LEGAL
Regulating Landlords Out of the Market: The Laws Fueling Colorado’ s Rental Crisis
A closer look at how recent Colorado laws— backed by political power and personal gain— are destabilizing rental housing and eroding property rights.
BY MARK N. TSCHETTER
Colorado landlords who are not adequately informed about the state’ s complex regulatory landscape face significant challenges and potential liability. Tenant Advocacy Groups( TAGs) began imposing new regulations on landlords when they gained control of the Colorado General Assembly. Since then, landlord regulations have continued to be enacted with little to no landlord input— because, as the TAGs say,“ we have the votes.”
In 2023, Governor Polis stated he had“ serious concerns about the piecemeal approach to landlord-tenant law” and promised to veto further overreaching efforts. Unfortunately, because that promise went unfulfilled, the 2024 session brought even more laws— drafted almost entirely by TAGs— that are poorly written and difficult to interpret, even for informed landlords.
Two major developments in 2024 exemplify this trend: the rewrite of the Colorado Warranty of Habitability Act and the passage of the Just Cause eviction law. The revised habitability law spans 40 pages and is so complex that only attorneys specializing in landlordtenant law can reliably interpret it. The Just Cause law, more than 20 pages long, was promoted as requiring legitimate reasons for non-renewals but ended up rewriting the entire eviction statute, significantly reducing landlords’ rights.
Together with the 2023 amendments to the Rental Application Fairness Act( RAFA), these laws now cover the full spectrum of landlord-tenant relations. RAFA turned a straightforward tenant application process into a legally risky procedure. Across the board, new regulations have created a slew of tenant rights while significantly restricting landlords’ ability to contract and operate freely. What was once a stable and navigable legal landscape is now a liability minefield, where even small missteps can lead to significant exposure.
This increasingly hostile legal environment has driven many small“ mom-and-pop” landlords out of the rental market. Contrary to the common misconception that most rentals are owned by large corporations, a large portion of Colorado’ s housing stock has historically been provided by small, independent landlords. As they leave the market, competition declines, and rent prices rise— an economic consequence TAGs and lawmakers appear unwilling to acknowledge.
42 | TRENDS APRIL 2025 www. aamdhq. org