Colorado Rent Increases: Blocked If Registration Lapses

Colorado doesn't cap how much you can raise lot rent, and the notice period is a modest 60 days — genuinely landlord-friendly next to Oregon's percentage caps or Washington's flat 5%. But Colorado has a rule those states don't: raise rent while your park's state registration has lapsed, or while you owe unpaid penalties, or while you're out of compliance with certain orders, and the increase is void — not risky, not challengeable, void by statute. Here's the whole rule, from C.R.S. § 38-12-204 as amended through 2026.

Part of our state-by-state series — lot rent increase rules by state. Other states: Texas · California · Florida · Oregon · Washington

The baseline: 60 days, no cap, once a year

Colorado's rent-increase rule for manufactured-home communities lives in the Mobile Home Park Act, C.R.S. § 38-12-204. Three rules apply to every increase:

• 60 days' written notice (§204(2)) before the increase takes effect. The notice has to state the dollar amount and the effective date, plus the name, address, and phone number of park management or ownership — or, if the owner isn't a natural person, the chief executive officer or managing partner — unless that information was already disclosed in the rental agreement.
• No cap on the amount. Colorado sets no statutory ceiling on a lot-rent increase, unlike its western neighbors.
• Once per 12 months (§204(3)), measured over the tenant's consecutive occupancy, regardless of the type of tenancy or whether there's a written agreement.

Break any of these and the fix is blunt: § 38-12-204(5) makes a rent-increase notice issued in violation invalid, with no force or effect. Not voidable if a tenant fights it — void from the moment you send it.

The rule that catches owners: when you can't raise rent at all

This is the part almost nobody checks before sending a notice. Under § 38-12-204(4), a landlord may not raise rent — or even issue a notice of a rent increase — while any of the following is true of the park:

• Registration has lapsed. No current, active registration on file with the Division of Housing's Mobile Home Park Oversight Program (MHPOP).
• Unpaid penalties. Any penalty owed to the Division of Housing that hasn't been paid.
• Non-compliance with a government order — defined broadly as any final federal, state, or local administrative or judicial order, or even an official notice from a government entity, that the park hasn't fully complied with.
• A water-quality compliance deadline has passed under the separate Mobile Home Park Water Quality Act (C.R.S. § 25-8-1003(2)), enforced by the state health department. Miss a water-testing deadline there and it blocks your rent increase, not just your water compliance.

Any single one of these blocks the whole park, not just the affected home. This part of the rule was added or expanded by HB24-1294, effective June 30, 2024. If you own a Colorado park, the one habit worth building is checking MHPOP status before every increase — not just once a year when you remember.

Separately, C.R.S. § 38-12-220 lets a court grant injunctive relief for violations of this article, so a judge can restrict what a park does while a case is pending. That's a judge's decision in a specific lawsuit, though — not one of the automatic bars above. If you're in litigation, ask your attorney rather than assuming either way.

What's new for 2026: HB26-1224

Governor Polis signed HB26-1224 on June 2, 2026, and it builds directly on the rule above. Three changes to know:

• You now have to tell residents. If your park becomes blocked from raising rent under § 204(4), you're required to notify residents in writing that the block applies — silence is no longer an option.
• More disclosure when you sell. Selling the park (including as part of a larger portfolio sale) now comes with added duties: disclosing the basis for the purchase price, and — if a resident association asks within 7 days — de-identified rent rolls and operating numbers. Starting January 1, 2027, residents also get a dedicated 90-day due-diligence window inside their existing right to buy the park.
• The registration-fee pass-through is capped. Parks could already charge residents up to half of the annual MHPOP registration fee. HB26-1224 caps that at whichever is lower — $17 per resident, or half the fee. At today's $34-per-lot fee, half is exactly $17, so nothing changes yet. But the fee has already risen once, to $34, in October 2025 — the next time it climbs, the $17 ceiling holds even though half-the-fee no longer would.

One bill that did not pass, worth knowing about because it still shows up in searches: HB25-1092, a general (not mobile-home-specific) bill that would have made a rent increase automatically "reasonable" if it tracked comparable market rents. A House committee postponed it indefinitely in February 2025. It never became law.

Common Colorado mistakes

• Sending an increase notice while MHPOP registration has lapsed — check status before every increase, not just once a year
• Assuming a re-registration (after an address-list update or a billing-method change) took effect automatically, instead of confirming it's active
• Reading "government order" narrowly — it also covers local and administrative notices, not just major enforcement cases
• Sending a second increase inside 12 months, even a small true-up
• Passing through more than $17 per resident (or half the fee, if lower) once the registration fee rises again

Once you've confirmed your park is clear to raise rent, the free lot rent increase calculator and notice generator handle the math and the 60-day letter. Looking at a specific Colorado park, or buying one? Our Colorado park directory covers 625 parks across 53 counties, pulled from the same MHPOP registry that decides whether a park can raise rent at all. And for the water side of the bill: § 38-12-212.4 requires billing at actual cost, with an annual bilingual disclosure due every January 31 — see how to bill tenants for water the legal way.

Sources

• C.R.S. § 38-12-204 (notice, no cap, and the rent-increase block): https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-12-204
• HB24-1294 (2024), which added the court-order and § 212.3 triggers to the rent-increase block: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1294
• HB26-1224 (2026), signed June 2, 2026 — notice duty, sale disclosures, fee cap: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1224
• HB25-1092 (2025) — postponed indefinitely; never became law: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb25-1092
• C.R.S. § 38-12-212.4 (water billing at actual cost; annual Jan. 31 disclosure): https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-12-212.4
• Colorado Division of Housing, Mobile Home Park Oversight Program: https://cdola.colorado.gov/mobile-home-park-oversight

General information, not legal advice. HB26-1224 was signed weeks ago and Division of Housing guidance is still catching up to it — confirm your park's current registration and compliance status (or ask a Colorado mobile-home-park attorney) before you send an increase.