In 2025, Colorado legislators passed bill HB1168, or Housing Protections for Victim-Survivors for Gender-Based Violence. It expands the protections for tenants experiencing domestic violence. This post outlines who is covered, what rights victim-survivors have, and options for enforcing those rights.
A landlord cannot ask a tenant to waive these rights in any way. Even if a tenant signs something waiving their rights, it is not valid.
Who is Protected Under Colorado’s New Victim-Survivors Law and What Documentation is Required?
Under the new legislation, anyone experiencing domestic violence that has impacted their housing is covered. However, a tenant needs to be prepared to provide at least one of the following:
- A police report less than 120 days old.
- A medical report.
- A self-attestation affirming that domestic violence occurred that resulted in the housing issue.
- A letter signed by a qualified third party. (See details below.)
- A criminal or civil protection order against the perpetrator.
This expands the documentation that a tenant can use to show that they are covered under this law, and gives the tenant less invasive options to avoid disclosing more than they are comfortable with to their landlord.
A qualified third party includes a victim’s advocate, an attorney, a social worker, a medical professional, a “faith leader,” or a mental health professional, so long as the tenant sought help from that person regarding the domestic violence.
The self-attestation has to include the name of the perpetrator, if it is known and if the tenant decides it is safe to give the landlord.
However, if the landlord receives conflicting information, they are entitled to receive a letter signed by a qualified third party, described above.
Key Protections and Options for Tenants
This law can be utilized in many ways: to break a lease, change locks, defend against an eviction, limit damages, or to bring a civil action against a landlord.
If You Choose to Move: If a victim-survivor tenant decides to move out of their unit because of domestic violence, they must do a few things in order to move with no or little financial penalty. A tenant must give their landlord notice that they are leaving along with the documentation.
If You Decide to Stay in the Unit: If a victim-survivor tenant chooses to stay in the unit, then that tenant is entitled to change any lock as a reasonable safety precaution without the landlord’s permission, and the landlord cannot seek damages because of this change. First, the tenant has to provide notice to the landlord with documentation of domestic violence described above.
Eviction Defense: If a landlord serves a demand on the victim-survivor tenant for a lease violation, then the law gives strong defenses against eviction so long as the eviction is due to domestic violence. For instance, a tenant cannot be evicted for calling the police (even multiple times) because of domestic violence. The perpetrator alone can be evicted even if the parties are on the same lease, and any eviction will not go on the victim-survivor tenant’s record.
If the eviction is for non-payment of rent due to domestic violence, the new law gives more financial protections to tenants on top of a defense to eviction. A tenant must provide documentation to the landlord of the domestic violence, described above, to trigger this. A landlord will have to offer a repayment plan either within three days of serving the demand or within three days of the tenant providing documentation. The tenant will have seven days to reject the plan, accept it, or offer a new proposal. However, if a tenant fails to accept the proposal or offer a counter-proposal, that tenant cannot use this provision as an affirmative defense anymore. The payments have to be, at a minimum, $25 a month and the plan must result in full repayment; however, a landlord cannot charge any fees or interest on this repayment plan, sticking only to the exact payments needed to fulfill the missed rent.
If a victim-survivor tenant fails to file an answer to an eviction proceeding on time because of domestic violence, the tenant must alert the court. The court must vacate any judgements against that tenant because of the delay, then provide at least seven days for the tenant to file an answer.
Security Deposits: A tenant is not liable for damages to the unit as a direct result of domestic violence. Damages cannot exceed the equivalent of one month’s rent. A landlord may only impose damages on a victim-survivor tenant under a specific circumstance:
- damages are unrelated to the domestic violence AND
- beyond normal wear and tear AND
- the landlord provides documentation as to economic damages.
A landlord must provide the tenant documentation of the damages within 30 days of the tenant terminating the lease.
Suing Your Landlord: A consequence of a landlord violating this new law is that tenants can now bring a civil action against a landlord, so it goes beyond an eviction defense. Tenants can initiate a completely new lawsuit, so an eviction or other lawsuit doesn’t have to already be in place. This can then also be an affirmative defense to an eviction. An affirmative defense can be raised in an answer to an eviction as a defense, but it also serves as a counter-claim against the landlord.
Protecting a Victim-Survivor Tenant’s Personal Information
Facts and names in a domestic violence case are particularly sensitive information, and the landlord and court must be responsible when handling this information.
A landlord cannot disclose any information unless they have permission from the tenant to share it with the court. If the tenant believes that providing the name of the perpetrator will pose a danger, they are not required to disclose it.
A tenant can suppress their information with a court regarding domestic violence by filing a motion with the court to suppress such information from the public, or to continue doing so if the information is already unavailable to the public. The court must suppress any such records so long as the tenant can provide documentation of domestic violence, listed at the start of this blog. The court must also assert that making this information public puts the tenant or a family member in their household at risk.
These are a lot of new changes from where the law was less than a year ago (as of publishing this blog). While big steps are being made to protect tenants experiencing domestic violence, time will tell how the courts will interpret the law. You can review the text of the law here.
Check back with the Andersen Law PC blog for potential updates on tenant rights, and reach out to our firm for your free consultation on your specific case. Call 720-922-3880.
