Colorado: Tenant Abandoned Property Notice, Storage, and Disposal Requirements
The short answer
Colorado separates property removed during a writ of restitution from property subject to a landlord's rent lien. After a writ, a landlord following the officer's lawful directions has no duty to store or inventory ordinary belongings and may charge reasonable costs if storage is elected; a landlord using the lien-abandonment route must wait for at least 30 days without owner contact, lack contrary evidence of intent, and give at least 15 days' registered-or-certified-mail notice before sale or other disposal. Pets and several essential or personal categories are excluded from the landlord lien, and pets found during a writ follow an officer-and-animal-control transfer process.
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This is the general rule in Colorado. Ezel applies current Colorado law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law, trigger, and routes | C.R.S. § 13-40-122 governs property removed during/after execution of a writ. C.R.S. §§ 38-20-102, -107, and -116 separately govern a landlord with a lien for unpaid board, lodging, or rent on covered goods; abandonment requires at least 30 days without owner contact plus a good-faith lack of contrary evidence. |
|---|---|
| Initial handling, inventory, and storage | Post-writ landlord has no duty to store, maintain, inventory, determine ownership, or determine condition; elected storage creates no bailment (§ 13-40-122(3)). After voluntary vacancy, landlord must allow reasonable access to remove property excluded from the rent lien (§ 38-20-102(3)(b)). No photo/witness rule. |
| Notice recipients, method, and contents | Post-writ ordinary goods: § 13-40-122 states no landlord property notice. Absent-tenant pet: visible premises posting with animal-control organization's name/contact. Abandoned lien goods: owner gets proposed manner/date at last-known address by registered/certified mail, return receipt, addressee-only; retain proof 1 year and publish once if returned unclaimed (§§ 13-40-122(2.5), 38-20-116(2)). |
| Claim and retrieval deadlines | Post-writ ordinary goods: no statutory claim or minimum-hold period. Lien property: abandonment presumption only after at least 30 days without owner contact and no known contrary intent; disposition notice at least 15 days before the proposed date. Returned-unclaimed notice triggers one-day publication but no additional stated wait (§§ 13-40-122(3), 38-20-116). |
| Retrieval conditions and storage charges | If post-writ storage is elected, landlord may charge reasonable storage costs and allow recovery after payment (§ 13-40-122(4)). After vacancy, tenant/household gets reasonable-time, reasonable-manner access to property outside the rent lien (§ 38-20-102(3)(b)). No statutory ID, ownership-proof, partial-pickup, or free-window rule. |
| Low-value, perishable, and protected property | No low-value shortcut. Landlord rent lien excludes pets, small kitchen appliances, cooking utensils, beds, bedding, necessary clothing, personal/business records and documents, and personal effects. Pet animals found during a writ go to a present tenant or animal control; they may not be left unattended (§§ 13-40-122(2.5), 38-20-102(3)(a)). |
| Sale or disposal method | Abandoned lien property may be sold or otherwise disposed after § 38-20-116 notice; judicial action is not required. That abandonment section prescribes no auction format. If the lienholder instead obtains a foreclosure judgment, § 38-20-109 requires 10-day sale notice, county publication/posting, owner delivery/mail, and a cash public auction between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. |
| Proceeds, accounting, and unclaimed funds | Section 38-20-116 states no special deduction, accounting, surplus-hold, or state-remittance rule for its nonjudicial abandonment route. A judicial § 38-20-109 sale permits foreclosure/notice/sale costs, necessary reasonable care charges, and keeping costs capped at $90, then requires residue and unsold property to the owner. |
| Remedies, liability, and special limits | Officer/agency immune for damage during writ removal; landlord immunity requires compliance with officer's lawful directions, and elected storage carries no loss/damage liability (§ 13-40-122(2)-(3)). A lienholder disposing without substantial article-20 compliance owes property value, at least $100, plus reasonable attorney fees (§ 38-20-107(2)). |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law, trigger, and routes
Colorado does not use one general left-behind-property procedure. C.R.S.
§ 13-40-122(2)-(4) governs belongings removed during or after an officer executes
a writ of restitution. That route gives the landlord no ordinary storage or
inventory duty and makes any lien-based disposal depend on lien rights the
landlord actually has.
The separate landlord-lien route is narrower. C.R.S. § 38-20-102(3)(a) creates
a lien for unpaid board, lodging, or rent and enforcement costs only on covered
property then on or in the rental premises. Under § 38-20-116(1), that property
is presumed abandoned only when the owner has not contacted the lienholder for
at least 30 days and the lienholder, in good faith, knows of no evidence that the
owner intends otherwise. Thirty days of silence is therefore not enough when
the landlord knows facts showing a continuing claim.
Initial handling, inventory, and storage
For post-writ property, § 13-40-122(3) is explicit: the landlord has no duty to
store or maintain the property, make an inventory, determine ownership, or
assess its condition. Electing to store does not create a bailment, and the
section immunizes the landlord from loss or damage during that storage.
That rule does not turn every left-behind item into lien property. After a tenant
has vacated, § 38-20-102(3)(b) requires reasonable-time, reasonable-manner
access so the tenant and household members can remove property that the rent
lien does not cover.
Notice recipients, method, and deadlines
The post-writ provisions state no ordinary-belongings notice or minimum hold.
Pets are the exception. Under § 13-40-122(2.5), the officer inspects immediately,
returns pets to a tenant who is present, or contacts local animal control when
the tenant is absent. The landlord then provides access and available tenant
contact information and posts the receiving organization's name and contact
information visibly at the premises.
For abandoned lien property, § 38-20-116(2) requires at least 15 days' advance
notice of the proposed manner and date of disposition. The lienholder uses the
owner's last-known address and registered or certified mail, return receipt
requested, signed by the addressee only. The notice and signed receipt—or the
returned-unclaimed notice and proof—must be retained for one year. If the mail
is returned unclaimed, the notice must also be published for at least one day in
the property's county newspaper or, if none exists, a newspaper in an adjoining
county.
Retrieval conditions and storage charges
If the landlord elects to store post-writ property, § 13-40-122(4) permits
reasonable storage charges. The landlord may allow recovery after those charges
are paid. The statute does not prescribe identification, a written claim form,
partial pickup, a free retrieval window, or a payment plan.
Protected property and pets
C.R.S. § 38-20-102(3)(a) excludes pet animals, small kitchen appliances,
cooking utensils, beds, bedding, necessary wearing apparel, personal or
business records and documents, and personal effects from the landlord's rent
lien. There is no dollar threshold that makes these categories lien property.
During writ execution, no pet may be removed and left unattended on public or
private property. The officer-and-animal-control process controls instead of the
ordinary no-storage rule.
Sale, proceeds, and remedies
An abandoned-property lienholder need not file a judicial foreclosure action.
C.R.S. §§ 38-20-107(3) and 38-20-116 permit sale or other disposition after the
30-day abandonment test and 15-day notice. Section 38-20-116 does not specify
an auction format or a special surplus-remittance system.
If a lienholder instead obtains a foreclosure judgment, § 38-20-109(1) uses a
different sale process: 10 days' notice, county newspaper publication or three
public postings, delivery or mailing to the owner when applicable, and a cash
public auction between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The lienholder may deduct the stated
foreclosure, notice, sale, care, and keeping costs, with keeping costs capped at
$90, then must return the residue and unsold property to the owner.
C.R.S. § 38-20-107(2) makes substantial compliance consequential. A
lienholder who sells or disposes without substantially complying with article
20 owes the property's value, never less than $100, plus reasonable attorney
fees. The separate post-writ immunity in § 13-40-122(2) protects a landlord only
when the landlord complies with the executing officer's lawful directions.
What trips people up
The 30-day period is not a universal Colorado storage clock. It belongs to the
article-20 lien route and requires both owner silence and no known evidence of
contrary intent. The lien itself reaches only specified goods and excludes a
long list of essentials and personal items.
The two notice rules also should not be combined. Section 38-20-116's 15-day
addressee-only mail rule governs nonjudicial disposition of property presumed
abandoned. Section 38-20-109's 10-day publication-and-owner-notice rule follows
a foreclosure judgment. Using the judicial sale rule does not replace the
abandonment findings required for the nonjudicial route.
Finally, § 13-40-122 begins with a lawfully executed writ. Its no-storage and
immunity provisions do not authorize self-help possession or prove that a
tenancy ended merely because belongings remain.
Common questions
Must a Colorado landlord inventory property removed during an eviction?
No. C.R.S. § 13-40-122(3) expressly says the landlord has no duty to inventory
post-writ property or determine its ownership or condition.
May the landlord charge for voluntarily storing post-writ property?
Yes. Section 13-40-122(4) permits reasonable storage charges and allows release
after payment. The section does not set a daily rate.
What happens to a pet when the tenant is absent during the writ?
The officer contacts local animal control. The landlord must allow timely
access, provide available tenant contact information, and post where the pet was
taken. A pet may not be left unattended outside.
Statutes and sources
- C.R.S. § 13-40-122(2)-(4), official 2024 Title 13 printout, accessed July 22,
2026: post-writ removal, pet handling, no-storage/no-inventory rule, charges,
and immunity. - C.R.S. § 38-20-102(3), official 2024 Title 38 printout, accessed July 22,
2026: landlord lien, exclusions, and access to non-lien property. - C.R.S. § 38-20-107(2)-(3), official 2024 Title 38 printout, accessed July 22,
2026: nonjudicial abandonment route and damages for noncompliance. - C.R.S. § 38-20-109(1), official 2024 Title 38 printout, accessed July 22,
2026: judicial sale notice, auction, deductions, and residue. - C.R.S. § 38-20-116(1)-(2), official 2024 Title 38 printout, accessed July 22,
2026: abandonment test and 15-day disposition notice.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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