Colorado Portable Tenant Screening Reports: A Landlord Guide

Colorado generally requires landlords to accept a qualifying portable tenant screening report, or PTSR, and prohibits application and report-access fees when the applicant provides one under that rule. There is a specific exception, and a screenshot of a credit score is not automatically a qualifying report. A workable application process needs to distinguish those situations before asking anyone to pay.

This guide covers Colorado residential applications, including changes that apply to applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026. It is not a nationwide rule or an endorsement of a screening company. Check the current Rental Application Fairness Act and any additional rules affecting your property.

Explain the report option before a paid screening step

Colorado's HB23-1099 portable screening report law established an advisement requirement before screening activity for which a landlord expects to collect an application fee. The notice explains the right to provide a qualifying report and the resulting fee restrictions. Follow the statute's delivery and formatting requirements; a support reply after checkout is too late to serve this purpose.

As a practical first step, ask whether the applicant already has a report and explain where to submit it. Make that option visible in your instructions before a required payment screen. Give staff a named person to ask about an unfamiliar report instead of letting each agent improvise a different policy.

RentForms can gather initial answers and move-in preferences before you arrange viewings. It does not produce portable reports, collect screening fees or decide whether a document meets Colorado law. Keep the formal report review and required notices in your separate screening process.

Check the report's contents, not just its label

Colorado Revised Statutes § 38-12-902 defines the report as a consumer report prepared at the prospective tenant's request, containing consumer-reporting-agency information. Required contents include identity and contact details, employment and income verification, the last-known address, and specified rental, credit and criminal-history information, subject to statutory limits and the subsidy exception below.

A standalone credit score, an applicant's own summary and a full portable screening report are different documents. When something appears incomplete, identify the specific missing component. Do not reject a report simply because its layout differs from the one your usual provider produces.

Before an applicant buys a product, encourage them to ask the provider what it includes, how they obtain it, and how a landlord can receive it. Being reusable within one listing platform does not answer whether the actual report meets Colorado's definition. Avoid promising that any particular brand always qualifies.

Account for the January 2026 changes

The enacted HB25-1236 residential screening changes apply to applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026. They remove the provision allowing landlords to require delivery directly through a consumer reporting agency or qualifying third-party website. An older checklist that insists on that delivery method needs to be updated.

The same law specifies that a portable report for an applicant seeking to rent with a housing subsidy need not include a credit history report, credit score or adverse credit event. Do not label that omission a defect without checking which rule applies. Colorado also separately restricts the financial information landlords may consider for applicants using housing subsidies.

Removing a delivery restriction does not make every attachment a valid report. Review its contents and address a concrete authenticity concern with the applicant or provider through an appropriate process. Avoid replacing the repealed condition with an automatic demand to buy your preferred report instead.

Use the conditions the law actually permits

Under § 38-12-904(1.5), a landlord may require completion within the previous 30 days, free access and use for the landlord, and a statement from the applicant that there has been no material change since the report was generated. Check the report's completion date, rather than the date somebody forwarded an email.

For example, a report completed 12 days before submission does not become older because it was first used for another property. Conversely, downloading a new copy of an old report does not necessarily update the information. Ask the provider to clarify an ambiguous date rather than making an assumption in either direction.

Keep a simple record of receipt, the date shown, any permitted declaration requested and any issue needing clarification. That helps an owner and a leasing agent review the same facts without asking the renter to start again each time the application changes hands.

Understand the exception before relying on it

The exception combines two conditions: accepting no more than one application fee at a time for the unit, with the statute's provision for an individual tenant or tenant group, and refunding the full fee within 20 calendar days after written communication from either side declining to enter a lease. A promise to refund fees alone does not satisfy both conditions.

Review the exact wording in Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 38, §§ 38-12-902 through 38-12-904. If you intend to rely on the exception, get advice about your actual workflow, especially where staff collect several payments through an automated portal. A policy document and the checkout process need to describe the same practice.

Fix the checkout instead of promising an eventual refund

Outside the exception, accepting a qualifying report means not charging the prohibited fees. Do not make a pay-first process the standard route simply because your software has no obvious alternative. Ask the vendor how to bypass the charge or establish a separate application route that meets the law.

Separate accepting the report from approving the renter. A report is evidence to assess using lawful criteria, not a guaranteed rental offer. If you obtain another consumer report, check the duties to provide a copy and explain dispute rights. Consumer-report adverse-action requirements also still matter when information affects your decision.

Our guide to explaining rental fees before an application can help you present the next steps clearly. For Colorado properties, build that explanation around the portable-report option from the start, with staff who know how to receive and review it.