Colorado Commercial Lease Review
Colorado has steadily lengthened eviction timelines for residential tenants, but those changes largely stop at the door of a shop or office. Under the forcible entry and detainer statute, a nonresidential tenant still gets three days’ notice to pay or to cure a breach, against ten for most homes. Colorado notice periods for ending a periodic tenancy are also set by statute. A Colorado review should check how far the lease improves on these defaults.
How much time does a Colorado business tenant get after a default?
C.R.S. 13-40-104 requires ten days’ written notice to pay or surrender for most residential tenants but only three days for a nonresidential agreement. The same three-day rule applies to notices to comply with other lease covenants, and for a repeat violation of the same covenant a commercial notice to quit takes effect three days after service. The statute does bar a lease from waiving the notice requirement altogether. Ask for a contractual cure period of at least 10 days for rent and 30 days for other breaches. Short statutory periods make a written notice clause, with a reliable delivery address, especially important here. Name a notice address that is staffed, and require email copies.
What notice ends a Colorado periodic tenancy?
C.R.S. 13-40-107 scales notice to the tenancy length: 91 days for a tenancy of one year or longer, 28 days for six months to a year, 21 days for one month to six months, and three days for a tenancy at will or one of a week to a month. A month-to-month holdover therefore ends on 21 days’ notice.
Colorado’s statutory landlord lien in C.R.S. 38-20-102 is written around rooms and apartments rented for housekeeping, so a commercial landlord’s lien on your goods usually comes from the lease itself. Read that clause closely, and if you finance equipment, ask the landlord to sign a waiver or subordination in favor of your lender.
Colorado sources checked 2026-10-09: C.R.S. § 13-40-104 · C.R.S. § 13-40-107 · C.R.S. § 38-20-102. Laws change; confirm the current rule before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
Can my Colorado lease waive the three-day notice?
No. C.R.S. 13-40-104 states that no agreement may contain a waiver by the tenant of the notice requirement. A lease can, however, give you a longer cure period than three days, and that is worth negotiating, especially for monetary defaults that are often caused by a simple payment delay.
If I hold over on a one-year Colorado lease, how much notice do I get?
It depends on what tenancy the holdover creates. If it becomes month to month, C.R.S. 13-40-107 requires 21 days’ notice. If the lease treats it as a year-to-year tenancy, 91 days applies. Many commercial leases define holdover as a tenancy at will, which ends on only three days’ notice, so check the wording.
Signing a commercial lease in Colorado?
Upload the lease and any guaranty. Every page is read, rent and escalations are totalled over the term, and each risky clause is explained in plain English with what to ask the landlord for.
Review my commercial leaseCommercial lease rules in other states
General information, not legal advice, and not reviewed by an attorney. Confirm with a Colorado attorney before relying on it.