Can you rent an apartment with an eviction in Colorado?
Yes, you can rent an apartment with an eviction in Colorado.
An eviction record does not create a statewide ban that prevents you from renting another home.
But that doesn’t mean an eviction is irrelevant. A housing provider may consider relevant rental history when screening an application, subject to Colorado and federal rules.
If you have an eviction in your past, the useful question isn’t simply, “Do I have an eviction?”
It’s: What does the record actually say, is it accurate, and how will the property I’m applying to consider it?
Those questions can have very different answers.
Does an eviction automatically disqualify you from renting in Colorado?
No.
Colorado does not have a rule saying that anyone with a previous eviction is prohibited from renting another apartment.
Landlords and property managers can establish rental screening criteria and may consider rental history when evaluating an application, subject to applicable laws.
That means an eviction might affect one rental application differently from another.
It also means you shouldn’t treat an eviction record as an automatic rejection before you know what a particular property considers.
An eviction filing isn’t necessarily the same as being evicted
The word “eviction” can describe several different points in a legal process.
Those differences matter.
An eviction case was filed
A landlord can file an eviction case in court.
The existence of a filing doesn’t by itself tell you how the case ended.
The tenant might later pay what was owed. The landlord might withdraw the case. The parties might reach an agreement. The case might be dismissed. Or the court might ultimately rule for the landlord.
So “an eviction was filed” and “the landlord won possession of the home” are not interchangeable statements.
The case was dismissed
A dismissal means the eviction case ended without the court granting the landlord the relief sought through that case.
If a tenant screening report shows an eviction filing but leaves out the fact that the case was dismissed, that’s important.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau specifically tells renters to check that eviction information includes the final disposition. If a filing was dismissed, the report should accurately reflect that outcome.
A judgment or order for possession was entered
A court can enter an order granting the landlord possession of the property.
That is materially different from a filing that was later dismissed.
In Colorado, it also matters for whether the court record is publicly available.
Colorado generally suppresses an eviction court record when the case begins. If an order granting the landlord possession is entered, the record generally becomes publicly available unless the parties agree that it should remain suppressed. There are additional protections in some circumstances.
The renter was physically removed
Physical removal is another distinct event.
A court case can reach a judgment without necessarily telling you, from that fact alone, exactly when or how the renter ultimately left the property.
The important point for your next rental application is to understand what the underlying record actually establishes rather than reducing every stage of an eviction case to the same label.
Why Colorado’s eviction-record rules matter
Colorado automatically suppresses court records when an eviction action begins.
While the record is suppressed, it isn’t generally available to the public.
If the court enters an order granting the landlord possession, the record generally stops being suppressed and becomes publicly available unless the parties agree that it should remain suppressed.
This is one reason it’s important to distinguish an eviction filing from the outcome of the case.
A screening report shouldn’t turn a case that was dismissed, remained suppressed or had another outcome into something more serious than the underlying record supports.
What can a Colorado landlord consider?
Colorado law allows landlords to consider rental history, but places limits on how far back they can look.
If a landlord uses rental history as a criterion when considering your application, it cannot consider rental history from more than seven years immediately before the application.
That doesn’t mean every landlord looks back seven years.
And it doesn’t mean every event within those seven years automatically results in a denial.
It sets a limit on the rental history a landlord may consider under that provision.
For a deeper explanation of how eviction history checks work, what may appear and how far back screening goes, see our guide to eviction history checks in Colorado.
What should you do before applying with an eviction history?
Start with the information, not assumptions about what a landlord might think.
Check what your record actually says
If you know you’ve been involved in an eviction case, understand how it ended.
Was a case simply filed?
Was it dismissed?
Was there an agreement?
Did the court enter an order granting possession to the landlord?
Those distinctions can matter both legally and in tenant screening.
Our eviction history checks in Colorado guide explains how to investigate your history and the applicable look back rules in more detail.
Check your tenant screening report
If you have access to the screening information being used about you, look at how the eviction is described.
Check:
Is the case actually yours?
Is the property correct?
Is the case listed more than once?
Is the outcome correct?
If the case was dismissed, does the report say that?
Is a suppressed record appearing when it shouldn’t?
Is the information too old to be reported or considered under applicable law?
Don’t assume that information in a tenant screening report is correct simply because it came from a screening company.
Eviction screening errors can matter
Eviction records can be particularly confusing because one court case can generate multiple pieces of information.
The CFPB warns renters to look for situations where different stages of a single eviction appear as though they are multiple separate evictions.
It also specifically tells renters to check whether a screening report correctly shows the final disposition of an eviction case.
For example:
What happened: Your landlord filed an eviction case, but the case was dismissed.
What the report should reflect: The eviction filing and its accurate final disposition, if the filing can lawfully be reported.
Potential problem: The report shows an eviction filing but doesn’t show that the case was dismissed.
Those differences aren’t minor if a housing provider is using the report to evaluate your rental history.
What if the eviction information is wrong?
You have rights under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act when information in a tenant screening report is inaccurate or incomplete.
If you find an error, you can dispute the information with the consumer reporting company.
Be specific about what’s wrong.
If the case was dismissed, for example, provide records supporting the actual outcome if you have them.
If the record belongs to someone else, explain the mismatch.
If one eviction is appearing multiple times, identify the duplicate entries.
The screening company generally has an obligation under federal law to reasonably investigate disputed information.
See our guide to tenant screening errors for a more detailed walkthrough of what to check and how disputes work.
What if you’re denied because of the eviction?
If information in a consumer report contributes to a landlord making an unfavorable decision about your application, federal adverse action rules apply.
That includes more than simply rejecting you.
An adverse action can include:
Denying the application
Requiring a co-signer
Requiring a larger security deposit
Charging higher rent
The adverse action notice must identify the consumer reporting company that supplied the report and tell you about your right to dispute inaccurate information and obtain a free copy of the report from that company if you request it within 60 days.
Colorado provides additional rights when a rental application is denied.
A Colorado landlord must provide a written notice stating the reasons for a denial. If your application resulted in the landlord obtaining a consumer report about you, the landlord must also provide you with a copy of that report and advise you of your right to dispute its accuracy.
If this happens, read What happens if your rental application is denied in Colorado? for the complete process.
Should you explain an old eviction to a landlord?
There isn’t one answer that works for every application.
First find out what the property actually asks for and what its screening criteria are.
If an eviction is relevant to the application, accurate and something the property will consider, context may help the property understand circumstances that aren’t obvious from a court record.
For example, the circumstances surrounding an old eviction may be very different from your situation today.
But context doesn’t require a landlord to disregard accurate information or approve an application.
The more important first step is making sure the underlying information is correct.
You shouldn’t have to explain an eviction that isn’t yours, a dismissal incorrectly reported as a judgment, or another factual error as though the report were accurate.
A screening report doesn’t decide whether you can rent
Tenant screening reports provide information.
They don’t make rental decisions.
A screening company might provide rental history, credit information, background information, a score or a recommendation. The property manager then applies its screening criteria and decides what to do with your application.
That’s an important distinction if you have an eviction history.
The presence of accurate eviction information doesn’t create a statewide prohibition on renting.
And an inaccurate eviction record shouldn’t simply be accepted because it appeared in a screening report.
Why seeing your own screening information matters
Eviction history is a good example of why renter access to screening information matters.
A single word like “eviction” can hide important distinctions between a filing, dismissal and judgment.
With Rentell, you can see your portable tenant screening report before deciding to share it with a property manager.
That gives you an opportunity to understand what’s being reported about you and identify information that may need to be challenged.
It doesn’t change a property manager’s criteria.
It doesn’t guarantee approval.
It gives you more visibility into information that may affect the decision before you send it.
The bottom line
An eviction does not automatically prevent you from renting an apartment in Colorado.
A landlord may consider relevant rental history when evaluating your application, subject to Colorado and federal law. But the details of an eviction matter.
A filing isn’t the same thing as a judgment. A dismissed case should be accurately described as dismissed. And Colorado generally suppresses eviction court records unless an order granting the landlord possession is entered, subject to exceptions.
If you have an eviction in your history, don’t start by assuming you’ll be rejected.
Start by understanding what actually happened and what your screening information says about it.
Check the record. Check the outcome. Check the report.
If something is wrong, dispute the information.
If it’s accurate, you can make informed decisions about where you apply and how to address your rental history.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
