✓ Law Verified August 2026
A Colorado eviction record can block apartment applications for years — often regardless of how the case actually ended. This guide answers the question directly for Colorado: whether a sealing law exists here, exactly how to use it if it does, and the real alternatives if it does not. Verified against official Colorado sources as of August 2026.
In This Colorado Guide:
How the Colorado Sealing Law Works
| The law | C.R.S. 13-40-110.5 (Automatic suppression of court records), added by HB 20-1009, effective December 1, 2020; access rules for non-parties added by SB 22-019 (2022); subsection (3) amended by HB 25-1168 and subsection (6) added by SB 25-020, both effective August 6, 2025 |
| Who qualifies | Every residential eviction (forcible entry and detainer) case filed under Article 40, and mobile home park tenancy termination actions, is suppressed automatically the moment the case is filed — no tenant application, and it does not matter why the case was filed. The suppression stays permanent if the case is dismissed, if the tenant wins, if the landlord withdraws it, or if the case ends without an order granting the landlord possession. Suppression is lifted and the file becomes public only when the court enters an order granting the plaintiff landlord possession of the premises — and even then the record stays suppressed if both parties agree it should remain suppressed. Under the 2025 amendment (SB 25-020), where the parties agreed to suppression to resolve the case or resolved it by a stipulated agreement, the record is to remain suppressed as part of the final judgment. Colorado has no separate petition-based expungement for a tenant who lost a contested case and whose landlord will not agree to suppression — you may be able to get relief only by vacating or reversing the possession order, or by negotiating the landlord’s agreement. |
| Automatic or petition | AUTOMATIC. Suppression attaches by operation of law upon commencement of the action — the tenant files nothing and pays nothing. The only tenant-side filing arises after a possession order, where the tenant may ask the landlord to sign a stipulation or joint motion that the record remain suppressed; that agreement (commonly built into the Stipulated Agreement, form JDF 106A, or a written stipulation submitted to the court) is what keeps the file non-public. There is no standalone statewide “petition to seal eviction record” form. Form JDF 633 is not a tenant sealing form — it is the Affirmation used by a non-party attorney or a person with a party’s permission to request access to a suppressed eviction case under C.R.S. 13-40-110.5(5). |
| Waiting period | NONE. Suppression begins at filing with no waiting period, and Colorado has no time-based automatic sealing (no 3-year or 7-year clock) for cases where the landlord won possession. |
| Cost | 0 |
Step by Step: Sealing Your Colorado Eviction Record
Nothing to file to get the initial suppression — the county court where the eviction was filed suppresses the case automatically at filing.
To keep the record suppressed when possession is at issue: (1) raise suppression during negotiation or mediation at the first appearance in the county court handling the FED case; (2) put the words “the parties agree the court record shall remain suppressed pursuant to C.R.S. 13-40-110.5” into the written stipulation or stipulated agreement (JDF 106A) signed by both you and the landlord;
(3) submit the signed stipulation to the judge or magistrate for approval so it becomes part of the court’s order; (4) if the case is dismissed or you win, confirm with the clerk that the case still shows as suppressed.
If a default judgment for possession was entered against you without your knowledge, many tenants can file a motion to set aside the judgment under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) in the same county court; if the possession order is vacated, the basis for unsuppressing the record is removed. Check with your court about local filing steps and deadlines.
What sealing actually does: A “suppressed court record” under C.R.S. 13-40-110.5(1) is accessible only to the judge, court staff, authorized Judicial Department staff, the parties and their attorneys, an attorney who files the JDF 633 affirmation or a person with a party’s written or verbal permission, and anyone holding a valid court order granting access.
That means the case does not appear in the public court index and cannot be pulled by tenant screening companies, landlords, employers, journalists, or the general public through normal public-record access.
Practical limits you should know: suppression governs the court file only — it does not erase a debt, a money judgment’s collectability, a collection account on your credit report, or data a screening company already scraped before suppression; a screening company that already has the record must still be disputed directly.
Colorado law does not include an express statutory right to answer “no” if asked directly about an eviction, so be careful about how you answer rental applications and check with a Colorado legal aid attorney about your specific case.
Why A Colorado Eviction Record Follows You — and For How Long
An eviction case becomes a public court record the day it is filed — even if you won, even if it was dismissed, even if you moved out voluntarily before the hearing. Tenant screening companies copy these records in bulk and resell them to landlords, which is how a Colorado eviction record from years ago can quietly sink a rental application today.
Under federal reporting rules these records generally stop appearing on screening reports after seven years, but the public court file itself can remain searchable far longer unless it is sealed.
That is why the filing itself, not just the outcome, is what matters — and why sealing laws are spreading state by state. Most landlords never read the court file; they read the one-line summary a screening company sells them. Getting the Colorado eviction record sealed, corrected, or accurately described is what changes that one line.
Check Your Colorado Eviction Record First
Before filing anything, find out what your Colorado eviction record really looks like to a landlord. Search the online case index for the court where the eviction was filed, and request your file from the major tenant screening companies — you are entitled to it.
Tenants are often surprised in both directions: some discover the case they worry about was never reported, others find a case they had forgotten, or one that is not even theirs.
Knowing exactly what appears, and how it is described, tells you whether to pursue sealing, a dispute, or both.
Screening reports are also where errors live. A dismissed case reported as an eviction, an old address matched to the wrong person, or a paid judgment still shown as owing are all fixable — and fixing the report is sometimes faster than any court process in Colorado.
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Your Federal Rights Against Tenant Screening Companies
Tenant screening companies are consumer reporting agencies under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681 and following, so a wrong, outdated, or suppressed-but-still-reported eviction can be disputed.
Steps: (1) If you were denied housing, charged a higher rent or deposit, or required a cosigner because of a screening report, the landlord must give you an adverse action notice naming the screening company — you then have 60 days to request a free copy of that report from the company.
(2) Send a written dispute to the screening company identifying each wrong item and attach proof — a certified copy of the dismissal, the order vacating the judgment, the stipulation, or a court printout showing the case is suppressed. Send it by certified mail with return receipt and keep copies.
(3) The company must reinvestigate free of charge and complete it within 30 days, extended to 45 days if you send additional relevant information during the 30-day window.
(4) Information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable must be deleted or corrected, and you must be sent written results plus a free corrected copy of the report. (5) Ask in writing that the corrected report be sent to anyone who received it in the last 6 months (2 years for employment purposes).
(6) If the item is accurate but incomplete, you may add a consumer statement of up to 100 words to the file.
(7) Most civil judgments and other adverse items cannot be reported after 7 years under 15 U.S.C. 1681c, so an old eviction may be too stale to report at all. (8) Unresolved disputes can be reported to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint and to the Colorado Attorney General, and the FCRA allows private lawsuits with attorney fees against a company that fails to reinvestigate properly.
Timing matters more than tenants expect. If you are apartment-hunting right now, start the screening-report disputes today — they run on federal deadlines and cost nothing — while any Colorado court process moves in parallel. If the move is months away, that is enough time for most sealing petitions, vacated judgments, or corrected reports to finish before a landlord ever pulls your Colorado eviction record.
Worth watching in Colorado: Two 2026 bills that would have expanded eviction-record protection failed: HB26-1047 (Protections for Residential Tenants), which would have required court records of certain eviction actions to remain suppressed and required landlords to redact personal identifying information from demands and notices, was killed in committee; HB26-1106 (Eviction Protections for Tenants) was killed in committee on March 24, 2026.
So as of August 20, 2026 the governing rule is still automatic suppression at filing under C.R.S. 13-40-110.5, with unsuppression on a possession order unless both parties agree otherwise. The 2025 amendments (HB 25-1168 to subsection (3) and SB 25-020 adding subsection (6), both effective August 6, 2025) strengthened the finality of agreed suppression in stipulated resolutions.
No statewide county pilot expungement program verified; Denver, Boulder, and other jurisdictions run eviction legal defense and mediation programs where suppression is commonly negotiated into stipulations — check with your county court.
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You May Also Like
Official Colorado Sources & Resources
- Colorado Courts Self-Help: coloradojudicial.gov/self-help/residential-evictions
- Colorado Statute: law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-13/forcible-entry-and-de…
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
- Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex
Taking Control of Your Colorado Eviction Record
A Colorado eviction record is not a life sentence — it is a document, and documents can be sealed, corrected, or accurately explained. The tenants who struggle longest are usually the ones who never look at what their Colorado eviction record actually says, so start by pulling the court file and your screening reports.
Whether Colorado offers sealing or only the federal dispute route, acting on the Colorado eviction record beats hoping landlords will not check — they almost always do. A short, honest cover letter to a prospective landlord explaining the circumstances can also do real work while the record process runs.
This Colorado eviction record guide was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Sealing laws are changing fast — new states pass them every year, so re-check before relying on this page.
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Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.