On May 29, 2025, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB 25-1240 into law, enacting a range of protections for renters using housing subsidies or vouchers, such as federal Housing Choice Vouchers. The law has now taken effect.
CARES Act Codified
Superseding the state’s 10-day Demand for Compliance or Right to Possession, the new law requires housing providers to give notice to renters in covered dwellings 30 days before filing for eviction due to nonpayment of rent. Covered dwellings are defined as any housing in the state covered by the federal CARES Act eviction moratorium “as enacted into law on March 27, 2020.”
Drew Hamrick, General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for the Apartment Association of Metro Denver (AAMD)/Colorado Apartment Association (CAA), noted that “the CARES Act Notice for covered properties codified by this Act is already required pursuant to the Colorado Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal law,” but cautioned that if the federal government ever repeals the CARES Act notice requirement (through the passage of the industry-supported Respect State Housing Laws Act), that repeal “will not benefit Colorado rental housing providers now that the requirement lives independently in Colorado statute.”
Notable Provisions
The law also includes new housing provider reimbursement requirements for warranty of habitability violations. For a proven breach of the warranty of habitability, providers must reimburse rent overpayments for the period the breach existed, even if the rent was paid partly or completely by housing subsidy.
Per the new law, housing providers also are required to “make reasonable efforts” to respond timely to resident requests for information and documentation necessary for a rental assistance application. If the Colorado Civil Rights Division found a housing provider engaged in an unfair housing practice, it could assess significant civil penalties and damages. An added civil penalty of at least $5,000 would be awarded if the violation concerns discrimination on the basis of an individual’s use of a housing subsidy.
AAMD and CAA were successful in amending out many other harmful provisions of the bill, such as a ban on assessing fees for subsidized residents and a significant reduction on the “existing cap on late fees from the greater of $50 or 5% of rent to $20.”
NAA’s Outlook
The federal CARES Act notice remains a contested issue in already-backlogged courts today, nearly five years after its expiration in 2020. This confusion leads to more lost, potentially unrecoverable rent for housing providers, while impacted renters become increasingly unable to repay mounting rent debt. This situation is particularly damaging for “mom-and-pop” and affordable housing providers and ultimately hurts residents’ long-term housing opportunities. For these reasons, the National Apartment Association (NAA) urges Congress to pass the Respect State Housing Laws Act, striking the temporary, federal notice language from the CARES Act, and encourages the Trump Administration to eliminate any regulatory ambiguity about this requirement’s expiration in 2020.
When the Respect State Housing Laws Act passes and the Administration stops federal enforcement for covered housing, Colorado’s new state law will prevent affordable housing providers from obtaining much needed relief. NAA discourages other states from taking this approach, which ultimately increases housing costs and does little to address the root causes of housing insecurity. Alongside its affiliate partners, NAA remains committed to promoting responsible, sustainable policies that lower housing costs and boost supply across the country. To learn more about NAA’s CARES Act-related advocacy, contact publicpolicy@naahq.org.