How Connecticut landlord-tenant law works
Connecticut landlord-tenant law sits in Title 47a of the General Statutes. Chapter 832 sets the summary process rules for evictions, the Department of Banking enforces the security deposit statute, section 47a-21, and the Department of Housing oversees the fair rent commissions that towns must create.
Two features shape apartment ownership more than anything else. Tenants who are 62 or older, or who have a qualifying disability, can be evicted from a building of five or more units only for specific reasons. And in every town of 25,000 or more people, a tenant can ask a fair rent commission to rule that an increase is harsh and unconscionable.
Connecticut landlord-tenant rules at a glance
The table sums up the state rules for a market-rate apartment building. Leases, local ordinances and subsidy contracts can add requirements.
| Rule | Connecticut requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Notice to quit | At least 3 days before the quit date, in the statutory form | C.G.S. 47a-23 |
| Nonpayment | Notice may be served only after a 9-day grace period (4 days for weekly tenancies) | C.G.S. 47a-23, 47a-15a |
| Late fees | Only after the grace period, with a written lease term; no more than the lesser of $5 a day up to $50, or 5% of the late payment | C.G.S. 47a-15a |
| Entry notice | Reasonable written or oral notice, at reasonable times; no notice needed in an emergency | C.G.S. 47a-16 |
| Protected tenants | 62+ or disabled, in 5+ unit buildings: eviction only for listed grounds | C.G.S. 47a-23c |
| Security deposit cap | Two months’ rent; one month for tenants 62 or older | C.G.S. 47a-21 |
| Deposit interest | At least the Banking Commissioner’s rate: 0.49% for 2026 | Department of Banking |
| Deposit return | 21 days after the tenancy ends, or 15 days after a written forwarding address | C.G.S. 47a-21 |
| Rent increase notice | At least 45 days in writing; one full term for month-to-month | C.G.S. 47a-4e (P.A. 24-143, sec. 17) |
| Stay after judgment | 5 days, excluding Sundays and legal holidays | C.G.S. 47a-35 |
How much notice does a landlord have to give in Connecticut?
A Connecticut landlord ends a residential tenancy by serving a written notice to quit at least three days before the date the tenant must leave, under section 47a-23. The notice must substantially follow the statutory form: the address and unit number, the quit date, the reason in the statute’s words or similar ones, and the date, place and signature. A marshal or other proper person must deliver a copy to each tenant and occupant, and delivery can be on any day of the week.
The three days is a minimum. The reason sets when you can serve it. For nonpayment, a residential notice can go out only after the grace period in section 47a-15a has passed: nine days after rent is due, or four days for a weekly tenancy. For a month-to-month tenancy, a nonpayment notice delivered in the month after rent was due still ends the tenancy and turns it into a tenancy at sufferance.
Raising rent has its own notice. Since October 1, 2024, section 17 of Public Act 24-143, now section 47a-4e of the General Statutes, requires written notice at least 45 days before an increase takes effect, or one full term for a month-to-month lease, and a tenant’s silence is not agreement.
Protected tenants in buildings of five or more units
Section 47a-23c protects tenants who are 62 or older, or who have a qualifying physical or mental disability, in a building or complex of five or more units. It also covers a tenant who lives with a spouse, sibling, parent or grandparent who is 62 or older, or with a close family member who has a qualifying disability. For them, a landlord can bring summary process only for one of the listed reasons.
- Nonpayment of rent.
- Refusing a fair and equitable rent increase.
- Material noncompliance with the tenant’s health and safety duties, the lease or the landlord’s rules.
- Permanently removing the unit from the housing market.
- The landlord’s good-faith plan to live in the unit as a principal residence.
- The rent increase, market removal and owner-occupancy grounds cannot be used during the term of an existing lease.
Late fees and entry in Connecticut
Section 47a-15a limits late fees. A landlord may charge one only if the written lease provides for it, and only on rent paid after the grace period of nine days, or four days for a weekly tenancy. The fee cannot exceed the lesser of $5 a day up to $50, or 5% of the late payment, and only one fee is allowed per late payment however long it stays unpaid. Where a housing program pays part of the rent, the 5% is figured on the tenant’s share.
Section 47a-16 governs entry. A tenant may not unreasonably refuse entry to inspect, make repairs, supply services or show the unit to buyers, lenders or new tenants. Except in an emergency, the landlord must give reasonable written or oral notice and enter only at reasonable times, and may not use entry to harass the tenant. The statute sets no fixed number of hours, so put a notice period in the lease and follow it.
Security deposit rules in Connecticut
A Connecticut landlord may not require a security deposit of more than two months’ rent, or one month’s rent for a tenant 62 or older, under section 47a-21. The deposit belongs to the tenant, though the landlord holds a security interest in it, and it must sit in an escrow account at a financial institution in Connecticut.
Landlords must pay interest at no less than the average commercial bank savings rate, which the Banking Commissioner publishes each year. The 2026 rate is 0.49%. Interest is due on each anniversary of the tenancy, paid to the tenant or credited toward the next month’s rent. A tenant who is more than ten days late with rent forfeits interest for that month, unless the lease sets a late charge.
Within 21 days after the tenancy ends, return the deposit with interest or send an itemized written notice of damages, including unpaid rent or utilities, with the balance. If the tenant has not given a forwarding address, the deadline is 15 days after you receive one in writing. Miss the deadline or skip the notice and the tenant may recover twice the deposit. The Department of Banking investigates complaints and can refer cases to the Attorney General.
The eviction process in Connecticut
Evictions in Connecticut are summary process cases in Superior Court, heard in a housing session where one exists. The steps follow the statute.
- Serve the notice to quit, at least three days before the quit date, through a marshal or other proper person.
- After the quit date passes, have the summons and complaint served and returned to court.
- If the tenant files no appearance within two days after the return day, move for a default judgment with an endorsed copy of the notice to quit; the court enters judgment no later than the next court day (section 47a-26).
- If the tenant appears, the case goes to a hearing and judgment.
- Execution is stayed for five days after judgment, not counting Sundays and legal holidays, and an appeal must be filed within that window (section 47a-35).
- A state marshal carries out the execution, gives the town’s chief executive officer 24 hours’ notice, and delivers any belongings left behind to the town’s storage place (section 47a-42).
How long does an eviction take in Connecticut?
The statutory steps alone add up to a few weeks: the notice period, service and the return day, the two-day appearance window, a judgment and the five-day stay. A contested case takes longer, because the hearing date depends on the court’s calendar, and an appeal filed inside the five-day window keeps the stay in place until the appeal is decided, unless the judge finds it was filed only for delay or the tenant fails to post the required bond.
Plan conservatively. If you are selling, assume any eviction in progress will still be running at closing, and agree in the contract who controls the case and who keeps any money recovered.
Does Connecticut have rent control?
No. Connecticut has no statewide rent cap. It uses fair rent commissions instead. Under Public Act 22-30, every town, city or borough with 25,000 or more residents had to adopt an ordinance creating one by July 1, 2023, and the Department of Housing lists 35 mandatory towns and 3 others that created one voluntarily.
A commission acts on a tenant’s complaint. It can decide that a rent or increase is so excessive as to be harsh and unconscionable and set a fair and equitable rent, phase an increase in, delay it until code violations are fixed, or suspend rent for a unit that fails health or safety rules. It weighs the factors in section 7-148c, such as comparable rents, the condition of the unit and operating costs, with no fixed formula. The Department of Housing’s toolkit says plainly that commissions are not rent control and do not limit rents generally.
Selling a Connecticut building with tenants in place
A sale does not end existing leases; the buyer takes the building subject to them. What needs care in Connecticut is the deposit money, because it belongs to the tenants and must stay in a Connecticut escrow account with interest accruing.
- Reconcile each tenant’s deposit and accrued interest at the 0.49% 2026 rate, or the rate for each year held.
- Transfer the deposits and interest to the buyer at closing, and tell each tenant in writing who now holds the money.
- List tenants protected by section 47a-23c, since a buyer cannot remove them for convenience.
- Disclose pending summary process cases and any fair rent commission complaints or orders.
- Give the buyer copies of every rent increase notice served in the past year, to show the 45-day rule was followed.
Connecticut landlord-tenant law changes in 2024-2026
The change most owners notice is the rent increase notice in Public Act 24-143, section 17, in force since October 1, 2024: 45 days in writing, a full term for month-to-month leases, and no agreement from silence. Public Act 22-30 put fair rent commissions in every town of 25,000 or more by July 1, 2023, and the Department of Housing’s toolkit for them is dated August 2024. Public Act 22-26 amended section 47a-42 on how evictions are carried out. The Banking Commissioner set the 2026 deposit interest rate at 0.49%.
Selling a Connecticut apartment building
Skyline buys apartment buildings with five or more units in Connecticut, with tenants in place. We buy directly, close on your timeline, and can work inside 1031 deadlines. We take over the leases and the deposit accounts at closing, and we price protected tenancies and open cases into the offer instead of asking you to resolve them first.
For the tax on a sale, see Connecticut capital gains tax on real estate, and for the carrying cost a buyer will underwrite, the property tax rate in Connecticut.
