A Colorado rental application tells you who will live in your rental, where they have lived and how they will pay the rent. When every applicant answers the same questions, you can compare renters fairly and show that you did.
This guide covers what to ask, how to pre-screen leads, the federal and Colorado laws that apply, application fees, assistance animals, and how to approve or deny an applicant.
What should a Colorado rental application ask?
An application collects personal and financial details, so ask only what you need to apply your written rental criteria. Your Colorado rental application should ask for:
- Applicant and co-signer names, email, phone and date of birth,
- A Social Security number, entered securely,
- The desired move-in date and everyone who will live in the home,
- The current address and current landlord’s contact details,
- Employer, job title and monthly income,
- Any housing voucher or rental assistance,
- Pets, assistance animals, vehicles and smoking, and
- Past evictions and consent to screening.
The Rentari application covers all of this in six short sections. Renters can upload a pay stub, photo ID, bank statement or reference letter, and you choose which background questions to ask, with up to four of your own.
See it first: open the whole application before you send it.
Pre-screen your leads
Not every lead fits your rental. A short pre-screener shows who meets your basic criteria before anyone spends time or money on a full application.
Send the Rentari pre-screener from Leads. Your Colorado pre-screener asks every lead for:
- Monthly household income,
- Desired move-in date,
- How many people would live there,
- Pets, and what kind,
- Smoking, and
- A self-reported credit band.
When a lead’s answers fit, invite them to apply. Remember: pre-screener answers are what the renter tells you, so verify them with the application and screening.
Federal application laws
Federal law sets the baseline for every screening decision in Colorado. These five laws shape how you screen applicants:
Fair Housing Act (FHA): You may not treat applicants differently because of these seven protected characteristics:
- Race,
- Color,
- National origin,
- Religion,
- Sex,
- Familial status, or
- Disability
It also bars ads that show a preference and different rental terms for different applicants (42 U.S.C. § 3604).
Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA): Bars credit discrimination, including because income comes from public assistance. Courts differ on whether a lease counts as credit, so count assistance income the same way as wages (15 U.S.C. § 1691).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Covers places open to the public, such as a leasing office. Disability rules for the rental home itself come from the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 12182).
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): Covers credit, criminal and eviction reports. You need the renter’s consent before screening. Rentari collects it before our screening partner, RentButter, runs the checks (15 U.S.C. § 1681b).
Civil Rights Act of 1866: Bars race discrimination when renting any property, including homes the Fair Housing Act exempts, such as some small owner-occupied buildings (42 U.S.C. § 1982).
Criminal history: HUD warns that blanket bans on applicants with any criminal record can be discriminatory, and an arrest alone does not show that a person did anything.
Further reading: HUD fair housing rights and obligations and FTC guidance for landlords.
Colorado application laws
Beyond federal law, Colorado has its own rules on application fees and fair housing. Check both before you send an invite.
Colorado Law
Colorado application and screening fees
The rule: An application fee must be spent entirely on your cost of processing the application, based either on actual cost or on your average cost per applicant. Charge every applicant for the same unit, or for any unit you offer at the same time, the same fee. Give each applicant a receipt and either a list of the expenses the fee will cover or an itemization of the actual expenses, and make a good-faith effort to refund any unused part within 20 calendar days after processing (C.R.S. § 38-12-903).
You must accept a portable tenant screening report from an applicant unless you take only one application fee at a time for the unit and refund it within 20 calendar days after either side declines the lease. You may require that the report is no more than 30 days old, costs you nothing to use, and comes with the applicant's statement that nothing material has changed. If an applicant provides one, you may not charge an application fee or a fee to use the report (C.R.S. § 38-12-903(2)(b); C.R.S. § 38-12-904(1.5)).
Before any screening you expect to charge for, tell applicants in substantially the statute's words about the portable report and the fees it rules out, for example in the listing or on the application in at least 12-point bold type (C.R.S. § 38-12-904(1.5)(d), (e)).
Do not consider rental or credit history older than seven years, any arrest record, or a conviction more than five years old, except convictions for the offenses the statute lists (C.R.S. § 38-12-904(1)(a), (b)).
You may ask about income only to confirm it is at least twice the annual rent the applicant will pay, and you may not require more. For an applicant using a housing subsidy, you may not consider a credit score, an adverse credit event or the lack of a credit score unless federal law requires it (C.R.S. § 38-12-904(1)(c), (d)).
If you deny an application, make a good-faith effort to give written reasons within 20 calendar days, plus a copy of any consumer report you obtained and notice of the right to dispute it. Give a paper denial notice if the applicant requests one. If a proprietary system prevents directly citing the screening criteria, provide its report with only the proprietary information redacted; the system does not eliminate the notice duty (C.R.S. § 38-12-904(2)).
From January 1, 2027, every rental application must tell applicants what screening information you will try to access, generally describe the factors you will evaluate, and state whether you use a third-party screening service, naming it if you do. The new disclosure rule does not require you to create or reveal fixed disqualifying criteria (C.R.S. § 38-12-904(1.7); HB26-1196, sections 3 and 4).
A violation can cost $2,500 plus costs and attorney fees. The applicant must give seven calendar days' notice before suing, and curing within seven days limits the penalty to $50 (C.R.S. § 38-12-905).
You may not ask about or collect information on an applicant's immigration or citizenship status, except as the law allows, such as asking every applicant for the same financial documents (C.R.S. § 38-12-1203(1); C.R.S. § 38-12-1204(1)(b)).
Check the statutory report definition before applying the portable-report rules. It is a consumer report requested by the prospective tenant, containing reporting-agency information and its current-through date, identity and contact information, employment and income verification, last-known address, and the required compliant rental, credit and conviction checks for the reported prior-residence jurisdictions. A report for an applicant using a housing subsidy need not include credit history, a credit score or an adverse credit event. A self-written application is not automatically a portable screening report (C.R.S. 38-12-902(2.5)).
Use the current delivery rules rather than an older checklist. Effective January 1, 2026, the Legislature repealed the subsection that allowed requiring a portable report to be made directly available by the reporting agency or through a third-party website. The current statute still allows the listed age, no-access-cost and material-change requirements. Confirm the report definition and applicable exception separately; a vendor's preferred ordering or delivery process does not establish compliance (C.R.S. 38-12-904(1.5)(b) and history).
Local rules: Cities and counties can add their own limits. Check local rules before you set a fee.
In Rentari: You choose an optional application fee when you send the invite. It is paid to you on top of any screening fee.
Colorado Law
Fair housing in Colorado
Protected classes: Colorado bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, asking about or advertising a preference based on disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, familial status, veteran or military status, religion, national origin or ancestry. It also bars refusing to rent or setting different terms because of a person's source of income, including housing assistance (C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1)).
Exemptions: The source of income rules do not apply to a landlord with three or fewer rental units, and a landlord with five or fewer single-family rentals and no more than five units is not required to accept federal housing choice vouchers for those homes (C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(a), (1.7)).
Screening: You may check credit if you check every applicant's credit (C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(b)).
Domestic violence: Do not ask applicants about, or consider, their status as a victim-survivor of domestic violence, domestic abuse, stalking or unlawful sexual behavior (C.R.S. § 38-12-402(5)).
Immigration status: Do not ask about, disclose or act on a tenant's immigration or citizenship status except as the law allows (C.R.S. § 38-12-1203).
Accommodations: Colorado's disability housing law prohibits refusing necessary reasonable modifications of an existing home or refusing reasonable accommodations that give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing, including public and common-use spaces (C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(a), (b); C.R.S. § 24-34-501(3.5)).
Pets, ESAs and service animals
Ask about animals on every application, but treat an assistance animal differently from a pet. Here is what to keep in mind:
Pet information: The Rentari application asks whether an animal will live at the property and lets the renter mark an assistance animal.
Not a pet: A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet. Under federal fair housing law you generally can’t:
- Charge a pet fee, pet deposit or pet rent for one, or
- Apply your pet breed, size or weight limits to it.
Damage: The renter stays responsible for any damage the animal causes.
In Rentari: An assistance animal is routed as a fair housing request and is never charged a pet fee.
Colorado rules on assistance animals
Assistance animals: The mere presence of an assistance animal is not a direct threat and is not presumed to cause substantial damage; documented conduct of the animal may be considered (C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1)(a)(III)).
Assistance animals: Permitting an assistance animal is presumed reasonable after the housing provider has an opportunity to engage in an interactive accommodation process. A complete prohibition is presumed discriminatory. The law permits a good-faith interactive process and reasonable documentation of disability or related need unless that disability or need is obvious (C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)).
Approvals and denials
Apply the same written criteria to every applicant, and handle each decision the same way.
Approval: Choose Accept complete household in the household decision. Your lease draft is ready to review. Before move-in, check Colorado’s deposit rules:
Lawful reasons to deny: Deny only for reasons in your written criteria that you apply to every applicant, such as income below your standard, credit history, rental history including unpaid rent or eviction judgments, or incomplete or false information. Use criminal history only where Colorado and local law allow it, and weigh the offense and how long ago it happened.
Adverse action notice: If a screening report contributes to a denial, or to terms such as a co-signer, a higher deposit or higher rent, federal law requires a notice that:
- Names the reporting company and how to reach it,
- Says that company did not make the decision,
- Explains the renter’s right to a free copy of the report within 60 days, and
- Explains the right to dispute the report.
In Rentari: Choose Deny selected applicants and send individual notices in the household decision to send each notice. You make the decision.
Record keeping: Federal law sets no retention period for a private landlord’s applications. A fair housing lawsuit can be filed up to two years after a decision, so keep each application, your written criteria and the decision at least that long (42 U.S.C. § 3613(a)(1)(A)).
Screening reports: When you no longer need a screening report, destroy it securely. The FTC Disposal Rule covers consumer reports (16 C.F.R. Part 682).
Colorado rental application questions
Can I charge an application fee in Colorado?
An application fee must be spent entirely on your cost of processing the application, based either on actual cost or on your average cost per applicant. Charge every applicant for the same unit, or for any unit you offer at the same time, the same fee. Give each applicant a receipt and either a list of the expenses the fee will cover or an itemization of the actual expenses, and make a good-faith effort to refund any unused part within 20 calendar days after processing (C.R.S. § 38-12-903).
Who pays for screening on Rentari?
In most states the renter pays the screening fee at the end of the application and nothing is charged to you. Where a state requires the landlord to pay, the invite tells you. The fee is shown before payment.
Can I ask about criminal history?
You choose whether the application asks about criminal convictions; it is off by default. Check Colorado and local rules first, and avoid blanket bans.