, five percent is fifty dollars, and the cap is fifty dollars. On rent of two thousand dollars, five percent is one hundred dollars, and the cap is one hundred dollars because that figure is greater than fifty. On low rent where five percent would be small, the landlord may still charge up to fifty dollars. The fee must also be disclosed in the written lease, and it can be charged only after rent is at least seven calendar days late.
Does a late fee have to be in the written lease in Colorado?
Yes. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 provides that a landlord may not require a tenant or mobile-home owner to pay a late fee unless the late fee is disclosed in the rental agreement. If the lease says nothing about a late fee, there is no late fee to collect. A landlord also may not charge a late fee unless the landlord gave the tenant written notice of the fee within one hundred eighty days after the date the rent payment was due, so an old, undisclosed, or belatedly asserted fee cannot be enforced.
What is the returned-check or NSF fee in Colorado?
A bounced rent check is governed by Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-21-109, not by the late-fee statute. A holder may recover the face amount of the check plus a reasonable posted or contractual bad-check charge not exceeding twenty dollars. If the writer does not pay within fifteen days after a proper statutory demand, the holder may sue for three times the face amount of the check, but not less than one hundred dollars, plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees. This returned-check remedy is separate from any late fee and rests on its own statute.
Can a landlord evict a Colorado tenant for unpaid late fees?
No. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 expressly prohibits a landlord from removing or excluding a tenant, terminating a tenancy, or initiating a court process against a tenant solely because the tenant failed to pay one or more late fees. Nonpayment eviction in Colorado runs on the ten-day demand for rent or possession under Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-40-104, and a late fee is not rent for that demand. A landlord may pursue an unpaid but valid late fee as a separate debt, but the fast eviction process cannot be used to collect it.
Can a Colorado landlord charge a late fee more than once for the same late payment?
No. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 prohibits imposing a late fee more than once for each late payment. A landlord cannot stack a new late fee every day or every week the rent stays unpaid, and cannot convert a single late payment into a growing pile of separate fees. The statute also caps the total, so late fees tied to one late payment cannot exceed the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. One late payment means at most one late fee within that ceiling.
Can a Colorado landlord charge interest on a late fee?
No. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 prohibits requiring a tenant or mobile-home owner to pay any amount of interest on a late fee. The late fee itself is the entire permitted charge for a late payment, capped at the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. A landlord cannot add interest on top of that fee or treat the unpaid fee as an interest-bearing debt against the tenant. Charging interest on a late fee is a prohibited act that exposes the landlord to statutory penalties.
What is the penalty if a Colorado landlord charges an illegal late fee?
Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 gives the tenant real remedies. A landlord who violates the statute owes the aggrieved tenant a penalty of fifty dollars for each violation. The landlord then has seven days to cure after receiving written or electronic notice of the violation. If the landlord fails to cure within that window, the tenant may recover a penalty of at least one hundred fifty dollars but not more than one thousand dollars for each violation, plus compensatory damages and costs including reasonable attorney fees. The tenant may raise these remedies in court.
When does the seven-day grace period start in Colorado?
The seven calendar days run from the date rent is due under the lease. If rent is due on the first, it is not eligible for a late fee until it is at least seven calendar days late, so the earliest a late fee can attach is generally the eighth of the month. Because the count is in calendar days, weekends and holidays are included and do not extend the period. The grace period is set by Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 and cannot be shortened by the lease, though a landlord is free to give tenants a longer cushion.
Do Colorado’s late-fee rules apply to mobile-home park residents?
Yes. Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 applies to both ordinary tenants and mobile-home owners who rent lot space in a mobile-home park, and its title expressly covers late fees charged to tenants and mobile-home owners. The same seven-calendar-day grace period, the same cap of the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent, the same disclosure and one-hundred-eighty-day notice rules, and the same prohibitions on interest, double-charging, and eviction for late fees all apply. Mobile-home tenancies also carry additional protections under the Mobile Home Park Act.
Are late fees treated as rent in a Colorado eviction notice?
No. Colorado nonpayment eviction uses a ten-day demand for rent or possession under Colorado Revised Statutes section 13-40-104 for most residential tenancies, and that demand is for unpaid rent. A late fee is not rent, and Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 bars using the eviction process to collect a late fee. A landlord should demand only the actual past-due rent in the ten-day notice and pursue any valid, capped, disclosed late fee separately. Folding a late fee into the rent demand risks a defective notice and a lost case.
What is the safest way for a Colorado landlord to charge a late fee?
Disclose the late fee clearly in the written lease, wait until rent is at least seven calendar days late, and cap the fee at the greater of fifty dollars or five percent of the past-due rent. Charge it only once per late payment, never add interest, and give the tenant written notice of the fee within one hundred eighty days. Keep the fee out of the ten-day demand for rent or possession, and collect any unpaid fee as a separate debt. Following the checklist in Colorado Revised Statutes section 38-12-105 avoids the statutory penalties entirely.
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