Free Colorado Tenant Notice to Vacate

A Colorado Tenant Notice to Vacate is the written 21 days notice a tenant gives a landlord to end a periodic tenancy under Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-40-107. It identifies the rental unit, sets the last day of tenancy, provides a forwarding address for the security deposit, and creates the documentary record that protects you if the move-out is later disputed. The form on this page handles the statutory content automatically — you fill in the blanks, the PDF generates a clean, signature-ready notice, and you deliver it to your landlord.

In Colorado, a tenant ends a month-to-month tenancy with signed written notice that expires at the end of a rental period and is served at least 21 days before it (C.R.S. § 13-40-107). Week-to-week tenancies need at least three days’ notice, tenancies of six months to under a year need 28 days, and tenancies of a year or longer need 91 days. The notice must describe the property and the termination date. A fixed-term lease that by agreement ends at a time certain needs no notice to quit. The landlord must return the deposit within 30 days, or up to sixty days if the lease says so (C.R.S. § 38-12-103).

What this form does and when to use it

The Colorado Tenant Notice to Vacate is a written notice from the tenant to the landlord ending a periodic (typically month-to-month) tenancy under Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-40-107. It serves three purposes at once: it gives the landlord the statutorily required 21 days’ notice that the tenancy will end, it specifies the last day of tenancy so rent obligations stop on a defined date, and it provides the forwarding address where the landlord should send the deposit (the 30-day period under C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1)(a) runs from termination of the lease or surrender of the premises, whichever occurs last, not from the address). Without a properly written and delivered notice, a tenant who simply moves out remains exposed to claims for additional rent and may have a harder time recovering the security deposit.

Use this notice when you have a periodic tenancy — month-to-month is the most common form, but the same rule applies to week-to-week or other periodic arrangements (with a corresponding shorter notice period for terms shorter than a month). The 21 days notice applies regardless of how long you have lived in the unit. Many states impose longer notice obligations on landlords than on tenants — those longer landlord rules do not flow back to tenants. As a tenant on a periodic tenancy in Colorado, you give at least 21 days’ notice for a month-to-month tenancy; C.R.S. § 13-40-107(2) sets three days for a week-to-week tenancy and longer periods for tenancies of six months or more.

This is not the right form for a fixed-term lease. If you have a lease with a defined end date and you intend to leave at the natural end of the term, the lease itself sets the end date — although it is good practice to send a written notice anyway to confirm your intent and give the landlord your forwarding address. If you want to leave a fixed-term lease early, the 21 days notice does not apply: you need either a lease provision authorizing early termination, the landlord’s written agreement to release you, or a statutory ground (uninhabitable conditions, domestic violence early termination, or military deployment under federal SCRA at 50 U.S.C. § 3955). Sending a § 13-40-107 notice on a fixed-term lease without one of those grounds typically does not end your rent liability under Colorado law.

Related Resources

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Colorado statute and legal authority

The tenant’s right to terminate a periodic tenancy in Colorado is set out in Colorado Revised Statutes § 13-40-107. The statute generally provides that a periodic tenancy is renewed at the end of each rental period unless one of the parties gives written notice to the other of an intention to terminate. The minimum notice period is 21 days for a month-to-month tenancy. The notice may be served on any day, but C.R.S. § 13-40-107(1) requires a tenant’s notice on a periodic tenancy to expire at the end of the tenancy period, and for a month-to-month tenancy it must be served at least 21 days before that date.

C.R.S. § 13-40-107 requires the notice to be in writing and to clearly state the date the tenancy will terminate. Beyond those minimums, courts generally hold that the writing must be clear enough that a reasonable landlord understands the tenant intends to end the tenancy on a definite date. Ambiguous statements (“I’m thinking about moving”) or conditional statements (“I’ll move if I find a place”) do not satisfy the statute. The form on this page produces unambiguous statutory language.

C.R.S. § 38-12-103 governs what happens to the security deposit after the tenancy ends. The landlord has 30 days after termination of the lease or surrender of the premises, whichever occurs last (up to sixty days if the lease says so), to either return the full deposit or provide an itemized statement of any lawful deductions along with the balance. Lawful deductions are limited to nonpayment of rent, nonpayment of utility charges, nonpayment of other lawful charges listed in the lease, and necessary repair work for damage or defective conditions that exceed normal wear and tear and did not preexist the tenancy. A written forwarding address from the tenant — which the form on this page builds in — helps make sure the statement and refund, which the landlord may send to your last-known address, reach you; the 30-day period runs from termination of the lease or surrender of the premises, whichever occurs last.

C.R.S. § 38-12-509 bars a landlord from retaliating against a tenant for good-faith habitability or health-and-safety complaints, joining a tenants’ association, or using the habitability remedies in § 38-12-507; giving notice to terminate is not one of the listed protected acts. Separately, a deposit amount retained for a retaliatory purpose is retained in bad faith under § 38-12-103(3.5)(a)(IV). If the deposit return is unreasonably delayed or the deductions appear retaliatory or made in bad faith, document the timeline and consider small claims action — under C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3) wrongful retention makes the landlord liable for treble the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs, after a seven-day written demand.

Step-by-step: writing your notice to vacate

Follow these steps in order. Each one corresponds to a required field on the form below.

Step 1: Confirm your tenancy is periodic, not fixed-term

Pull out your lease. If it has no end date, or it expired and you simply continued paying month-to-month, you have a periodic tenancy and C.R.S. § 13-40-107 applies — give 21 days’ notice using this form. If your lease has a defined end date and is still within the term, this notice is not the right tool unless you have a separate ground for early termination.

Step 2: Choose your last day of tenancy

Count 21 calendar days forward from the date you will deliver the notice, then name as the last day of tenancy the end of the rental period on or after that day. C.R.S. § 13-40-107(1) requires a tenant’s notice on a periodic tenancy to expire at the end of the tenancy period, so the last day is not simply the 21st day after delivery. Use the calculator below to compute the earliest qualifying date. (Always check your lease — some leases impose end-of-period requirements that override the default.)

Step 3: List every named tenant

Include every adult tenant who signed the lease. Each tenant has an independent obligation under the lease, and a notice on behalf of one cotenant does not necessarily end the tenancy for others. If only one of two cotenants intends to leave and the other plans to stay, that is a partial-tenancy issue that this form is not designed for — discuss it with the landlord and consider a written modification of the lease.

Step 4: State the rental address with full precision

Use the address as it appears on the lease, including unit or apartment number, building number, city, and ZIP. Imprecise addresses cause more disputes than people expect, especially in multi-unit buildings.

Step 5: Identify the landlord or property manager

The notice should be addressed to whoever holds the landlord role for purposes of the tenancy — typically the entity named in the lease or the property manager identified on rent-payment instructions. If the lease names a different person from the property manager, address the notice to both to avoid any argument that the wrong party received it.

Step 6: Provide a forwarding address

This is the address where the landlord will mail your security deposit and any itemization. C.R.S. § 38-12-103 typically specifies that without a forwarding address, the landlord may mail to your last known address — often the rental unit you are vacating, which means you may never receive the refund. A clean forwarding address protects the refund; the 30-day period runs from termination of the lease or surrender of the premises, whichever occurs last.

Step 7: Ask for a pre-move-out walkthrough

C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1.5) requires the landlord to provide a walk-through inspection at your request, before the lease ends or you surrender the premises and after you have had the chance to remove furniture. The landlord walks through the unit, identifies any deficiencies that would otherwise be deducted from the deposit, and gives you a chance to fix them before move-out. This optional step often pays for itself many times over in deposit recovery. The form below includes a checkbox to put the request in writing.

Step 8: Sign and date

The notice must be signed and dated by the tenant. If there are cotenants, every cotenant who is ending the tenancy should sign. The 21-day period is measured from when the notice is served, not from the date you sign it.

Required information that makes the notice valid

C.R.S. § 13-40-107 sets a low statutory bar: written notice, given the required number of days in advance, stating the tenant’s intent to terminate. The form on this page goes well beyond the minimum because the bigger risk to a tenant is not technical invalidity — it is the move-out dispute (deductions, deposit return delays, claims for additional rent). Each element below addresses a real-world dispute pattern.

How to deliver the notice to your landlord

C.R.S. § 13-40-107 requires the notice to be in writing but does not always specify a delivery method. That makes proof of delivery the practical requirement: if the landlord later denies receiving notice, the tenant who has documentary proof prevails. The methods below are listed in order of evidentiary strength.

Move-out timeline and key dates

The full move-out arc — from notice through deposit return — is structured by two clocks: the 21 days notice clock under C.R.S. § 13-40-107 and the 30-day deposit clock under C.R.S. § 38-12-103. Here is the typical sequence.

The clean version of this timeline plays out in roughly 51 to 81 days from notice to deposit return, longer if the lease extends the deposit period to sixty days. The version that goes wrong adds weeks — disputes over whether the notice was timely, missing forwarding address mail-backs, deductions the tenant disputes. The mitigations are all on the tenant side: deliver with proof, request a pre-move-out walkthrough, document the unit on the way out, and provide a real forwarding address.

Pay rent through the end of the rental period named in your notice even if you move out earlier. Returning keys early does not, by itself, end your rent obligation under C.R.S. § 13-40-107. The tenancy ends on the date stated in the notice — earlier physical departure is fine, but the rent runs through the stated end date unless the landlord agrees in writing to release you sooner. (Some landlords will agree to release the tenant once a replacement is found; ask, but get it in writing.)

What happens after the notice period ends

On the last day of tenancy stated in your notice, the tenancy formally terminates. You should surrender possession on or before that date — return all keys, garage remotes, mail keys, and any access cards or fobs. Document the condition of the unit with timestamped photos and video, ideally at the same time you do the move-out walkthrough. Confirm in writing (text is fine for this part) that the keys have been returned and the unit surrendered.

The 30-day security deposit clock under C.R.S. § 38-12-103 starts running from termination of the lease or surrender of possession, whichever occurs last. Within 30 calendar days, the landlord must either return the full deposit or provide an itemized statement of any lawful deductions along with the balance. Lawful deductions are limited to: nonpayment of rent (which should be zero if you paid through the notice period), nonpayment of utility charges, nonpayment of other lawful charges listed in the lease, and necessary repair work for damage or defective conditions that exceed normal wear and tear and did not preexist the tenancy. Painting, normal carpet wear, and ordinary cleaning are typically not lawful deductions.

If the deposit and itemization are returned within 30 days and the deductions are reasonable, the move-out is complete. If the landlord misses the deadline or makes deductions that look retaliatory or unfounded, your remedy is a written demand letter followed by small claims court. C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3) makes a landlord who wrongfully retains a deposit liable for treble the amount wrongfully withheld plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs, a provision that often motivates settlement once a written demand is received.

Security deposit return under § 38-12-103

The security deposit is where most tenant move-outs go sideways. The legal framework is straightforward, but enforcement depends on the tenant’s documentation. Build the file from day one of the notice period.

What the landlord must do within 30 days

C.R.S. § 38-12-103 requires the landlord, within 30 days after the termination of the lease or surrender of the premises, whichever occurs last (or a longer period of up to sixty days if the lease so provides), to either return the full deposit or provide a written itemized statement listing the basis for any deductions, and, on your written request, the relevant documentation in the landlord’s possession or control, such as photographs, inspection reports, receipts, invoices or estimates (§ 38-12-103(8)). The landlord must also return any portion of the deposit not lawfully deducted. The 30 days typically run as calendar days, not business days.

Lawful deductions

C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1)(b), as rewritten with effect from January 1, 2026, gives a landlord actual cause to retain reasonable amounts only for: (1) nonpayment of rent; (2) nonpayment of utility charges; (3) nonpayment of other lawful charges listed in the lease; and (4) necessary repair work for damage or defective conditions that exceed normal wear and tear AND did not preexist the tenancy. Any deduction outside these categories is unlawful, and nothing may be retained for normal wear and tear or for a preexisting defect. Painting after a long tenancy is generally ordinary wear; deep stains, holes beyond reasonable hanging, and damage from neglect are not.

Pre-move-out walkthrough — your highest-leverage move

C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1.5) requires the landlord to provide a walk-through inspection at your request, at a mutually convenient time before the lease ends or you surrender the premises. Walking through the unit with the landlord before move-out lets the landlord flag anything that would otherwise be deducted from your deposit, and gives you a chance to clean, repair, or replace before you surrender possession. Tenants who do this walkthrough typically recover more of their deposit than tenants who wait until move-out to learn what was charged. A friendly, written request is usually all it takes.

If the landlord does not comply

If the 30 days pass without a deposit, an itemization, or both, send a written demand letter referencing C.R.S. § 38-12-103 and the relevant date of surrender. If that does not produce a response, file in small claims court (jurisdiction up to a substantial dollar limit; consult the current Colorado small claims jurisdictional limit before filing). Wrongful retention exposes the landlord to statutory damages — C.R.S. § 38-12-103(3) sets treble the amount wrongfully withheld, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs, after a seven-day written demand.

Common mistakes that cost tenants money

Most disputes over tenant move-outs trace back to a small number of recurring mistakes. The pattern is consistent: the tenant has the right under C.R.S. § 13-40-107 and C.R.S. § 38-12-103, but does not have the documentation to enforce it.

Verbal notice or text-only notice

C.R.S. § 13-40-107 requires writing. A verbal conversation, even one the landlord acknowledges in the moment, can be denied later. A text or email may satisfy the writing requirement if the lease expressly allows electronic notice, but the safer course is a paper notice with delivery proof.

Less than the statutory period

Tenants sometimes give shorter notice because they want to coordinate with a new lease. Anything less than 21 days from delivery to the stated end of tenancy leaves the tenant on the hook for additional rent through the full statutory period — even if you’ve already moved out.

No forwarding address

Without a written forwarding address, the landlord may mail the deposit to your last known address — often the unit you just vacated, where you’ll never see the mail. Always include a real forwarding address in the notice itself, and update the post office.

Moving out early without paying through the notice period

You can vacate before the last day of tenancy, but rent runs through that date regardless unless the landlord agrees in writing to release you. Returning keys early does not end the rent obligation. If the landlord does agree to early release, get it in writing and confirm the rent stop date.

Not asking for a pre-move-out walkthrough

A pre-move-out walkthrough is one of the most underused tools tenants have. C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1.5) requires the landlord to provide one at your request. Tenants who walk through with the landlord before move-out often see deductions they could have cured for a few dollars in cleaning supplies. Always request the walkthrough unless you are absolutely certain the unit is in pristine, return-ready condition.

Cleaning too lightly

Under C.R.S. § 38-12-102(4), normal wear and tear does not include uncleanliness that leaves the unit substantially less clean than when the lease began, and C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1)(b) allows retention only for rent, utility charges, other lawful lease charges, and necessary repair of damage beyond normal wear and tear that did not preexist the tenancy. If you took photos at move-in showing a sparkling unit, that is your best evidence of the unit’s condition. If you didn’t, you’ll have a harder time disputing cleaning deductions. Photograph everything at move-out, including inside cabinets, the oven, the refrigerator, and behind appliances.

Failing to document the move-out

Without timestamped photos and video of every room at move-out, you have no evidence to dispute charges that arrive in the itemization. Photo every wall, floor, ceiling, and appliance. Video walk through narrating what you see. Keep this archive — you may need it months later in small claims court.

Tenant rights during the notice period

Giving notice does not change your status as a tenant. Until the last day of tenancy, you have every right you had before — habitability, quiet enjoyment, freedom from retaliation, freedom from harassment, and the right to be free from self-help eviction. If the landlord changes the locks, shuts off utilities, harasses you to leave early, or attempts to remove your belongings before the last day of tenancy, those acts are illegal in every state and may expose the landlord to statutory damages.

C.R.S. § 38-12-509 bars a landlord from retaliating against a tenant who has made a good-faith habitability or health-and-safety complaint, joined a tenants’ association, or used the habitability remedies in § 38-12-507; giving notice of termination is not one of the listed protected acts. Retaliatory conduct can include refusing to perform repairs, increasing rent, attempting to terminate the tenancy on a different ground, or imposing new restrictions. If the landlord begins acting differently after you give notice, document each incident with dates and details.

You retain the right to access the unit until surrender. Colorado has no general statute setting a notice period for landlord entry, so most entry notice comes from your lease; C.R.S. § 38-12-503(6)(a)(III) requires twenty-four hours’ written notice before entry for habitability repairs, and § 38-12-1004 requires forty-eight hours’ notice for bed-bug inspections unless the lease sets a different time. If the landlord enters without proper notice or attempts to show the unit at unreasonable hours, that is also actionable.

Frequently asked questions

Colorado statute reference table

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