Felony Friendly Apartments in Fort Collins: What Actually Helps You Get Approved

Colorado is a better state than most to be renting in with a felony record, and that’s not marketing talk. State law puts a hard limit on how far back a landlord can look, bans the use of sealed or non-conviction records entirely, and requires most landlords to accept a report you already paid for once instead of running a new background check for every application.

None of that guarantees a lease, but it changes the odds in your favor more than any list of apartment names ever could. Here’s how to actually use it, plus the local Fort Collins and Larimer County resources worth calling first.

The Law Working in Your Favor

Colorado’s Rental Application Fairness Act, Colorado Revised Statutes 38-12-904, sets real limits on what a landlord can hold against you:

• A landlord who considers criminal history cannot look at any conviction older than five years from your application date, with narrow exceptions for offenses like unlawful drug distribution.
• Arrest records that never led to a conviction cannot be considered at all, at any point.
• Sealed or expunged records are off limits entirely.
• Rental and credit history are capped at a seven year look back.

On top of that, House Bill 23-1099 created the Portable Tenant Screening Report system. If you’ve already paid for a compliant screening report within the last 60 days, most landlords are required to accept it instead of charging you again for a new one.

That matters if you’re applying to several places, since it stops you from paying a new screening fee every time and getting a fresh rejection each time.

None of this means every landlord follows the law perfectly, and it doesn’t cover every category of offense. But if you’re applying with a felony older than five years and no sex offense or disqualifying drug conviction attached to it, you have a real legal argument if a landlord tries to deny you based on it. Worth knowing before you walk into an application, not after you’ve been rejected.

Clearing Your Record First

If your conviction qualifies for sealing under Colorado’s sealing statutes (C.R.S. 24-72-701 through 711), doing that before you apply removes the issue at its source rather than relying on a landlord to apply the five year rule correctly.

Colorado has also been running automatic sealing under its Clean Slate Act for many eligible older convictions, so it’s worth checking whether yours has already been sealed without you needing to file anything.

To check status or start a petition, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s record sealing page explains the process, and the Colorado Judicial Branch’s self-help forms (Criminal Matters, Seal My Case) walk you through filing if you need to petition yourself.

Most non-violent felonies in the lower classes qualify after a waiting period; violent offenses and anything requiring sex offender registration generally do not.

Housing Catalyst and the Public Housing Route

Housing Catalyst is the public housing authority serving Fort Collins, running both the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program and public housing units directly. Address: 1715 West Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521. Phone: (970) 416 2910.

The same caveat that applies to any HUD assisted housing nationwide applies here too. HUD rescinded its prior guidance discouraging blanket criminal history denials in November 2025 and is now directing public housing agencies toward stricter safety focused screening.

Certain offenses (lifetime sex offender registration, methamphetamine production on federally assisted property) are mandatory denials everywhere by federal law regardless of state protections.

Colorado’s own screening limits described above apply to private landlords, but public housing authorities operate under federal rules that can differ. Call Housing Catalyst directly and ask how they’re currently handling applicants with your specific record before applying.

Neighbor to Neighbor: The Best Local Resource for This Exact Problem

Neighbor to Neighbor is a nonprofit housing resource covering Larimer County that specifically helps with rental search assistance, and unlike most nationwide sites, they maintain their own rental resource packet listing actual apartment communities in Fort Collins and Loveland along with their criminal background, credit, and eviction policies.

Check the packet’s current date before relying on it, since this kind of detail goes stale fast, and call to confirm anything before applying. Their advisors can also work with you directly if you’re not sure where to start.

Larimer County Reentry Support

If you’re returning from incarceration, Larimer County has more built out reentry infrastructure than most counties this size:

• Larimer County Community Corrections runs residential and non-residential supervision, along with a dedicated reentry program developed jointly with the county’s Health and Human Services department and Workforce Center, aimed at connecting people to housing, treatment, and employment together rather than one at a time.
• The Larimer County Jail’s reentry team works with people before release to start that process early, rather than leaving housing as a scramble on release day.

If you’re under any form of county supervision, your case manager is often the fastest route to a landlord who already has a working relationship with the program, faster than any cold application.

Applying Directly to Private Landlords

Independent landlords managing a handful of units themselves are generally easier to work with than large corporate complexes, since they’re not locked into rigid automated screening software. A few things that help regardless of where you’re applying:

1. Ask directly whether they consider criminal history at all, and if so, how far back. This is a completely reasonable question in Colorado given the legal look-back limit, and asking it up front saves you an application fee on a place that would reject you anyway.
2. If you already have a Portable Tenant Screening Report from a recent application, offer it. It’s faster for the landlord and saves you a fee.
3. Have proof of income ready, generally 2.5 to 3 times the monthly rent, along with a co-signer if that number is thin.
4. If your conviction is close to the five year mark, be ready to state the exact date. A landlord weighing “four years and eight months” against “six years” needs to know which one they’re looking at.

Conclusion

Colorado gives you more legal footing here than most states, and that’s the real leverage point, not a list of specific complexes that may have changed their policy since anyone last checked.

Start with Neighbor to Neighbor for a locally maintained list, check whether your record already qualifies for sealing, and know the five year rule cold before you walk into any application.

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