How Do I Calculate the True All-In Cost of a Denver Apartment?

What fees should I ask about before applying for an apartment in Denver?

Ask for a written, unit-specific list of every charge before paying. The list needs the amount, purpose, timing, whether the charge is mandatory, and whether it recurs.

The reason is plain. The Federal Trade Commission's 2025 Greystar settlement announcement says the order requires disclosure of all fees, their amounts and purposes, whether they are mandatory, and the total monthly leasing price before a payment such as a nonrefundable application fee.

Use four columns. A mixed list hides the real number. A separated list makes it visible.

Denver's 2025 Renter's Housing Handbook says a lease should identify rent, the security deposit, pet charges, and how utilities are paid and by whom. Those are not fine print. They are the cost sheet.

A tour question list can stay short:

• What is this unit's total monthly leasing price?
• Which listed monthly charges are mandatory?
• Which utility charges are billed by a provider and which are billed through the property?
• What one-time charges are due before keys are released?
• What amount is refundable, and under what lease terms?

Ask the questions before the application fee changes hands. A price seen after payment is not a useful price.

How do I calculate the real monthly cost beyond advertised rent?

The real monthly cost is advertised rent plus fixed mandatory fees plus variable utilities plus the optional services selected for that unit.

Write the formula before comparing buildings: all-in monthly cost = base rent + fixed mandatory fees + variable utilities + selected parking + selected pet charges. Do not blend deposits into that formula. A deposit changes move-in cash, not the monthly price.

The following are worksheet examples, not market averages. Each figure comes from a named Denver property's published fee disclosure and is used for a 2026 worksheet; base rent and electricity remain unknown or variable where the property says they vary.

The Grove on York's published fee page supplies the first example. The Treeline 1722 Grove disclosure supplies the second. Neither page gives a substitute for a final quote on a selected unit.

Parking and pets belong in their own lines because they change with the renter's choices. That distinction mirrors the FTC's Greystar complaint, which separates mandatory fixed charges from optional parking and pet fees. A good worksheet preserves that difference.

The same habit applies beyond housing. Phone Deals: Calculate the Cost Beyond the Free Price follows the same rule: the headline price is the beginning of the math.

Which apartment fees are mandatory versus optional in Colorado?

Mandatory fees are charges required to rent the selected unit; optional fees are charges tied to a choice such as parking or a pet. The label matters less than the condition: if declining the charge means declining the unit, it belongs in the mandatory monthly total.

Colorado General Assembly HB25-1090, effective January 1, 2026, requires a clearly and conspicuously disclosed maximum total price inclusive of mandatory fees and charges when property is advertised. The law leaves out the actual utility-provider charge for the tenant's dwelling unit. Keep that bill as a separate variable line, even when the advertised total is compliant.

HB25-1090 also says, in 2026, that a landlord cannot require a common-area maintenance fee, a fee for a good or service not actually provided, a property-tax-related fee, or a rent-payment processing fee when no reasonably accessible cost-free payment method exists.

Utility billing has a narrow rule. Under HB25-1090 in 2026, a utility-related amount cannot exceed the provider's charge, except where a written lease allows a third-party-service markup of no more than 2% of the provider bill or $10 per month, not both.

Pet charges have their own limits. Denver's 2025 handbook states that Colorado permits no more than a $300 additional refundable pet security deposit, and pet rent is capped at the greater of $35 per month or 1.5% of monthly rent. The same 2025 handbook says assistance animals cannot carry extra pet rent or deposit.

Move-in cash is a different total: first all-in monthly charge + all disclosed one-time fees + refundable and nonrefundable deposits. Denver's 2025 handbook states that a Colorado security deposit cannot exceed two months' rent under the rental agreement. It also says deposits generally must be returned, or paired with an itemized deduction statement, within 30 days after lease termination or return of the property; a lease can extend that period to 60 days.

Rent is a number. The lease is the map of that number.