Key Takeaways
This guide draws on Clara's direct work with Colorado landlords adapting to HB23-1099 and HB25-1236, and on close monitoring of both laws since their passage.
Colorado renters applying to multiple properties face a familiar problem: every landlord wants a separate application fee, and those $40 to $60 charges stack up fast. Colorado's Rental Application Fairness Act, built from two laws passed in 2023 and updated in 2026, was designed to stop that cycle. If a renter provides a compliant portable tenant screening report, the landlord cannot charge an application fee or a fee to access it. The law applies statewide, the penalties are specific, and the 2026 update made the rules meaningfully stronger for renters using housing subsidies.
This is the complete guide to how the law works — for both sides of the transaction. If any of the terminology here is unfamiliar, the PTSR glossary covers every key term used across Colorado's framework.
Colorado's framework lives in C.R.S. § 38-12-904 under HB23-1099. The core rule is clean: when a renter provides a compliant PTSR, the landlord waives the application fee. No workaround, no alternative fee under a different name, no requirement to use a landlord-chosen provider.
For the report to trigger that protection, it must clear three conditions. It needs to be prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer reporting agency that meets Colorado's requirements. It needs to cover whatever screening criteria the landlord applies consistently to all applicants. And it must be made available to the landlord at no cost. Miss one condition, and the landlord can still charge. Hit all three, and they cannot.
Landlords can still run supplemental research at their own expense — the law does not prohibit that. What it prohibits is charging the applicant twice. The renter's cost is the PTSR. The landlord bears any additional costs. For a clear breakdown of what fees landlords can and cannot charge when a renter provides a PTSR, the rules are more specific than most people expect.
The January 1, 2026, update did two things that matter.
The first affects renters using housing subsidies. Before HB25-1236, a compliant PTSR had to include credit history, a credit score, and any adverse credit events. For Section 8 voucher holders — many of whom have thin or nonexistent credit files — that requirement was a real barrier. The 2026 amendment removes it. Applicants using a housing subsidy are no longer required to include credit history or credit score information in their PTSR. The report still needs to cover the landlord's non-credit screening criteria, but the credit component cannot be used to exclude subsidy holders. Renters who want the full renter-side picture of what HB25-1236 means for their applications will find the practical implications covered in detail.
The second affects delivery. The original law allowed landlords to demand the report come directly through the consumer reporting agency or a compliant third-party website. That provision is gone under HB25-1236. Landlords can no longer dictate how a report is delivered — removing a common loophole that some landlords used to technically comply while functionally rejecting PTSRs.
Renters who were previously turned away because their report "wasn't sent the right way" have stronger grounds to stand on starting January 2026. Colorado landlords who understand both the original law and the 2026 amendments are far less likely to face a complaint.
Colorado's enforcement structure is one of the clearest in the country. A landlord who violates the law faces $2,500 in damages per violation, plus court costs and attorney fees. The cure provision gives landlords a narrow exit: if the violation is discovered and remedied within 7 calendar days, liability drops to $50. Miss that window, and the full $2,500 applies.
The Colorado Attorney General has independent enforcement authority, so it is not purely a private lawsuit mechanism. Renters can bring a civil claim, but the AG can also act without one. That dual enforcement path is what gives the law real reach.
The violations that generate claims follow a pattern. Charging an application fee after receiving a compliant PTSR. Rejecting the PTSR without disclosing a policy against acceptance and requiring a delivery format that the law, post-HB25-1236, no longer supports. Colorado landlords who missed the full implementation timeline and penalty structure are most at risk — the 2026 update changed the rules in ways that are not yet widely understood.
A renter whose compliant PTSR is rejected — and who is still charged a screening fee — has grounds for a civil claim up to $2,500 in damages. The Colorado AG can also bring enforcement independently. Document the refusal in writing before taking further action. The step-by-step process for what to do when a Colorado landlord won't accept a PTSR walks through exactly what renters should do and in what order.
Landlords who screen well build a simple intake process: confirm the report date, confirm it covers the stated screening criteria, confirm it came from a recognized consumer reporting agency, and ask for written certification that nothing material has changed since the report was generated. Colorado law explicitly allows that certification step — and skipping it is where most compliance gaps start. The complete PTSR acceptance guide for Colorado landlords covers the full intake workflow from first contact to fee waiver documentation.
The mistake that generates the most complaints is not outright rejection. It is the quiet workaround: accepting the report, then finding a reason to charge a separate "processing fee" or "administrative fee" that functions as a screening fee by another name. Courts and the AG's office treat those as violations.
Colorado law does not prevent a landlord from running supplemental screening after receiving a PTSR — the prohibition is on charging the applicant for it. If a landlord wants to verify something the report did not cover, they can do so at their own cost. What they cannot do is use that supplemental step as a reason to bill the applicant a second time.
The overlap between PTSR rules and Section 8 is more complicated than most landlords expect. Colorado prohibits source-of-income discrimination, which means a landlord cannot reject a voucher holder simply because of the subsidy. Combined with the 2026 PTSR amendment — which removes the credit history requirement for subsidy applicants — Section 8 renters now have two layers of protection running simultaneously.
A landlord who sets credit score thresholds in their PTSR requirements, then applies those thresholds to a voucher holder, is at risk under both frameworks at once. The intersection of Section 8 and PTSR credit check rules is one of the more nuanced compliance areas in Colorado right now, and the full breakdown of what Colorado landlords can and cannot ask Section 8 applicants is worth reading carefully before the next turnover cycle.
The cost math is not complicated. A renter applying to five Colorado properties at $50 per application spends $250 before signing anything. A PTSR ordered once for roughly $35 to $65 from a reputable consumer reporting agency — shared across all five applications in compliance with the law — eliminates those repeat charges. In a competitive Front Range market where a renter might apply to eight or ten properties, the savings routinely exceed $300.
There are edge cases where the math does not work out, and renters should understand them before ordering a report. The full breakdown of when a Colorado PTSR actually saves money — and when it doesn't is worth reading before placing an order, especially for renters in smaller markets where PTSR compliance among landlords is less consistent.
The landlord orders a standard background check through a CRA of their choosing, paid for via the application fee, and delivered directly to the landlord. A PTSR is ordered by the renter, paid for directly, and shared with multiple landlords within a 30-day window. For renters deciding which type to use — and landlords deciding what to require — the full comparison of a PTSR vs a credit report vs a background check breaks down the practical differences.
HB25-1236 was the second significant amendment in three years. The direction is clear — more protections for renters, fewer loopholes for fee collection, stronger enforcement mechanisms. Landlords who built their intake process around the 2023 version of the law without revisiting it after January 2026 are operating on outdated rules. For answers to the questions that come up most often on both sides, the Colorado PTSR cost savings guide for landlords and the portable tenant screening report FAQ are useful starting points.
For the national picture — how Colorado compares to the six other states with PTSR laws — the portable tenant screening report state-by-state guide shows where Colorado sits relative to Illinois, New York, Maryland, Washington, Rhode Island, and California. Colorado is Tier 1, the strongest category. The rest of the country is catching up.
Clara works with Colorado landlords building screening workflows that hold up under both HB23-1099 and HB25-1236. If your intake process hasn't been reviewed since the 2026 update, now is the time.
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