Colorado rules for licensed agents
How long must a Colorado broker keep transaction files?
Colorado asks both the broker and the brokerage firm to keep transaction files for four years, counted from the day the transaction was consummated or the listing contract expired without a sale. Trust and escrow accounts carry their own journal and ledger rules, and the rules allow those records to be kept electronically.
Rule text read November 2, 2026 at the Colorado Secretary of State: rules changed by rulemaking 2026-00283, from the adopted rules filed there, and rules that filing left unchanged from the compiled 4 CCR 725-1. Informational, not legal advice.
The transaction file rule
The rule is 6.20, Transaction File Requirements, in 4 CCR 725-1, the Commission’s broker rules as the Secretary of State publishes them:
“Both a Broker and a Brokerage Firm must retain transactions files for all transactions for a period of four (4) years beginning from the consummation date of the transaction or the expiration date of any Listing Contracts that do not consummate.”
“Required documents in a transaction file are designated in the Commission’s Transaction File Checklist and may be found on the Division’s website.”
We did not read the checklist for this page. The rule also relieves a broker of keeping some third party paper:
“A Broker is not required to obtain and retain copies of existing public records, title commitments, loan applications, lender required disclosures, or related affirmations from independent third party closing entities after the closing date.”
Trust account records
Rule 5.14 sets the books for money held for others. It begins with where:
“An Employing Broker or Independent Broker must maintain, at the Brokerage Firm’s licensed place of business, a record keeping system”
The system has at least a journal and a ledger for each required trust or escrow account, and a monthly reconciliation of the journal, the ledgers and the bank balance. On the journal:
“A “journal” or an equivalent accounting system which records, in chronological order, all Money Belonging to Others which is received or disbursed by the Brokerage Firm.”
“No ledger may ever be allowed to have a negative cash balance.”
“The Broker is not required to maintain records or reconcile any Trust or Escrow Account when such account does not contain Money Belonging to Others.”
The rule says the reports, ledgers, journals and bank statements may be kept electronically. Rule 6.24 is wider:
“All records required to be maintained by Brokers or Brokerage Firms may be maintained as Electronic Records.”
It adds that electronic or printed records must be produced on request by the Commission or any principal party to a transaction, in a format that has the continued capability to be retrieved and legibly printed.
After a license changes
Rule 6.26 carries the four year period into a license problem. When a firm’s license becomes inactive, expired or revoked, the employing broker is responsible for maintaining all records for four years, along with accounting for the funds and notifying impacted clients and consumers within seven days.
What this page does not settle
Where a given message, post or advertisement is filed is brokerage policy, and the checklist decides what is required in the file. Ask your managing broker. Earnest money, which lands in these accounts, has its own page: Colorado earnest money rules.
Common questions
How long does a Colorado broker keep transaction files?
Rule 6.20 says both a broker and a brokerage firm retain transaction files for four years, counted from the consummation date or from the expiration of a listing contract that did not consummate.
What goes in a Colorado transaction file?
The rule says the required documents are designated in the Commission’s Transaction File Checklist, which is on the Division’s website. We did not read the checklist.
Can Colorado transaction records be kept electronically?
Rule 6.24 says all records required to be maintained by brokers or brokerage firms may be maintained as electronic records. It adds that electronic or printed records must be produced on request by the Commission or any principal party to a transaction, in a format that can be retrieved and legibly printed.
Does a Colorado broker keep copies of title paperwork?
The rule says a broker is not required to obtain and retain copies of existing public records, title commitments, loan applications, lender required disclosures, or related affirmations from independent third party closing entities after the closing date.
Does Listing AutomatEr keep a Colorado transaction file?
No. The app builds and schedules posts for listings you have permission to market. Colorado transaction files is outside what it does.
Where Listing AutomatEr fits
Listing AutomatEr is a desktop app for Mac and Windows that posts the listings you have permission to market to Facebook Marketplace on a schedule. By default it puts your name on the post as the agent marketing the home and credits the brokerage that holds the listing.
It does not obtain the permission for you, and it does not decide whether a post meets a rule. That stays with you and your broker.
Current price and trial length are on the pricing page. Cancel anytime.
Sources
4 CCR 725-1, Rules Regarding Real Estate Brokers, compiled, Colorado Secretary of State, Rules 5.14, 6.20 and 6.24, which rulemaking2026-00283did not change4 CCR 725-1, rules adopted in rulemaking2026-00283, Colorado Secretary of State, Rule 6.26, as amended in 2026- Employing broker supervision in Colorado, the rule that assigns the trust records to the employing broker
This is not legal advice. This page quotes a state rule so you can read it yourself. It is not a lawyer's opinion about your situation. The official text, your brokerage and your own lawyer are the authorities, and the official text wins over this page.