New bill passes State House to reuse rental property applications for 30 days
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- Friday, the State House passed a new bill on a vote of 44-19 that will save Coloradans money when applying for rental properties.
HB23-1099 builds off the 'Rental Application Fairness Act' that passed in 2019 by allowing prospective renters to reuse a rental application for up to 30 days without paying additional fees.
"One of the things that hits renting individuals and families a lot in this economy is having to pay more than one application fee in the course of a home search," District 16 House Representative Stephanie Vigil said.
A sponsor of the bill, Rep. Stephanie Vigil for District 16 in El Paso County says at an average of $40, application fees can add up if the renter applies to multiple properties, gets denied, or if multiple adults are applying.
"It's your personal information," Vigil said. "How many times do you need to pay somebody else to look at it just to get the same information."
The bill introduces something called a portable tenant screening report. The tenant would prepare themselves through a consumer reporting agency.
This allows renters to apply to multiple rental properties for 30 days without paying multiple application fees.
"We had an amendment we added on the floor on second reading that created an additional path," Vigil said. "So now we have 2 paths for landlords or property managers to take."
The other option states landlords must refund all application fees to the potential tenant to reuse if a lease doesn't get signed for whatever reason.
"In either case we are eliminating duplicate fees, trying to prevent working families from having to pay the same money over and over again," Vigil said.
Either of these routes also minimizes the number of times a credit score is pulled, protecting a potential renter's credit score from being damaged by multiple inquiries.
The bill now goes to the Senate for approval, or to add amendments. If it passes, it goes to Governor Polis' desk to go into effect next year.
