City of Boulder Occupancy Update
As we have reported before, state law ( House Bill HB24-1007) has changed how cities can regulate occupancy. Cities are prohibited from any occupancy limitations unless:
- Demonstrated health and safety standards, such as international building code standards, fire code regulations, or Colorado department of public health and environment wastewater and water quality standards; or
- Local, state, federal, or political subdivision affordable housing program guidelines.
This legal change went into effect on July 1, 2024. We have confirmed that the city of Boulder is enforcing occupancy based on the International Property Maintenance Code below. You will also see this notice on your rental licenses.
IPMC Occupancy Limitations Enforced
Per State Law, the city no longer uses zoning occupancy limits. Rather, the city uses the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC) to regulate residential occupancy and enforces the IPMC occupancy requirements that are based on the number and size of bedrooms in each dwelling unit. The IPMC requires that each bedroom be no less than 70 square feet in size, with a minimum of 50 square feet per occupant of a bedroom (IPMC sec.404.4.1). In addition, IPMC table 404.5 prescribes minimum areas for living and dining rooms based on the number of occupants of the dwelling unit. The IPMC can be found at iccsafe.org.
The city of Boulder has not yet changed their ordinance but is scheduled to bring the draft changes to Planning Board on Dec. 3 and the City Council public hearing is tentatively set for Feb. 6.
Since we last gave an update on this topic, we have confirmed with staff that they intend to remove the section of code that requires advertising.