Colombia Lease Renewal Rules: 3-Month Written Notice and Ley 820 Tenant Rights Explained

Quick answer: when your fixed term ends, an urban housing lease in Colombia can renew, the landlord can end it only with a qualifying written notice sent through servicio postal autorizado at least three months ahead, and a rent change is a completely separate step. A chat message is not that notice.

If your first-year anniversary is a few months away, this is the question that keeps tenants up at night: do I have to move, or does the contract simply roll over? Below is a tenant's reading of Ley 820 de 2003, as published in the official texts accessed on 7 October 2026. It is a reading aid, not legal advice.

Which contracts this covers

Ley 820 de 2003 regulates the lease of an urban property destined to housing, in whole or in part (Articles 1-2). Shops, offices, rural fincas and short tourist stays are outside it and need their own regime, so do not apply anything below to them.

There is one exception worth knowing. A pensión under Article 4 literal d is a non-independent part of a property that necessarily includes additional services, things or uses, agreed for less than one year. Either party may end it before the end date with 10 days' notice and no indemnity. A normal apartment or house lease is not a pensión, so the three-month rule applies to you.

What "renewal" actually means

If the parties do not set a term, the lease is understood to last one year. Under Article 6, the lease is understood to renew on the same conditions and for the same initial term when each party has performed and the tenant accepts the rent adjustments the law authorizes.

There is a second, separate route to renewal. At the end of the initial term or of a renewal, the landlord may end the lease only by invoking a special restitution ground in Article 22 numeral 8, with written notice through servicio postal autorizado at least three months before that end date. If there is no written proof of that notice, the lease is understood to renew automatically for a term equal to the term originally agreed.

So silence works in your favor. A landlord who says "I want the place back" over coffee, or in a voice note, has not triggered numeral 8. Being honest about the downside: that does not stop a landlord from being unpleasant, and a live disagreement is exactly when a lawyer or a legal-aid clinic is worth the time.

Also note the difference between refusing a lawful adjustment and refusing a verbal hike. Article 6 renewal assumes you accept the adjustments the law authorizes. Refusing something the law does not authorize is not the same position.

When a landlord's notice really ends the lease

At the end date, numeral 8 requires one of these grounds:

• (a) the owner or possessor needs the property for their own housing for at least one year;
• (b) demolition for a new building, or vacancy for independent repair works;
• (c) delivery required by a sale contract;
• (d) the landlord's will, but only after at least four years of performance, with an indemnity equal to 1.5 months of rent.

For (a) to (c), the notice must include proof of a cash, bank or insurer bond in favor of the tenant equal to six months of the rent then in force, securing that the ground is carried out within six months after restitution. For (d), the indemnity follows the Article 23 deposit procedure.

During a renewal, Article 22 numeral 7 lets the landlord end the lease with written notice through servicio postal autorizado at least three months ahead plus an indemnity equal to three months of rent. Article 23 requires that money to be consigned in favor of the tenant, to the order of the competent authority, within the three months before the stated end date, at entities the national government authorizes, calculated on the rent in force on the notice date.

The parties can also end the lease at any time by mutual agreement (Article 21). Numerals 1 to 6 of Article 22 are breach grounds, such as non-payment, and follow a different path that this guide does not cover. For the owner's side of the letter, see the landlord termination-letter guide; this page is the tenant's reading of the same statute.

Watch for clauses that try to waive notice or demand a cash deposit. Article 16 prohibits demanding cash deposits or other real guarantees to secure a tenant's obligations, including renamed or third-party versions. The rental contract red-flags post covers how to spot them.

How the tenant leaves

You have two different exits, and mixing them up is expensive.

• On the end date (Article 24 numeral 5): written notice to the landlord through servicio postal autorizado at least three months before the initial or renewal end date. No extra cause and no indemnity.
• During the term or a renewal (Article 24 numeral 4): the same three-month postal notice, plus an indemnity equal to three months of rent, following Article 25.

Think of it as a calendar problem. Count three months back from the contract end date, not from the day you decide to leave, and mail before that point.

As a reading aid, a written notice should identify:

• the tenant and the landlord;
• the property;
• the end date you are leaving on;
• proof that it went by servicio postal autorizado.

The statute says not less than three months, not "90 days". Mailing a little early is simply practical caution.

The rent change is not the non-renewal

These get confused constantly. Under Article 20, after each 12 months of performance at the same price, the landlord may raise urban-housing rent by no more than 100% of the IPC increase in the immediately previous calendar year, and the new rent still cannot exceed the Article 18 cap. That cap says monthly rent cannot exceed 1% of the commercial value of the property (or the part leased), and that commercial estimate cannot exceed twice the current cadastral appraisal.

The landlord must tell you the amount and the effective date through servicio postal autorizado or the personal-notice method expressly set in the contract. Without that communication the increase is not opposable to you. If you pay an adjustment anyway, that payment alone does not create a right to a refund based only on the missing communication. That sentence is narrow, so do not read it as "anything you paid is lost forever".

For an adjustment whose previous calendar year is 2025, the ceiling is up to 5.10%, the national annual IPC for December 2025 that DANE published on 8 January 2026. It is a ceiling, not an automatic 1 January raise, and it applies only after 12 months at the same price and with the Article 20 notice. The worked example lives in the rent-increase guide.

If your contract sets rent in foreign currency, Article 19 allows it to be paid in pesos at the market rate on the date the obligation arose, unless the contract sets another date or rate.

Dated aside: the October bridge weekend

Monday 12 October 2026 is the Día de la Raza bridge weekend. If your end date is near, remember that the three months run from the contract end date and the holiday does not add notice time. Confirm with your authorized postal operator whether that Monday is a mailing day before you plan around it.

If you need another place

If you decide to leave, or the landlord has a valid ground, the next step is looking at housing. Before money moves on any new lease, read how to check a direct-from-owner rental. And remember Article 16: a new lease still cannot demand a cash housing deposit.

This guide reads Ley 820 de 2003 as published in the official texts accessed on 7 October 2026. It is not a substitute for advice on a filed case.

Frequently Asked Questions

❓ Does a one-year urban housing lease renew by itself?

It can, under Article 6 and, if the landlord has no written notice, under Article 22 numeral 8. Article 6 assumes both sides performed and the tenant accepts the rent adjustments the law authorizes. Without written proof of the landlord's notice, renewal is for the originally agreed term (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Is a WhatsApp message three months before the end date enough for the landlord to end it?

No, Articles 22 and 24 require written notice through servicio postal autorizado. A chat, email or verbal message is not what those articles describe. If the landlord has no written proof of a qualifying notice, the lease is understood to renew (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Can the landlord raise the rent on 1 January 2026?

Only if that date is at least 12 months after the rent last stayed at the same price, the increase is within the cap, and Article 20 notice was given. Without that communication the increase is not opposable to the tenant. Article 18 still limits the new rent (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ What is the maximum 2026 increase when the previous calendar year is 2025?

Up to 5.10%, the DANE annual IPC for December 2025 published on 8 January 2026. It is a ceiling, not a fixed raise, and the new rent still cannot exceed the Article 18 cap. It applies only after 12 months at the same price (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Can the tenant leave on the end date without paying three months' rent?

Yes, with written notice through servicio postal autorizado at least three months before that date under Article 24 numeral 5, with no extra cause and no indemnity. Leaving during the term or a renewal is the numeral 4 path, which carries a three-month rent indemnity (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Does the landlord owe three months' rent to make the tenant leave?

Only on the paths that say so: numeral 7 during a renewal, with three months of rent, or numeral 8 literal d after four years, with 1.5 months of rent. The money follows the Article 23 deposit steps, calculated on the rent in force on the notice date (verify with the official source, as accessed).

❓ Does this three-month rule cover a room rented as a pensión, or a shop?

A qualifying Article 4 literal d pensión uses 10 days' notice, and shops, offices and rural property are outside this urban-housing law. Your contract needs to meet every element of the pensión definition, including a term under one year, for the short notice to apply (verify with the official source, as accessed).