Roommate Clause
in Your Lease
How this page is sourced
Statutes verified against primary state sources
Every statute cited here was read in its published text before this page went live: on the state's own site where that site can be reached, otherwise on a republished copy of the code. Court decisions are quoted from the published opinion and linked to it, so you can read the original yourself.
Primary sourcesNot legal advice
Content verified against primary state statutes before publicationLast updated: October 2026
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
- No Colorado statute in our record gives a right to add a roommate or sets a notice or reply deadline.
- HB24-1007, effective July 1, 2024, bars cities and counties from limiting occupancy by family relationship.
- Health, safety and building-code occupancy limits still apply, so a household can still be capped.
- Everyone who signs one lease is jointly and severally liable for the entire rent unless the lease splits it.
- Our record finds no Denver roommate ordinance, which leaves approval and fees to your lease.
Copy and send: Before the new person moves in, once you have read your lease's roommate clause
Ask to add a roommate
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
How Colorado compares
Deadline to notify the landlord of a new roommate, state by state
30 daysNo figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 25 cities as a chart
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.
Understanding the Roommate Clause
This page is for Denver renters who want to add a roommate, or already have one, and need to know what to tell the landlord and when. Our Colorado record has no roommate statute, and our record finds no Denver rule on top of it.
That leaves your lease as the document that sets approval, any notice deadline, any fee, and who owes the rent if a roommate stops paying. Our record does cover family-based occupancy caps, and how shared rent works when roommates sign one lease.
What renters assume
Colorado gives renters a set number of days to tell the landlord about a new roommate, and the landlord has to answer.
What is actually true
No Colorado statute in our record sets a day count for telling the landlord, gives a right to add an occupant, or makes a landlord answer or explain a refusal. The roommate paragraph in your lease sets the process.
Colorado sits at the empty end of this chart alongside most of the country. New York City guarantees one added occupant and gives you 30 days to name them, and Seattle makes landlords accept roommates and immediate family - Colorado guarantees nothing, so your lease is the entire answer.
Roommate 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.
This is the start of a reimbursement paragraph in an apartment form lease, and the sentence shown is not the whole of it.
REIMBURSEMENT. You must promptly reimburse us for loss, damage, or cost of repairs or service caused anywhere in the apartment community by your or any guest's or occupant's improper use or negligence. […]
Quoted from the published opinion in Churchill Forge, Inc. v. Brown, 61 S.W.3d 368 (Tex. 2001). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“REIMBURSEMENT. You”
The paragraph is titled for what it does, and it is aimed at the signatory - which in Colorado means whichever cotenants put their names on one lease: jointly and severally liable unless that lease allocates the rent separately. The allocation has to be in the document. Roommates who agree between themselves that everything is split four ways have made an agreement with each other, not with the landlord.
“loss, damage, or cost of repairs”
The pot the paragraph creates, with no Colorado figure in our record to measure it against. Note what HB24-1007 did and did not do. It removed a local government's power to limit occupancy by familial relationship, which is a rule about who counts as a household. It is not a rule about money, and it does not reach a reimbursement demand.
See the example
“anywhere in the apartment community”
A wide perimeter, worth reading against the one limit Denver still holds. Local governments may continue to enforce health, safety and building-code occupancy limits after HB24-1007, and that is a rule about how many people may lawfully live in the space. This sentence is a rule about where a loss can be charged from, and it takes in the whole property.
See the example
“improper use”
Here is the reason a roommate dispute rarely stays simple. The standard being applied is misuse or carelessness, which is neither an accident nor ordinary wear - but proving which of the three a broken thing was is a job of evidence, and in a shared home the evidence is usually somebody's memory. Since July 1, 2024 Denver has not been able to cap how many unrelated people share a home, so households here can be larger - and a larger household is more people whose conduct this word covers.
See the example
The co-signer's defence failed. JoAnn Brown signed an apartment lease as a cotenant with her adult son. He was alleged to have started a fire that damaged the complex, the landlord sued only her, and she argued she could not be charged for damage she had not caused. The Texas Supreme Court disagreed, reversed the summary judgment she had won and held this sentence enforceable against a cotenant who was not herself negligent. The route ran through two sections. Tex. Prop. Code § 92.052(b) gives a landlord no duty to repair damage caused by the tenant, an occupant or a guest, so § 92.006(e) had no repair duty to stop the parties contracting over; and the fair-notice doctrine did not apply, because the sentence does not shift the landlord's own negligence onto the tenant. The court added that neither statute, common law nor the Restatement bars “requiring a tenant to reimburse the landlord for damages negligently caused by the tenant or one occupying the premises with the tenant's consent.” A dissent would have held the sentence unenforceable outright because it was not underlined or conspicuous, as § 92.006(e)(4) requires. This is 2001 Texas law, decided on the Texas Property Code - state-specific, and not a national rule.
How this state's law treats this clause
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 Roommate Clause
- No Colorado statute in our record gives tenants a right to add an occupant or sets a landlord response deadline.
- Colorado HB24-1007, effective July 1, 2024, bars cities and counties from limiting occupancy based on familial relationship.
- Local governments may still enforce health, safety, and building-code occupancy limits.
- Co-tenants signing one lease are jointly and severally liable unless the lease allocates rent separately.
Verify the current text in your state's landlord-tenant statutes.
What our Colorado record says about roommates:
- No roommate statute. No Colorado statute in our record gives a tenant a right to add an occupant or sets a deadline for the landlord to answer. Lease terms govern occupancy and co-tenant liability.
- No family-based caps. HB24-1007, effective July 1, 2024, bars cities and counties from limiting occupancy based on familial relationship.
- Code limits remain. Local governments may still enforce health, safety and building-code occupancy limits.
- Shared rent. Co-tenants who sign one lease are jointly and severally liable unless the lease allocates rent separately, so the landlord can collect the entire rent from either of you.
Check the current text of HB24-1007 and the Colorado statutes before you rely on this.
What's Specific to Denver
Our record finds no Denver roommate ordinance: no city approval deadline and no city limit on what a property manager charges to add someone. Since 2024, the city can no longer cap how many unrelated people share a home.
Denver renters share subdivided Victorians and duplexes in Capitol Hill, Baker and Five Points, and student housing near DU and Auraria. Newer buildings in RiNo and LoHi screen and charge for every adult on the lease.
Ask about the add-a-roommate fee and the release process before you sign.
Look for the request steps and a reply deadline. No Colorado statute in our record sets either.
Unless the lease allocates rent separately, every signer can be billed for the whole month. Ask for per-person shares.
Ask about it. Since July 1, 2024, HB24-1007 bars Colorado cities from limiting occupancy that way. A private lease term is a separate question.
Our record finds no Colorado or Denver limit on that fee. Get the amount in writing before you sign.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
-
Occupant fee with no amount
A charge "to be determined" when a roommate joins. Our record finds no Colorado or Denver limit on it. Get the figure written in before you sign.
-
Sole discretion, no reply deadline
The landlord may refuse for any reason on any timeline. No Colorado statute in our record sets a reply deadline. Ask for one in writing.
-
Family-based occupancy limit
A cap written around who is related to whom. Colorado cities lost that power on July 1, 2024. Ask why it is still in your lease.
-
No written roommate release
Nothing lets a departing co-tenant off the lease. Under joint and several liability, you can still be billed for their share after they leave.
-
Instant default for an extra occupant
Any unapproved guest becomes an immediate breach with no chance to fix it. Ask what counts as a guest and for a chance to cure.
Your Rights as a Denver Tenant
-
No family-based occupancy caps
HB24-1007 bars Colorado cities and counties from limiting occupancy by familial relationship as of July 1, 2024.
-
Code limits still apply
Local governments may still enforce health, safety and building-code occupancy limits. If a city cap is applied to your household, ask which code rule it comes from.
-
Signed roommates are co-tenants
A roommate on the lease is a co-tenant with a tenant's rights under Colorado law, not a guest who can be told to leave.
-
Rent can be split in writing
Joint and several liability applies unless the lease allocates rent separately. Ask for per-person shares before you sign.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the roommate clause
Find the wording on added occupants, guests, approval and fees. That paragraph sets the process.
Ask in writing
Email the person's full name and planned move-in date. With no reply deadline in our record, your email shows when you asked.
Get them on the lease
Ask for a signed lease amendment rather than just moving them in. An unapproved occupant can put your whole tenancy in breach.
Pin down the money
Get any rent change, deposit increase or occupant fee in writing before anyone moves in.
Sign a roommate agreement
Write down shares, deposits and move-out notice between roommates. It binds the two of you, not your landlord.
Get help with a money dispute
Ask for an itemized accounting in writing. If that fails, try Denver County small claims court or a Colorado tenant-rights group.
Why renters trust LeaseDecoded
Frequently Asked Questions
Roommate rules near Colorado
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
Was this guide helpful?Your answer is anonymous and helps us fix what is unclear.