Security guard licenses are no longer the most popular in Denver as residential rentals takes top spot

Denver has issued more than 7,800 residential rental property licenses, making it the top business license type in the city and county.

The number of residential rental property licenses now surpasses the No. 2 license type, which is for security guards at around 7,700. The rest of the top five includes licenses for short-term rentals at 2,800, for retail food establishments at almost 2,500, and for combined – “addresses that have multiple licenses at one location,” like a hotel – at 1,800.

“It demonstrates that we’re making a lot of progress in this overall city effort to raise the minimal housing standards across Denver with this new licensing requirement,” said Eric Escudero, spokesperson for the Denver Department of Excise and License.

Unlike a lot of other Colorado cities, Denver doesn’t mandate that all businesses obtain licenses – typically just those with health, safety and welfare concerns. For example, bookstores and dress shops aren’t covered by that regulation.

As of now, only multi-unit residential rental properties are required to obtain the license, as their mandate went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. The city has issued almost 4,700 of those licenses to apartment complexes and other properties.

“It was hard, really, to guess where we would be at this point, but we’re really pleased where we’re at,” Escudero said in an interview on Wednesday. “We think it’ll lead to the largest upgrade in residential rental housing standards in Denver history.”

Meanwhile, thousands of single-unit property landlords opted to plan ahead. Although their deadline falls on Jan. 1, 2024, more than 3,000 of those licenses have already been distributed.