Holdover Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Colorado law says, what's specific to Denver - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Colorado imposes no double-rent penalty on a holdover - you owe ordinary rent, while Miami landlords can collect 2x.
- HB24-1098 (2024) means a landlord generally needs a statutory cause to evict you or refuse to renew your lease.
- Notice to quit runs 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months and 91 days at a year or longer.
- No notice to quit is required when the lease term was set to end at a time certain.
- Denver adds nothing of its own on holdover - rental licensing and source-of-income rules are the city's local additions.
Understanding the Holdover Clause
A holdover clause covers what happens if your lease ends and you're still in the unit. Most Denver leases use it to name a penalty rent above your normal payment and to claim eviction can start the day the term expires.
Colorado law cuts that clause down hard. There's no statutory rent multiplier here, and under HB24-1098 a landlord generally can't evict on holdover alone or refuse to renew without a cause the statute lists.
What renters assume
Renters assume that one day past the end date turns them into trespassers, and that the landlord can charge whatever penalty rent the lease names.
What is actually true
Colorado creates no holdover multiplier, and since 2024 a landlord generally needs a listed statutory cause to evict or refuse renewal - the lease simply expiring isn't one.
Colorado sits at the tenant-friendly end of this chart. Miami and Chicago landlords can chase double rent, Phoenix allows up to two months' rent for a willful holdover, and Colorado allows none of it.
Plain English Version
Think of your lease end date like a hotel checkout time where the front desk can't actually charge you a penalty rate for staying. They can still ask you to go, but in Colorado they need a reason the law recognizes, not just the clock.
Holdover Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Denver, CO
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
If the Lessee retains possession of the Premises after the term of this lease expires, the Lessor may either accept further rent payments by the Lessee, in which case a month-to-month tenancy shall be created, or sue for possession; and Lessor shall be entitled to recover from Lessee all damages sustained by him as a result of Lessee's failure to vacate the Premises, including but not limited to lost rent, court costs and attorneys fees. In no case shall a holdover tenancy be created. In the event Lessee retains possession without Lessor[']s consent beyond the term of this lease, the monthly rental shall be 150% of the rental for the original term.
Quoted from the published opinion in Roth v. Dillavou, No. 2—04—0840 (Ill. App. Ct., 2d Dist., Sept. 8, 2005). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“in which case a month-to-month tenancy shall be created”
Colorado ties long notice periods to how long you have lived there. Under C.R.S. § 13-40-107 a notice to quit runs 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months and 91 days for a tenancy of a year or longer. Three months' warning is a real planning window, and the lease cannot quietly shrink it.
“Lessor shall be entitled to recover from Lessee”
Recover, yes - but evict on this alone, generally no. HB24-1098 bars a landlord from refusing to renew, or evicting for holding over, without a statutory cause. So a Denver landlord invoking this paragraph still has to name a listed reason before a court will hand over possession.
“In no case shall a holdover tenancy be created.”
Worth reading against a Colorado quirk: no notice to quit is required at all where the term was agreed to end at a time certain. This sentence pushes in the same direction - it tries to keep the original lease alive rather than let a new tenancy form, so every term you signed carries past the end date.
“of the rental for the original term”
Anchoring the escalator to the original rent, not the current one, matters on a long tenancy where rent has risen. Read which figure your own lease points at - on a multi-year tenancy the two can differ by hundreds a month, and the wording is the only thing that decides it.
The clause was enforced exactly as written. Because the lease itself said no holdover tenancy would arise - only a month-to-month one - the court held the original lease terms carried straight through the post-term period, which kept the tenant's co-signer on the hook for it. One judge dissented, warning that reading it this way exposes a guarantor to open-ended liability.
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Colorado Law on Holdover Clause
- Notice to quit under C.R.S. § 13-40-107 runs 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months and 91 days for a tenancy of a year or longer.
- No notice to quit is required where the term is, by agreement, to end at a time certain.
- HB24-1098 (2024) bars a landlord from refusing to renew, or evicting on holdover alone, without a statutory cause.
- No Colorado statute doubles or otherwise multiplies rent for a holdover tenant.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-107 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
A holdover in Colorado costs you ordinary rent, not a penalty. Miami landlords can collect double the rent for the entire holdover period under Fla. Stat. 83.58, and Phoenix allows up to two months' rent for a willful holdover - Colorado allows neither.
Notice timing is where C.R.S. 13-40-107 gets specific: 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months, and 91 days once the tenancy runs a year or longer. No notice to quit is required when the term was set to end at a time certain, but HB24-1098 still blocks an eviction built on holdover alone.
Colorado Tenant Protections
No Colorado statute doubles or otherwise multiplies your rent for holding over, so you owe the ordinary rent for the time you stay. HB24-1098 bars a landlord from evicting on holdover alone or refusing to renew without a cause the statute lists. Notice to quit runs 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months and 91 days once the tenancy is a year or longer.
What's Specific to Denver
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Denver adds nothing specific to holdover. The statewide for-cause law does all the work here, so a Capitol Hill fourplex and a RiNo mid-rise run on identical rules - the city's own additions are residential rental licensing and source-of-income protections.
That licensing piece matters more than it sounds. Denver requires residential rental licenses, which gives you somewhere real to report a property manager who threatens a penalty rate Colorado law never created. Big corporate-managed buildings here often quote a month-to-month premium once your term ends - that's a negotiation, not a statute.
It should. A term ending at a time certain means no notice to quit is required, so you know your deadline the day you sign.
A fair Denver lease spells out how renewal gets offered. Colorado's notice to quit runs 21 days for short tenancies and 91 days at a year or more.
Check the number carefully. Colorado sets no holdover multiplier, so any premium is purely a contract term - negotiate it before you sign, not after.
Red flag. Since 2024 a landlord generally can't evict on holdover alone, so a clause making expiry automatic grounds overstates what they can do.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-40-107, read on codes.findlaw.com. Colorado publishes its official statutes through LexisNexis; there is no free government edition.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Penalty rent written as double
The lease charges 2x rent the day the term ends. Colorado imposes no statutory multiplier, so that figure is a contract term you can push back on.
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Eviction triggered by expiry alone
A clause saying eviction begins the moment the term ends. HB24-1098 generally requires a statutory cause before a landlord can evict you or refuse renewal.
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Daily holdover charges that stack
Per-day penalties piled on top of rent. Nothing in Colorado law creates them, so ask for the running total in writing and check the math yourself.
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Waiver of notice periods
Language having you give up notice rights. C.R.S. 13-40-107 sets 21- and 91-day notice periods, so get any waiver explained in writing before signing.
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No renewal process at all
The lease describes penalties for staying but never how renewal is offered. That silence leaves your end-of-term plan entirely in the property manager's hands.
Your Rights as a Denver Tenant
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Ordinary rent, not a penalty
Colorado creates no holdover multiplier. Any premium has to come from the lease itself, which makes it a term you can question rather than a legal default.
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A cause before any eviction
HB24-1098 (2024) generally stops a landlord from evicting on holdover alone or declining to renew without a statutory cause behind the decision.
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Statutory notice before you go
Notice to quit runs 21 days for a tenancy of one to six months and 91 days once you've been there a year or longer.
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The court process, always
A landlord who wants you out goes through a Denver County eviction case. Lockouts, removed doors, and shut-off utilities are not legal shortcuts in Colorado.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your exact end date
Open the lease and locate the term's end date and the holdover paragraph. If the term ends at a time certain, no notice to quit is required.
Read the holdover number
Note whatever penalty rent the clause names. Colorado sets no multiplier, so that number is the landlord's ask, not a floor set by law.
Ask about renewal in writing
Email the property manager well before the term ends and ask whether renewal is offered and at what rent. That thread becomes your evidence later.
Get every notice on paper
A verbal 'you need to be out' gives you nothing usable. Ask for it in writing and check it against the 21- or 91-day period.
Ask which cause applies
If they're ending the tenancy, ask which statutory cause they're relying on. Under HB24-1098 a landlord generally needs one, and holdover by itself isn't it.
Get help before the hearing
Contact Colorado Legal Services or a Denver tenant-rights clinic the moment a court date appears. Free help exists and works best early, not on hearing day.