State ADU law
Colorado ADU laws: HB24-1152 and who it covers
Colorado’s 2024 ADU law covers cities in metropolitan planning areas. It took effect in two steps.
What to do next: use this research to check your own lot and bids, then tell us about your project. Matching is not live yet, so we reply with information, not a quote.
Get ADU optionsWritten by HyreADU Research Desk Primary-source statute research
The short answer
Colorado ADU laws require covered cities and counties to allow one accessory dwelling unit with each single-unit detached home, through an administrative approval process, from June 30, 2025. HB24-1152 was signed on May 13, 2024 as Chapter 167 of the 2024 session laws.
It covers municipalities of 1,000 or more people inside a metropolitan planning organization area, and some county areas near large census-designated places.
From June 30, 2025, covered places may not adopt or enforce rules that restrict building or converting an ADU, except as the law allows.
Planned unit developments may not be stricter on ADUs than the area outside them.
We read the bill page and summary, not the full act text, so this page does not state the act’s detailed parking or owner-occupancy rules.
What Colorado law requires of cities
Each row is from the Colorado General Assembly’s HB24-1152 bill page and summary.
| Question | What the Colorado statute says | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered? | Municipalities of 1,000 or more people inside a metropolitan planning organization area, and county areas inside both an MPO area and a census-designated place of 40,000 or more. | HB24-1152, section 1 (bill summary) |
| What must they allow? | One ADU as an accessory use to a single-unit detached home, wherever such homes are allowed. | HB24-1152, section 1 |
| How is it approved? | Through an administrative approval process, not a discretionary hearing. | HB24-1152, section 1 |
| From when? | June 30, 2025. The act itself took effect May 13, 2024. | HB24-1152 bill history |
| Planned unit developments? | A PUD may not impose stricter ADU permitting limits than apply outside it. | HB24-1152, section 5 |
| HOAs? | In supportive jurisdictions, HOA bans on ADUs and restrictive design standards are void, with a reasonable-restriction exception. | HB24-1152, section 6 |
| Grants? | Jurisdictions that report compliance and adopt ADU strategies can become “supportive jurisdictions” and apply for state grants. | HB24-1152, section 1 |
Colorado ADU rules set by state law, as read on the official statute page on October 27, 2026.
Who the law covers and when it took effect
The law targets metro areas. A small town outside an MPO area is not a subject jurisdiction, and its own code governs.
The act was signed and took effect on May 13, 2024. The duty to allow ADUs began on June 30, 2025. The bill history lists it as Chapter 167 of the 2024 session laws.
What is still up to your city or county
Covered places still set standards the act allows, run the administrative review, and apply building and fire codes. The act’s detailed limits on parking, owner-occupancy and design are in the signed act text, which we could not open on the retrieval date. Ask your planning department for the version of its code adopted to comply.
The Colorado Department of Local Affairs administers the grant program and published a toolkit for local governments under the act.
How to check your own city
Answer these in order, in writing, before you pay for drawings.
- 1 Check whether your city is a subject jurisdiction
Look for your city on your metropolitan planning organization’s member list, and check its population.
- 2 Ask for the ADU code adopted for HB24-1152
Covered places should have updated their code by June 30, 2025.
- 3 Confirm the approval path is administrative
Ask in writing whether your application goes to a hearing. It should not for a qualifying ADU.
- 4 Check PUD and HOA rules
The act limits both. Ask whether your city is a supportive jurisdiction.
What this page does not cover
This page covers the Colorado statute only. It does not cover building codes, septic and well rules, HOA covenants, flood or wildfire overlays, or your city’s fee schedule. Those can still stop a project the statute allows.
We read the statute on October 27, 2026. Laws change, and courts read them.
If your project depends on one clause, have a land-use attorney or the planning department confirm it for your parcel.
For the national picture, see which states have ADU laws; for what to ask at the counter, see the ADU permit guide.
Questions
When did Colorado’s ADU law take effect?
Does Colorado’s ADU law apply to my town?
Do I need a public hearing for an ADU in Colorado?
Can my HOA ban an ADU in Colorado?
Written and audited by
HyreADU Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a builder. We read the permit extract, the statute, the HCD return or the fee schedule ourselves, and publish each figure with its source and retrieval date.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we leave it out and say what we could not verify. Our store-based claims cover California only.
- CA
- the only state this desk will make store-based claims about
- 5
- jurisdictions with extracted ADU permit evidence
- 735
- CSLB-verified companies in the California store
- 0
- national claims from a one-state store
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Permit counts come from the city or county that issued the permit. Production counts come from HCD’s Annual Progress Report. Rents come from HUD or the Census. We do not cite an article that cites a source; we download the source and compute the figure ourselves.
- This is a California site. The company store is 734 California firms and one New Mexico firm. Permit evidence exists for five named jurisdictions: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San José and unincorporated Marin. A number from that store is titled to those places, never to the United States.
- A permit is not a completion, and a license is not an ADU grade. California licenses no ADU classification. Being named on an ADU permit is evidence of engagement in that jurisdiction, not of quality, completion, or work anywhere else. Owner-builder permits are excluded from contractor counts.
- Calculation is labeled as calculation. Figures we derive are never presented as something HCD, HUD, the Census or a city published. Terner Center research is cited as Terner’s, never restated as ours.
- We do not design, permit or build ADUs, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Pages that look like rankings are not: they publish public-record counts and let the reader decide.
- Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Zoning, underwriting and appraisal practice vary by jurisdiction, lender and appraiser. The useful next step on a specific lot is the planning counter and a licensed professional.
Data as of HB24-1152 (Session Laws 2024, Ch. 167) read on leg.colorado.gov, retrieved 2026-10-27.. Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold.
Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
- HB24-1152, Accessory Dwelling Units: bill page, summary and history , Colorado General Assembly Retrieved October 27, 2026.
Planning an ADU in Colorado?
Tell us about your lot and what you want to build. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote. We will send ADU options and the next questions to ask your city.
HyreADU is a publisher. It does not design, permit or build ADUs, and matching with builders is not live yet. This page describes state statutory text as published on the retrieval date.
It is not legal advice. Your city or county applies the rules to your lot, and its planning department is the authority for your parcel.