Colorado law gives you sixty days' written notice of a non-renewal, with the specific reasons, and ten days for non-payment. Many policies here carry a wind and hail deductible set as a percentage of the coverage. Since October 2026 an admitted insurer that uses a wildfire score must show it to you and let you appeal. Flood is a separate policy. The Colorado FAIR Plan is the last resort, after three insurers have declined.
What Colorado law gives you when the letter arrives
Under C.R.S. 10-4-110.7, a homeowners insurer cannot cancel or refuse to renew unless it mails notice by first-class mail at least sixty days ahead, and the notice has to state the specific reasons. The one exception is non-payment of premium, where ten days' notice with the reasons is enough. That subsection was last amended by a 2023 act that took effect on August 7, 2023.
The same section deals with claims history. An insurer that underwrites on your credit score, the property's claims history or your own must tell you so during the application, and if the property's claims history leads to an adverse action it must disclose the specific claim information behind it. When an insurer issues a new policy while it is still assessing the home, it must tell you the policy is conditional and that it has thirty business days to evaluate it. And under section 10-4-110.8 an insurer may not cancel or fail to renew solely because you asked about coverage, when the question was not tied to an actual claim.
What the law does not do is protect a home with several claims. The Division of Insurance says plainly that no law addresses non-renewal after a hailstorm, and that an insurer may consider non-renewing after multiple losses, hail included. More on the notice itself is on my page about Colorado non-renewal rules.
Hail, the roof and the deductible
On the afternoon of May 8, 2017, a supercell formed in the foothills west of Denver and crossed the western and northern suburbs. The National Weather Service recorded hail up to baseball size across a large part of Denver, Arvada, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge. Citing the regional insurance association, it calls the storm Colorado's most expensive insured catastrophe and the second costliest hailstorm in U.S. history, with more than 50,000 homeowner claims expected. Expect an underwriter to ask what happened to your roof that day and since.
- Wind and hail deductibleThe Division of Insurance says many Colorado homeowners policies carry a wind and hail deductible that is a percentage of the coverage (it gives one, two and five percent as examples), and that when the damage estimate is below the deductible the insurer pays nothing.
- MatchingThe Division says no Colorado law requires an insurer to match siding or paint on the sides of the house the hail did not damage.
- Roofers at the doorAfter a storm the Division warns about door-to-door roofing sales: check references, get more than one quote and get everything in writing.
- No state roof grant from 2025HB25-1302, the 2025 bill that would have funded resilient-roof grants and a wildfire reinsurance program, passed the House and was postponed indefinitely by the Senate Finance Committee on May 6, 2025. It did not become law.
I set the deductible, the roof settlement terms and the roof's age side by side on every quote, because two policies at the same premium can pay very differently after the next storm. See also Colorado hail claims.
Grass, wind and the wildfire score
The Marshall Fire of December 30, 2021 was not a forest fire. The National Weather Service describes a grass fire that started near the small town of Marshall, driven by gusts of 70 to 100 miles an hour at the base of the foothills, that spread east through Superior and Louisville. Its last count was 1,084 homes destroyed and 149 damaged. Boulder County's recovery page counts 1,109 homes destroyed and, as of December 1, 2025, 931 building permits issued. It burned through ordinary subdivisions, not mountain cabins, which is why a wildfire score can matter for a home beside open grassland.
HB25-1182, signed on May 28, 2025, is the state's answer to those scores. The Division of Insurance says it applies to admitted insurers and the Colorado FAIR Plan, not to surplus lines insurers. An insurer that uses a wildfire model or score to price, underwrite, surcharge or non-renew must count property and community mitigation in its model or give a discount for demonstrated work. Beginning October 1, 2026, applicants and renewing policyholders get a written notice with the score, a plain-language explanation of it and the right to appeal. If wildfire is the reason on your notice, ask for the score first. The details are on my page about wildfire scores and mitigation discounts.
What changed for total losses after the Marshall Fire
HB22-1111, signed on June 2, 2022, rewrote the rules for a total loss of an owner-occupied home in a wildfire disaster declared by the governor. They now sit in C.R.S. 10-4-110.8:
- Contents without an inventoryThe insurer must offer at least sixty-five percent of the contents limit without a written inventory. The ordinary rule for a total loss of contents is thirty percent.
- Living expensesAdditional living expense coverage must run at least twenty-four months, and the insurer must offer two six-month extensions when permits or rebuilding are delayed for reasons outside your control.
- Time to rebuildYou get at least thirty-six months to submit receipts for replacement cost, with two six-month extensions for unavoidable delays.
- Rebuild or buy elsewhereYou may rebuild at another location or buy an existing home without losing the replacement cost or building-code coverage the policy provides.
The same section requires insurers, on replacement-cost policies, to offer extended replacement cost of at least fifty percent of the dwelling limit and law and ordinance coverage of twenty percent, and to show on the declarations page whether you bought or rejected them. Read that line on any renewal before comparing prices.
If nobody will write it: the Colorado FAIR Plan
Colorado created its FAIR Plan with HB23-1288, signed on May 12, 2023, and the Division of Insurance lists residential policies as available since April 10, 2025. To qualify you must show proof that three different insurers declined the property, and you can only apply through an agent registered with the Plan.
The coverage is basic. The Plan's own site says the limit is seven hundred fifty thousand dollars for a home and its contents together, that it covers fire, lightning and smoke, and that wind or hail, vandalism and a few other perils can be added. Water damage, earth movement and ordinance or law are excluded, and claims are paid at actual cash value, never replacement cost. The Plan points to difference-in-conditions policies from other insurers for liability, water and theft. It also scores every property for wildfire, lets you appeal the score, and gives no discount for individual mitigation work.
So I try admitted insurers first, then surplus lines, and build a FAIR Plan policy with a difference-in-conditions policy around it only when both have said no.
Flood, and where to complain
The Division of Insurance states that basic homeowners insurance does not include flood damage and that flood insurance typically has a thirty-day waiting period. It also warns that flooding and mudflow become more likely in and below burn scars. I quote flood insurance alongside the home policy. If a notice does not meet the rules above, the Division's Consumer Services team takes questions and complaints about insurers and agents through its online Consumer Portal.
What I need to quote
The address, the non-renewal or renewal notice and the current declarations page are enough to begin. Then: roof material and the year it was installed, any hail claim and whether the roof was replaced afterward, the wildfire score if your insurer has sent one, mitigation work you can document with photos or invoices, and the date coverage must start. If the home is held in a trust or an LLC, tell me how the title reads.
Common questions
How much notice does a Colorado insurer have to give before non-renewing my home policy?
At least sixty days, mailed first class, with the specific reasons, under C.R.S. 10-4-110.7. For non-payment of premium the notice period is ten days.
Can my insurer drop me in Denver because of hail claims?
Yes. The Colorado Division of Insurance says no law addresses it and that an insurer may consider non-renewing after multiple losses, including hail. It still has to give sixty days' notice and state its reasons.
Who insures a Denver home after a non-renewal?
Usually another admitted insurer or a surplus lines insurer, depending on the roof, the claims history and the wildfire score. The Colorado FAIR Plan is the last resort and requires proof that three insurers declined the home.
What does the Colorado FAIR Plan not cover?
Its own site lists water damage, earth movement and ordinance or law among the exclusions, and it has no liability or theft coverage. It pays actual cash value only, up to a limit of seven hundred fifty thousand dollars for the home and contents.
Can I see and appeal the wildfire score used on my home in Colorado?
Yes, for admitted insurers and the FAIR Plan. Under HB25-1182 they must give you the score and an explanation with the application or renewal starting October 1, 2026, and you may appeal it.
Does home insurance in Denver cover flood?
No. The Division of Insurance says basic homeowners insurance does not include flood damage, and a flood policy typically has a thirty-day waiting period.
General information about home insurance in Denver and the Front Range as of November 2026, not legal advice. Statutes, Division of Insurance guidance, FAIR Plan rules and insurer appetite change; the policy wording controls what is covered. Event figures are from the National Weather Service and Boulder County. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.