Can I sell my Denver rental with tenants still living there?
Yes. Selling a Denver rental with tenants is legal, and the buyer usually inherits the lease. Your real decision is timing, and Colorado’s 90-day rule shapes it.
Say your tenant has rented your Lakewood duplex for two years and the current lease runs through May 31, 2027. You decide this week that you want out of the landlord business. Under Colorado’s for-cause eviction law, selling the property is one of the six no-fault reasons to end a tenancy. That part surprises a lot of owners.
Here’s the catch. The same law says you can’t use a sale to end a lease before its term is up, and it requires at least 90 days’ written notice. For that May 31 move-out, your notice has to be in your tenant’s hands by about March 2. Miss that window and your timeline slides.
This post shows how the lease, the notice rules, and the deposit shape each of your options, and how to run showings while someone still lives there.
What Colorado’s For-Cause Eviction Law Says About a Sale
HB24-1098, signed April 19, 2024, made “cause” a requirement for evicting most residential tenants or declining to renew their leases. It added six no-fault grounds in C.R.S. 38-12-1303(3). One of them is withdrawing the home from the rental market to sell it.
Which Homes the Sale Ground Covers
The sale ground applies to a single-family home, a townhome, a duplex, a triplex, or an individual condominium unit. That covers most rentals owned by individual landlords in Denver, Aurora, and Englewood.
The Rules That Come With It
- You serve written notice of your intent to withdraw the home from the rental market and sell it, with the date your tenant must leave.
- Your tenant gets at least 90 days after receiving that notice and can stay on the same terms during that time.
- You can’t list the home as a long-term or short-term rental for at least 90 days after the move-out date, unless you show it was listed for sale on an MLS after your tenant left.
- You can’t use this ground to end a lease early.
The enacted bill doesn’t include a relocation payment requirement for the sale ground. Your lease or a separate agreement can still create obligations, so have a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney review your notice before you serve it.
When the Law Doesn’t Apply
The for-cause law doesn’t apply to a tenant who has lived in the home less than 12 months. It also excludes short-term rentals and some owner-occupied homes, such as a duplex where you live in the other unit. Those tenancies follow the lease and Colorado’s general notice rules, which your attorney can walk through with you.
A Sale Doesn’t End the Lease
In Colorado, the lease generally stays in place after closing. The buyer steps into your shoes as landlord. The Colorado Real Estate Commission’s approved Assignment of Lease form shows how that works: you assign the lease to the buyer, the buyer accepts your obligations under it, and you notify the tenant of the new owner’s name and address.
That’s why the lease itself is a selling document. Buyers will ask for a copy, the rent amount, the end date, and any renewal terms. Pull it together before you list.
The Security Deposit Moves With the Home
Colorado’s security deposit statute, C.R.S. 38-12-103, covers a sale. When your interest ends, you must within a reasonable time either transfer the deposit (less lawful deductions) to the new owner and notify the tenant by mail with the new owner’s name and address, or return it to the tenant. Once you do, you’re relieved of further liability for it. The Assignment of Lease form handles this by crediting or transferring the deposit to the buyer at closing.
Your Four Options
Sell to an Investor With the Lease in Place
An investor buyer may want the tenant. A home with a signed lease and a payment history is income from the first day. You skip the vacancy and the 90-day clock. The trade-off is a smaller pool of buyers, because most owner-occupant buyers want to move in.
Wait for the Lease to End
If your tenant has been there 12 months or more, you can serve the 90-day notice so the move-out date lands at or after the lease end. Then you list a vacant home that you can clean, repair, and photograph on your schedule. You’ll carry the mortgage and utilities with no rent coming in, so put those months on your net sheet. The seller closing costs breakdown shows the other lines that belong there.
A Mutual Termination or Cash-for-Keys Agreement
Some landlords and tenants agree in writing to end a lease early, sometimes with a payment to the tenant for moving. It’s voluntary on both sides, and the tenant can say no. If you go this route, have a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney draft or review the agreement. Offer the same terms you’d offer any tenant in that home. Never base an offer on anything about who your tenant is, including their source of income, which Colorado protects in housing.
Coordinate a Sale With Your Tenant’s Cooperation
This option sits inside the other three. Your tenant’s help often decides how the home shows.
Showings and Photos With a Tenant at Home
Colorado statutes don’t set a general notice-of-entry rule for most residential tenancies. The landlord access language in C.R.S. 38-12-503 is tied to habitability repairs. For showings, your lease’s entry and notice clause is what you work from, so read it before you list.
Most of what makes this go well is communication. A few practices that help:
- Tell your tenant about the sale before the sign goes up.
- Agree on showing windows in writing, such as two set blocks per week.
- Schedule listing photos for a day your tenant picks, and photograph rooms without personal items or anything that identifies the occupants.
- Use a lockbox and showing schedule that send your tenant a notice for every appointment.
Some owners offer a rent credit for each week of showings. If you do, put it in writing and have your attorney look at it. A home that shows poorly with a tenant in it can sit, and the steps to take before a price cut apply here too.
The Denver Rental License Question Buyers Will Ask
If your rental is inside the City and County of Denver, buyers will ask about the Denver residential rental property license from Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses. According to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, the license doesn’t transfer at a sale. The seller files an affidavit of surrender, and the new owner applies for a new license, which requires an inspection. An investor buyer will want to know your license status and expiration date early.
How Jamie Handles a Tenant-Occupied Listing
Jamie Bridges, a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty DTC, works with landlords selling rentals in Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Englewood, and Centennial. He holds the Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) designation. Before he lists a tenant-occupied home, he reads the lease’s entry clause with you and gathers the lease, the deposit amount, and the license status into one packet for buyers. He then sets showing windows your tenant has agreed to in writing.
This post is general information. For notices, termination agreements, or a specific lease, talk with a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is selling a home a no-fault reason to end a tenancy in Colorado? Yes, for a single-family home, townhome, duplex, triplex, or individual condo unit. Under C.R.S. 38-12-1303(3)(d), you give at least 90 days’ written notice, and you can’t use it to end a lease before its term ends.
Does my tenant’s lease end when I sell my Denver rental? No. The buyer generally takes the home subject to the lease and steps in as landlord. The Colorado Real Estate Commission’s Assignment of Lease form transfers your rights and obligations under the lease to the buyer.
What happens to the security deposit when I sell? Under C.R.S. 38-12-103, you transfer it to the new owner and notify the tenant by mail, or return it to the tenant. Once you do, you’re no longer liable for it.
If you’re weighing a sale with a tenant in place anywhere in the Denver Metro, start with the lease end date and work backward. Jamie Bridges is a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Realty DTC serving the Denver Metro Area and Summit County, Colorado. Call or text Jamie at 720-397-7555 to talk about your next move.
Sources: Colorado General Assembly, HB24-1098, Cause Required for Eviction of Residential Tenant, signed April 19, 2024, enrolled text, C.R.S. 38-12-1302 and 38-12-1303, accessed October 30, 2026; C.R.S. 38-12-103, accessed October 30, 2026; C.R.S. 38-12-503, accessed October 30, 2026; Colorado Real Estate Commission, Assignment of Lease, form AL 12-6-22, via the Colorado Division of Real Estate, accessed October 30, 2026; Colorado Civil Rights Division, Housing Discrimination (source of income protected effective January 1, 2021), accessed October 30, 2026; City and County of Denver, Department of Excise and Licenses, Residential Rental Property, accessed October 30, 2026; Apartment Association of Metro Denver, “Beyond the First License: Navigating Denver’s Renewal Process,” October 3, 2025. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed. General information only. This isn’t legal advice. Talk with a Colorado landlord-tenant attorney about your lease and any notice.
