What Denver Renters Need to Know About the Right to Know Ordinance
Denver has no rent control. So this disclosure law is the primary protection between renters and sudden displacement. Here's how it actually works, and what advocates say it still can't do.
Denver has no rent control. So this disclosure law is the primary protection between renters and sudden displacement. Here’s how it actually works, and what advocates say it still can’t do.
When longtime residents of Five Points, Cole, and Globeville talk about the wave of rent hikes that reshaped their neighborhoods over the past decade, a common thread runs through the stories: they didn’t see it coming. A lease renewal arrived with rent 35 percent higher than the year before. A building sale closed quietly, a new management company appeared, and a new rent schedule came with it. What renters wanted — and almost universally didn’t have — was time.
Denver’s Right to Know Ordinance (RTK) addresses that directly. It is not rent control. Colorado state law explicitly prohibits municipalities from capping rents. What RTK does instead is require landlords to tell renters, well in advance, that significant changes are coming: a rent increase above a certain threshold, a building sale, a conversion to condos or short-term rentals. It also requires disclosure of basic information about who owns and manages the property. In a city where an estimated 175,000-plus renter households live — and where neighborhoods like Elyria-Swansea, RiNo, and Sun Valley have seen steep displacement pressure — early warning gives renters time to search for comparable apartments rather than simply getting priced out.
This guide explains what RTK actually requires, who it covers, how to enforce it, and where it falls short. It also covers how RTK fits into the broader framework of Colorado tenant protections that took meaningful shape with new state legislation in 2023 and 2024.
What Denver’s Right to Know Ordinance Actually Requires
[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following reflects reported RTK provisions as of publication. The ordinance’s exact codification in the Denver Revised Municipal Code must be confirmed against the current 2025 codified version before publication. Verify all items against current ordinance text and any 2025 amendments before relying on specific obligations. CityDesk Denver will update this article upon confirmation.]
Denver’s RTK ordinance imposes disclosure and notice obligations on landlords renting residential units within Denver city limits.
When a landlord plans to raise rent above the ordinance’s threshold, renters are entitled to written notice. Not a text. Not a parking-lot conversation. A formal written disclosure. The same applies if the building is being sold or is in foreclosure — because a sale often precedes a rent reset or management change, and that change can happen fast.
If a landlord intends to convert a rental building to individually sold condominiums, or shift units to short-term rental platforms, advance written notice is required. Denver operates one of the more active short-term rental licensing regimes in the country, and this provision addresses a well-documented mechanism of displacement in neighborhoods near downtown. If you’ve watched a longtime neighbor disappear from a building now listed on Airbnb, you understand why it’s there.
Renters are also entitled to know who actually owns the property and how to reach the property manager. This sounds basic. In practice it isn’t. A substantial portion of Denver rental housing is owned through LLCs or trusts, and renters sometimes have no clear path to a decision-maker when something goes wrong. RTK requires that information be disclosed upfront — which, honestly, should have been the baseline all along.
The ordinance includes affirmative disclosure of renters’ rights to form tenant associations and organize collectively. Denver City Council passed this in deliberate recognition that organized tenants have more leverage than individuals acting alone. And if there are outstanding building code violations or habitability conditions — chronic rodent infestation, documented mold, unresolved structural problems — renters are entitled to disclosure of those conditions before they sign or renew a lease.
The Notice Period Before a Rent Increase
This is the question that generates the most confusion, and the most consequential mistakes, by both renters and landlords.
The 180-day figure you may have seen in local housing coverage requires precise context before you rely on it. Denver’s RTK ordinance requires 180 days’ written notice for rent increases above a defined percentage threshold. This substantially exceeds what Colorado state law requires — which is nothing. The state sets no minimum notice period for rent increases whatsoever. Without RTK, a Denver landlord on a month-to-month lease would be bound only by whatever the lease itself says, or common law, which is thin protection. The 180-day window reflects the city’s recognition that in a tight rental market, six months is roughly the minimum time a renter needs to search for alternative housing if they can’t afford the new rent. Anyone who’s tried to apartment-hunt in Denver while holding down a job knows six months feels shorter than it sounds.
[VERIFY: The following represents the reported framework as understood at time of drafting. The exact day-count trigger, any graduated notice periods based on the size of the increase, and the distinction between fixed-term and month-to-month tenancies must be confirmed against current Denver Revised Municipal Code text and any 2025 amendments before this section goes live.]
The distinction between fixed-term leases and month-to-month tenancies matters here. Fixed-term leases have a defined end date; the increase doesn’t typically take effect until renewal. Month-to-month tenants are more exposed because there’s no natural anchor point. RTK’s advance notice requirement provides the functional equivalent of one. Renters on month-to-month agreements should understand that their RTK protections aren’t lesser than those of fixed-term tenants — in some respects they’re more critical.
What the 180-day rule does not do: cap the amount of the increase. Once the notice period is satisfied, a landlord who has followed RTK can raise rent by whatever the market will bear. This is the ceiling of what Denver can legally do under Colorado’s preemption of rent control. There’s something genuinely frustrating about a protection that gives you time to absorb bad news without being able to change it. That’s the tradeoff the state’s legal structure forces the city to accept.
Does the Ordinance Cover Your Situation
RTK covers most, but not all, residential rental situations in Denver.
Month-to-month tenants are covered. Section 8 and Housing Choice Voucher holders should know that RTK applies to the tenancy, but voucher rules impose independent constraints on landlord behavior — including requirements around rent increases and the landlord’s ability to exit the program. The two frameworks interact in ways that warrant a conversation with a housing counselor at Brothers Redevelopment or Colorado Legal Services before you act on your own.
[VERIFY: Whether owner-occupied two-unit properties are exempt from RTK must be confirmed against ordinance text. Many tenant protection ordinances nationally exempt small owner-occupied properties; confirm whether Denver’s does.] If your landlord lives in the other unit of a duplex, your RTK rights may differ from those of a tenant in a larger building — confirm that before assuming you have the full set of protections.
Short-term rental conversions receive one of RTK’s more specific protections. If your landlord is converting your unit to a short-term rental, you’re entitled to advance written notice. The ordinance doesn’t prevent the conversion. It gives you time to plan, not a right to stay. That distinction matters enormously when you’re the one being displaced.
Renters in HUD-assisted or project-based Section 8 properties face a complex overlay of federal requirements that in some respects exceed RTK protections and in others diverge from them. If you live in a subsidized property managed by Denver Housing Authority or a nonprofit housing provider, your rights are determined by your lease, the applicable federal program rules, and RTK in combination. [VERIFY: Confirm whether RTK explicitly addresses federally subsidized units or defers to federal regulation.]
If you rent in Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, or unincorporated Jefferson County, RTK doesn’t apply. Denver is a home-rule city. Its ordinances stop at the city and county line. Renters outside Denver city limits have state law protections only, described below.
How to File a Complaint with HOST
Denver’s Office of Housing Stability (HOST) administers and enforces RTK. If your landlord has violated the ordinance — failed to provide required notice, refused to disclose ownership information, withheld required disclosures before a lease renewal — HOST is where you start.
How to reach HOST:
- Online: denvergov.org/housing [VERIFY — confirm current complaint portal address before publication]
- Phone: 720-913-1311 [VERIFY — confirm this is the current HOST main line before publication]
- In person: 201 W. Colfax Ave. [VERIFY — confirm current in-person service location before publication]
The complaint process goes better if you arrive with documentation. Gather your lease or rental agreement, any written communications about a rent increase or building change, the notice (or lack of one) you received, and a timeline of events. If you received nothing in writing — which is often the case in violations — document that yourself, now. When were you verbally told about the increase? By whom? When was it scheduled to take effect? Write it down today, not two weeks from today.
HOST’s intake process involves a review to determine whether the alleged conduct falls within RTK’s scope. Typically HOST contacts the landlord and provides an opportunity to come into compliance. The process prioritizes mediation or correction before escalating to penalties. For renters, the goal of a complaint is often to get the legally required notice, not necessarily to generate a fine — though fines do exist. [VERIFY: Confirm the current penalty schedule from ordinance text or HOST directly before publishing any specific dollar figures.]
If your situation involves an imminent deadline — a rent increase taking effect in days without the required notice — call HOST. Then call Colorado Legal Services (303-837-1313 — [VERIFY current number]) or the Colorado Poverty Law Project at the same time about whether emergency legal remedies are available. Don’t wait on one call before making the other.
Enforcement Reality
The honest version of RTK’s track record is more complicated than the ordinance text suggests. Tenant advocates who work the front lines of Denver’s displacement crisis generally support RTK but are clear-eyed about its limits.
The ordinance’s core weakness is that it’s complaint-driven. HOST doesn’t proactively audit landlord compliance. It responds to complaints. That’s a real structural limitation — because it means the law’s effectiveness is only as good as renters’ ability to use it.
Which brings up the uncomfortable part. RTK works best for renters who already know their rights, know how to file, and feel safe doing so. That’s a set of conditions unevenly distributed across the renter population. Denver’s renter population skews toward communities — recent immigrants, lower-income households, non-English-speaking tenants, residents of Globeville and Elyria-Swansea — who have historically had the most to gain from RTK and the most structural barriers to using it. There’s something genuinely troubling about a protection that functions best for the people who need it least. The city has attempted to address this through HOST outreach, and as part of our rental housing and tenant rights coverage, CityDesk Denver will continue tracking how HOST implementation reaches Denver’s most vulnerable renter communities. [VERIFY: Confirm whether RTK includes a language access or multilingual disclosure requirement, and whether this is currently in effect.]
[Note to editor: On-record comment is needed from a staff attorney at Colorado Poverty Law Project or a housing counselor at Brothers Redevelopment on the following specific points before publication: (1) HOST complaint volume relative to the renter household population; (2) observed outcomes for renters who have filed RTK complaints; (3) whether smaller landlords — those with one to four units — are meaningfully aware of their RTK obligations; and (4) whether the ordinance’s mediation-first orientation has produced genuine outcomes for tenants or primarily resulted in landlord corrections without penalty. These quotes are essential to this section’s credibility.]
The gap between the ordinance’s protections on paper and its use in practice remains a documented concern among housing advocates. That’s not a reason to dismiss RTK. It’s a reason to keep pushing on implementation.
Denver vs. Colorado — The Legal Architecture
Colorado is a Dillon’s Rule state in most respects, meaning local governments generally have only the powers expressly granted to them by the state. Denver is a home-rule city under the Colorado Constitution, which gives it broader authority to legislate on matters of local concern, including certain aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship that other cities can’t touch. RTK exists because of that home-rule status. It would not be legally available to Aurora or Thornton even if those cities’ councils wanted to pass an identical ordinance. That’s a genuinely frustrating asymmetry given how regional the rental market is, but it’s what Denver has to work within.
Colorado state law provides a floor for all renters statewide. The Warranty of Habitability requires landlords to maintain rental units in livable condition. [VERIFY: Confirm the current statutory citation in C.R.S. Chapter 38 before publication.] This is the baseline in every Colorado tenancy regardless of city.
Anti-Retaliation Protections passed via SB 23-184 in 2023 prevent landlords from evicting, threatening to evict, raising rent, or reducing services in retaliation for a tenant reporting housing code violations or asserting legal rights. [VERIFY: Confirm the specific provisions of SB 23-184 now in effect before characterizing the scope of changes.]
Just-Cause Eviction requirements under HB 24-1098, passed in 2024, require Colorado landlords to provide a valid legal reason to end a tenancy — they can’t simply decline to renew a lease without cause. This applies statewide. It’s genuinely one of the more significant shifts in Colorado renter protections in years, and it matters well outside Denver’s city limits. [VERIFY: Confirm the effective date of HB 24-1098’s just-cause provisions and whether the full law is in effect as of early 2026 or still being phased in. Confirm whether it has carve-outs for small landlords, owner-occupied properties, or short-term tenancies. Confirm whether Denver’s related Residential Tenant Protections ordinance is a separate instrument from RTK or incorporated within it.]
Denver renters get both layers: the statewide warranty of habitability, the anti-retaliation protections, and HB 24-1098’s just-cause eviction rules, plus RTK’s advance notice and disclosure requirements on top. A renter in Aurora or unincorporated Adams County gets the state protections only. The difference matters most when a landlord wants to raise rent dramatically or end a tenancy without cause. In Denver, RTK’s notice requirements and the state’s just-cause provisions work together to give renters more time and more legal footing. None of it is rent control — but it’s a meaningful set of protections if you know how to use them.
The Landlord Side
Any honest account of RTK has to reckon with the operational challenges the ordinance creates for small landlords — not to undercut the law’s purpose, but because understanding why some landlords are non-compliant helps renters calibrate their responses.
The core landlord argument against a 180-day notice requirement isn’t usually that landlords want to surprise their tenants. It’s that six months is a genuinely long planning horizon for a small rental operation. A landlord with one duplex in Cole who needs to raise rent to cover a steep increase in property taxes or insurance faces a real tension: the rent that will cover next year’s costs may not be knowable with precision six months out. Larger property management companies have staff and systems for this. An individual landlord operating what is, in effect, a side business often doesn’t. Some RTK violations are willful. Others come from a small landlord who bought a house, found a tenant, and has genuinely never heard of the Right to Know Ordinance. Both types of non-compliance produce the same harm for the renter — but they probably warrant different responses from HOST.
[Note to editor: On-record comment is needed from a Denver Apartment Association spokesperson, a landlord-tenant attorney, or a documented small landlord before publication. These sources should address the tension between small landlords’ financial planning constraints and the ordinance’s notice timeline.]
HOST’s mediation-first approach reflects this reality. The question tenant advocates reasonably ask is whether renters should bear the cost of their landlord’s unfamiliarity with the law. The ordinance says no. I think that’s the right answer — but the enforcement structure doesn’t always deliver it.
Resources for Denver Renters
All contact information below must be verified before publication. Phone numbers and URLs change.
Denver Office of Housing Stability (HOST): Primary point of contact for RTK complaints.
- Web: denvergov.org/housing [VERIFY]
- Phone: 720-913-1311 [VERIFY]
- Address: [VERIFY current in-person service location — the Webb Municipal Building at 201 W. Colfax Ave. may have changed]
Colorado Legal Services — Tenant Hotline: Free civil legal aid for qualifying low-income Coloradans. Handles landlord-tenant disputes including RTK violations and eviction defense.
- Phone: 303-837-1313 [VERIFY]
Colorado Poverty Law Project: Staff attorneys with expertise in housing and tenant rights. Takes on impact cases and provides renter education.
Brothers Redevelopment: Housing counseling and renter assistance. One of Denver’s most active direct-service housing organizations, with deep experience in displacement in north and west Denver neighborhoods.
Denver Metro Fair Housing Center: For cases involving discrimination, displacement based on protected class status, or source-of-income discrimination — including landlords refusing Housing Choice Vouchers, which is illegal under Denver’s ordinances.
Denver City Council — Legislative Calendar: Track proposed 2025–2026 amendments to RTK or related ordinances. Council agendas and legislation are searchable on the Denver city government website. [VERIFY current URL before publication.]
Denver District Court — Landlord-Tenant Self-Help Center: For renters facing eviction proceedings, the court’s self-help center provides forms and procedural guidance. [VERIFY current location, hours, and availability before publication.]
This article is informational, not legal advice. Renters with active disputes should contact Colorado Legal Services or a licensed Colorado attorney. CityDesk Denver will update this article as HOST confirms specific penalty figures, ordinance thresholds, and any 2025–2026 amendments are enacted.
