What qualifies as a portable tenant screening report in Colorado?

Colorado’s portable tenant screening report law is meant to save renters time and money by letting you reuse a recent screening report instead of paying new fees every time you apply for a home. But the details can get confusing. What exactly counts as a “portable tenant screening report”? Who creates it? And how do you know if yours meets the legal standard?

Here’s a clear breakdown of what the law requires, based directly on Colorado’s House Bill 23-1099. This explainer isn’t legal advice, but it’ll help you understand the basics so you can feel more confident when you apply for your next home.

What is a portable tenant screening report?

A portable tenant screening report, or PTSR, is a type of consumer report that you can reuse across rental applications for up to thirty days. Under Colorado law, it must come from a consumer reporting agency (CRA) and include specific information such as identity details, income verification, rental history, and background checks. HB23-1099 defines a PTSR as a consumer report prepared at the renter’s request and containing the required components  .

In short, it’s a legally defined report that replaces the need to pay a new screening fee in most cases.

What a valid PTSR must include

Colorado law lays out the components that make a PTSR valid. If any required item is missing, a property manager isn’t required to accept it. Here’s what must be included, directly from HB23-1099  :

Identity information

The report must include your name and contact information. To get this the provider has likely asked you to complete an identity verification workflow with a selfie and ID scan alongside other evidence.

Employment and income verification

It needs to show verified employment and income details as part of the overall report. This helps demonstrate your ability to pay your rent; a key criteria for any property manager screening rental applications.

Last known address

This helps confirm where you’ve lived before as part of your overall application and history.

Rental history and credit history

For each place you’ve lived, the report must include a rental and credit history check that aligns with the state’s rental history rules.

Criminal history check

The report must include a criminal history record check across federal, state, and local sources, following Colorado’s rules on how arrests and convictions can be considered.

These components make the report complete under the law. Without them, it’s not considered a valid PTSR.

Freshness matters: the 30-day rule

To be considered valid, a PTSR must be completed within the last thirty days. Property managers are allowed to require this when deciding whether the report meets the legal standard. This is stated directly in HB23-1099, which allows landlords to require that the report “was completed within the previous thirty days”.

If the report is older than that, you may need a new one. This is a consideration to plan into your search for a new home. Getting the report early has advantages; 

• You’ll have the report in hand and can check if there’s anything out of the ordinary, you can make an appeal if you find there is

• The report is ready to go so there’s no lag when you find a place you like you can move really fast

• Having your report and seeing what the property manager will see helps you make smart decisions about which home to apply for. You could look at the property managers’ criteria and make a judgement on whether you’ll meet that criteria

Who can create a portable tenant screening report?

Only a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) can create a PTSR. Colorado law defines a CRA and requires that the report be prepared using consumer-reporting standards.

This protects you. A CRA is legally required to follow federal and state accuracy, privacy, and dispute rules. 

Property managers must be able to access it at no cost

Colorado law requires that the report be free for the property manager to access and review. They can also require that the report be provided directly by the CRA or through a third-party site that regularly provides consumer reports and follows all privacy rules.

If a property manager can’t access your report, they’re not required to accept it so ease of access, security and the appropriate handling of data is important when choosing the third-party provider. 

People also ask: Does a PTSR guarantee approval?

No. A property manager must accept a valid PTSR as your screening report in most cases, but they don’t have to approve your application. Colorado’s compliance guidance makes this distinction very clear: acceptance of the report isn’t the same as approval of the applicant. Property managers still apply their own criteria when making decisions.

A PTSR replaces the fee, not the decision.

When property managers don’t have to accept a PTSR

Colorado law gives a few narrow exceptions where a property manager doesn’t have to accept a portable report.

This includes when:

• The report is older than thirty days

• The report doesn’t come from a CRA

• The required components are missing

• The renter doesn’t provide the report

• The report isn’t accessible

• The property manager accepts only one application fee at a time for a home and refunds unused fees within twenty days

These exceptions appear in both the bill and the compliance guide  .

Most properties fall under the general rule: they must accept a valid PTSR when it meets the legal criteria.