Colorado is Rewriting the Eviction Rules: 30-Day Delays, Weather Bans, and Court Caps Explained

The Bottom Line

If you rent a home or own investment property, the eviction playbook is getting a major rewrite. This bill fundamentally slows down the eviction timeline across Colorado by capping how many cases courts can hear daily, expanding reasons tenants can miss deadlines, and halting physical evictions during extreme weather. It is a massive shift designed to give renters more breathing room, but landlords will need to prepare for longer holding costs.

What This Bill Actually Does

Eviction court traditionally moves at lightning speed. If a tenant misses a filing deadline or a court date, landlords typically receive an automatic default judgment, and sheriffs can execute a lockout within a matter of days. This bill taps the brakes on the entire process, introducing structural delays designed to prevent people from losing their homes over a technicality, a bad snowstorm, or an administrative glitch.

The legislation starts by placing a hard ceiling on the courts. Beginning January 1, 2027, county courts will be legally prohibited from scheduling more than a set number of forcible entry and detainer (eviction) cases per day. The cap depends on the county's size: small counties are limited to 25 cases a day, mid-sized counties get 45, and the state's busiest courts are capped at 65. If a tenant files an answer stating an intent to cure—meaning they plan to catch up on the rent they owe—judges are completely barred from issuing a default judgment and must schedule a formal trial or hearing.

The bill also drastically expands the acceptable excuses for a tenant missing their written answer deadline. If a renter can show they missed the deadline due to hospitalization, a documented sickness, a transportation issue, lack of proper service, or even an electronic filing glitch, the court must throw out any judgment that was issued and give the tenant at least a seven-day extension to respond. When it comes to the physical lockout, sheriffs are explicitly banned from executing a writ of restitution during inclement weather, defined as forecasted temperatures below 32 degrees or above 90 degrees, or during accumulating rain or snow. Additionally, the standard timeline to execute a writ is pushed from 48 hours to 30 days, the requirement for a tenant to post an appeals bond is repealed, and landlords are banned from naming minor children as defendants in an eviction suit.

What It Means for You

For renters, this legislation acts as a massive safety net that prioritizes keeping a roof over your head over strict administrative deadlines. In the past, getting sick, having your car break down on the way to court, or fighting with the state's e-filing system could mean an automatic default judgment against you. Under this bill, those real-life emergencies are now protected legal excuses. If you run into one of these specific issues, you have an explicit right to get the default judgment vacated and receive a minimum seven-day extension to file your answer.

If you are actively trying to catch up on missed rent, the intent to cure provision is the one to watch. Simply stating to the court in writing that you intend to pay what you owe guarantees that you get your day in front of a judge, rather than having the paperwork rubber-stamped against you. Furthermore, your children are protected. By banning landlords from naming minors on eviction complaints, the state ensures that your kids won't start their adult lives with an eviction record destroying their credit and rental history.

The most immediate, visible change to your daily life would be the 30-day delay and the inclement weather protections. If the worst happens and an eviction is ordered, you generally get a full 30 days to pack up and find new housing, a significant increase from the old 48-hour standard. And if the weather is freezing cold, dangerously hot (over 90 degrees), or heavily snowing, the sheriff cannot legally force you out of the property. You get to stay put until the forecast improves, providing a crucial layer of basic physical safety during a housing crisis.

What It Means for Your Business

If you manage rental properties, develop multi-family real estate, or operate as a landlord, this bill requires a top-to-bottom recalculation of your eviction timeline and holding costs. The process of regaining physical possession of a unit is getting significantly slower and more unpredictable. Because the bill establishes strict daily caps on court dockets (maxing out at 65 cases per day in large counties starting in 2027), high-volume jurisdictions could see severe bottlenecks. You may find yourself waiting weeks just to get on the docket, and if your tenant simply writes "I intend to pay" on their response, you are guaranteed to have to wait for a formal hearing.

The delays extend heavily into the post-judgment phase as well. The standard writ of restitution (the actual sheriff's lockout order) won't be executable for 30 days in most scenarios. However, there is a critical exemption here: if you are a smaller operator who owns five or fewer rental units (including single-family homes), or if you are evicting a tenant for a substantial lease violation (like severe property damage or violent behavior), you are exempt from the 30-day wait. But you are not exempt from the inclement weather rule. If a sudden blizzard rolls in, or it's a 95-degree July afternoon, sheriffs cannot execute the writ, and your lockout will be delayed until the temperature normalizes.

Operationally, property managers need to immediately review their leasing and legal compliance procedures regarding minors. If your standard operating procedure lists everyone living in the unit on the eviction complaint, you must stop doing that immediately. Including a minor as a named defendant when a parent or guardian is also listed will result in the court automatically throwing out your case, and you will be court-ordered to pay the tenant's legal costs. It is an unforced error you can easily avoid by updating your filing templates. Finally, keep an eye on how courts handle the new "excused absences" for tenants—transportation issues or e-filing glitches could mean cases you thought were finalized get reopened days or weeks later.

Follow the Money

According to the nonpartisan fiscal note, this legislation will cost Colorado taxpayers about $363,245 in its first year (FY 2026-27), dropping to around $220,000 annually after that. These costs are funded entirely out of the state's General Fund, meaning no new fees or taxes are directly attached to the bill to pay for it.

The bulk of that money goes straight to the Judicial Department to handle the massive influx of court time. Currently, only about 8 percent of eviction cases actually go to a trial or hearing. By forcing courts to schedule a hearing anytime a tenant claims an "intent to cure," the state projects an additional 3,927 hearings every single year. To manage that caseload without breaking the system, the state needs to hire a new half-time magistrate and full-time court support staff, plus spend a little over $136,000 upfront to build out a courtroom and update state legal forms.

Where This Bill Stands

HB26-1106 is currently Dead. The latest official action came on 03/24/2026: House Committee on Judiciary Postpone Indefinitely.

That means the bill is no longer advancing this session. In practice, measures that are postponed indefinitely or otherwise declared lost generally stay dead unless they are reintroduced in a future session.