The well permit filing many Colorado home sales need

Last reviewed: July 26, 2026

For a covered Colorado residential sale involving a small-capacity or domestic exempt well, one piece of paperwork applies whether or not anyone tests a drop of water: updating the well permit’s owner name with the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR). The filing is free. This is not literally every kind of well transfer; the residential-sale rule names specific well classes.

What the filing is

Colorado wells operate under permits issued by DWR, and DWR requires permit holders to keep the owner name and contact information current — the requirement DWR cites is section 37-90-143 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. When a covered residential property changes hands, the buyer completes a Change of Owner Name/Contact Information form and the closing service has a statutory submission duty. Separately, an owner of an unexpired permit who changes a name or contact information must update DWR within 63 days.

One important honesty note, straight from DWR: this filing updates contact information only — “this action does not convey real property.” It doesn’t create water rights, and skipping it doesn’t undo your purchase. What it does is keep the state’s record pointing at the person who actually owns the well — which matters the day you need a repair permit, want to replace the pump, respond to a well-field question, or sell the place yourself.

Who completes it — and who submits it

On DWR’s eForms portal there are three versions of this filing, and the list itself tells the story:

1. Change of Owner — used by the well owner, their attorney, or an authorized agent (non-owners need a letter of authorization).
2. Title Companies — Change of Owner — used by the title company during a real estate transaction, using the well permit number.
3. Title Companies — Change of Owner (no valid permit number available) — for closings where nobody can find the permit number.

For the covered residential sales named in C.R.S. §38-30-102(3), the buyer must complete the form before or at closing and a person providing closing services must submit the appropriate form within 60 days after closing. Check the public record afterward rather than assuming the handoff is complete.

Check whether your well’s record is current

Before filing anything, look your well up — it’s public:

1. Open DWR’s Well Permit Search.
2. Search by address, parcel, or section-township-range. (The permit number, if you have closing documents, is faster still.)
3. Check the owner name on the permit record. If it’s the person you bought the house from — or someone older than that — the filing was missed.

While you’re in the record, note the permit number and keep it with your house documents; every future well interaction starts with it. If no permit shows up at all, that’s worth resolving before you’re the seller — an unregistered well surfacing during a sale adds paperwork at the worst possible moment.

File or correct it (free)

On the eForms portal, pick the Change of Owner form, create an account, and submit — there’s no filing fee. DWR asks for patience while records update (allow a few weeks). If you’re filing for someone else, include the letter of authorization the form describes.

Where this fits in the bigger picture

The DWR filing is the “state” layer of the three rule layers for covered Colorado residential well sales — alongside your county’s rules and the buyer’s lender. It is free. DWR itself publishes a Fact Sheet for Home Buyers and Real Estate Professionals (linked on its well permitting page) that covers the same ground from the state’s side — worth handing to your agent.

Permit ownership is only one closing task. It does not show that the water is safe, prove how much the well produces, or inspect the pump and pressure system. Use the well-closing planner to turn the closing date, county, and buyer financing into a separate test-and-paperwork checklist before ordering anything.

Selling and need help deciding whom to call? The form below records a private inquiry with this site’s operator. It is not sent directly to a tester, does not schedule a sample, and does not complete the state filing for you.

Related permit reading: what a Colorado well permit costs (the fee is the small number) and how the DWR permit process works from form choice through the construction report.