2026 Mid-Year Legislative Update
Prepared by:
Lizz Walters
lizz@rentgowalters.com
Colorado Housing Laws in 2026: What Passed, What Failed, and What’s Next
The 2026 session at the Colorado Capitol is in the books, and for anyone who owns or manages rental property here, the headline is a welcome one: things finally slowed down. After years of major overhauls to the rules governing rentals, lawmakers introduced fewer housing measures this time around, and most of the contentious ones stalled before reaching the governor’s desk.
What did become law leans toward cleanup and clarification rather than reinvention. Here’s my rundown — starting with the new laws, then the proposals that fizzled (and why those still matter).
New Laws on the Books
HB26-1045: Housing Protections for Tenants with Disabilities
Colorado has now written into state statute the federal rules covering assistance animals and ESAs. Day to day, not much changes — the way landlords handle disability-related requests for accommodations or modifications stays largely the same. What you get is firmer, more consistent ground when evaluating those requests, since the standard now lives in state law rather than federal guidance alone.
Signed 7/12/26 and already in effect.
HB26-1013: Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS)
A fix for a problem the legislature created itself. Last year’s statute clamped down on how multifamily operators could split utility costs among residents, and the fallout caused real confusion. This bill walks that back, giving RUBS users solid footing again.
Already in effect.
HB26-1196: Tenant Data Information / Screening & Eviction Data Protections
Applicant screening gets more transparent under this one. Before running a background or credit check, you’ll need to tell applicants who is doing the screening — the specific company or individual — and exactly which pieces of their information will be pulled and reviewed. The law also shields certain tenant data when an eviction case gets filed in court.
Kicks in January 1, 2027, so there’s runway to update your paperwork.
HB26-054: Security Deposit Exception for Post-Closing Occupancy Agreements
Sometimes a seller stays in the home for a stretch after the sale closes, under what’s known as a post-closing occupancy agreement. This bill settles a lingering question: the two-month cap on deposits doesn’t apply to those arrangements, so buyers can require a larger amount.
Already in effect.
HB26-1224: Mobile Home Park Financial Protections
If you own or run a mobile home park, you now owe residents more information at two key moments: before a rent hike and before putting the community up for sale.
Kicks in January 1, 2027.
HB26-1007: Portable Solar Device Restrictions Affecting HOAs and Housing Providers
Starting January 1, 2027, homeowners associations and rental housing providers can no longer block residents from setting up qualifying portable solar devices. Open questions remain — chiefly, who’s on the hook if one of these devices damages the property. Watch for more guidance as the rollout unfolds.
Bills That Failed — But Might Come Back
Dead bills aren’t really dead in Colorado. Sponsors routinely rework a failed measure and bring it back the next year, so this list doubles as a preview of the fights we may see in 2027.
HB26-1106: Eviction Protection for Tenants
No housing bill drew more attention this session. It aimed to reshape how evictions work in Colorado courts, and would have:
Put a daily ceiling on how many eviction cases a judge could hear
Sent some eviction disputes to juries instead of the bench
Let certain completed judgments be thrown out and retried in defined situations
Barred removals whenever bad weather appeared in the forecast
Tenant advocates backed it as an overdue safeguard; the other side warned it would grind the court process to a crawl and layer on red tape. It died — but I’d bet on a version resurfacing.
HB26-1047: Tenant Protections — Eviction Delays
Another eviction-focused measure that stalled out. It would have obligated landlords to:
Attach the lease to certain demand notices
Hand over a tenant’s complete file at the time of an eviction filing
Keep court records from those cases sealed from public view
HB26-1036: Vacancy Tax
This one would have handed cities and towns the power to levy extra taxes on homes sitting empty. It sparked plenty of debate among investors and owners before falling short.
Looking Ahead to 2027
Taken as a whole, 2026 gave Colorado’s rental industry room to breathe. The new laws mostly tidy up existing rules instead of rewriting them — a real shift after several stormy sessions.
But the big eviction and rental-regulation ideas that stalled this year rarely stay on the shelf. Landlords and tenants alike should keep watching the Capitol, because some of these proposals will almost certainly return in 2027.
Your Legislative Partner
Staying on top of Colorado’s rental laws is a full-time job, and getting it wrong can cost you. At Walters & Company, legislative monitoring like this is built into what we do: our clients hear about new requirements before they take effect, with their leases, notices, and processes already updated to match. If you’d rather grow your portfolio than parse statutes, we should talk. Reach out today for a free consultation and see what it’s like to have a property management partner who reads the fine print so you don’t have to.
