Breaking a lease in Colorado

Colorado gives tenants several specific rights to end a lease early: as a victim-survivor of domestic violence, domestic abuse, stalking or unlawful sexual behavior; after a tenant's death; for an unfixed habitability breach; and in some cases for a missing radon disclosure.

C.R.S. § 38-12-402(2) C.R.S. § 38-12-801(3.5)

• A victim-survivor who notifies you in writing, gives one of the listed forms of documentation and vacates owes at most one month's rent, and only if you document your actual damages within 30 days; it is due within 90 days, and nothing is owed if another tenant stays on the lease. C.R.S. § 38-12-402(2)
• Keep a victim-survivor's status and new address confidential, and do not deduct for damage caused by the abuse. C.R.S. § 38-12-402(2)(b) C.R.S. § 38-12-402(4)
• If a lease ends early because a tenant died, clauses requiring liquidated damages, repayment of concessions or any early termination fee are void; rent may run only to the later of the end of the month or ten business days after the unit is vacated following notice of the death. C.R.S. § 38-12-801(3.5)
• A tenant may end the lease for an unfixed habitability breach with 10 to 60 days' written notice. C.R.S. § 38-12-507(1)(a) See Tenant repair remedies on the Colorado page
• A tenant may void the lease if you skip the radon disclosure or fail to try to mitigate radon within 180 days of a finding of 4 picocuries per liter or more, but since January 1, 2026 that right does not apply to leases of a year or less. C.R.S. § 38-12-803(3)
• You may end the lease, if it allows, after a sudden disaster or government action makes the home impossible or unlawful to occupy, with at least 30 days' written notice and a return of the deposit by the termination date. C.R.S. § 38-12-503(11)
• Victim-survivor documentation may be a self-attestation affidavit, a qualified third party's signed letter, a police report from the previous 120 days, or a qualifying protection or restraining order. A landlord may seek a qualified third party's letter if submitted documentation conflicts. Other additional documentation is not required; if required documentation is missing, the tenant has seven days after the landlord's written request to provide it. C.R.S. section 38-12-402(2)(a.5)
• Before assigning the limited early-termination debt to a third-party collector, the landlord must satisfy the actual-damages documentation rules and give the victim-survivor at least 90 days' written notice of the intended assignment using the requested communication method, or the last known electronic contact if none was requested. The debt may not be assigned if the victim-survivor complies with the lawful collection notice before that period expires. C.R.S. section 38-12-402(2)(b)-(d)

Written notice to end a periodic tenancy at the end of a period, or not to renew a fixed term, depends on the length of the tenancy: at least 91 days for one year or longer, 28 days for six months to under a year, 21 days for one month to under six months, three days for one week to under a month, and one day for less than a week. A tenant may use these notices for any home, but a landlord may end a covered residential tenancy only with a cause the for-cause eviction law allows.

C.R.S. § 13-40-107(1), (2) C.R.S. § 38-12-1303(1)

• The for-cause rule does not cover, among others, short-term rentals, single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes where the owner lives on site or next door, employer-provided housing, and tenants who have been in the home less than twelve months; for those, the landlord may use the notice periods alone. C.R.S. § 38-12-1302(1) C.R.S. § 13-40-107(1)
• For a covered tenancy, no-fault grounds such as sale, demolition, substantial renovation, the owner or a family member moving in, or refusal to sign a new lease with reasonable terms generally need at least 90 days' written notice stating the legal and factual basis; an owner on active military duty moving in needs 45 days. C.R.S. § 38-12-1303(3), (5)
• The notice must describe the property and the date the tenancy ends, and be signed by the party or their agent or attorney. C.R.S. § 13-40-107(3)
• A tenant whose fixed term ends on a set date does not need to give notice. C.R.S. § 13-40-107(4)
• A lease may not charge a fee or penalty for a tenant's failure to give notice of nonrenewal, beyond your actual losses. C.R.S. § 38-12-801(3)(a)(IV)