You asked for a summary of legislation Connecticut legislators have considered in the past four years that landlords may view as “favorable” to them.

SUMMARY

In the past four years the legislature has considered five bills that landlords may view as favorable to them. Four of these bills became law. The fifth (HB 6583) died on the House calendar after receiving a favorable report from the General Law and Energy and Technology committees. In determining legislation “favorable” to landlords, we looked for bills that expedite the eviction process, establish new grounds for eviction, save landlords money, or protect rental property from damage.

We briefly summarize below the “favorable,” as opposed to all, provisions in the four pieces of legislation in reverse chronological order by year.

PA 04-127

AN ACT CONCERNING COURT OPERATIONS

This act allows landlords to file eviction suits against week-to-week tenants and discharged farm workers, servants, and other employees occupying employer-provided housing three days after giving them notice to quit the premises, adopting the timeframe already designated for month-to-month tenancies. It requires courts to enter default judgments in eviction proceedings whenever a party fails to file a timely pleading and the opposing party requests the judgment.

2003—HB 6583 (Died on the House Calendar)

AN ACT CONCERNING LANDLORDS AND MASTER WATER METERING

This bill allows landlords to charge tenants for submetered water use if the tenants sign a lease that clearly and conspicuously provides for such charges and the submeter measures only the water used in a particular unit or area under each tenant’s exclusive possession and control. (Submetering measures the amount of water individual tenants use in a building served by a master meter. ) The landlord can only institute the charge at the beginning of a new lease period and not during the term of the lease. The lease must disclose in plain language the details of the submetering and billing arrangements.

PA 02-30—CGS § 47a-2

AN ACT CONCERNING INNKEEPERS AND GUESTS

This act establishes a statutory rule for determining when a person is a “transient occupant” in a hotel, motel, or similar lodging as that phrase is used in landlord and tenant law. Under the act, anyone who occupies such an establishment for less than 30 days is deemed transient, unless he uses it as his primary residence from the beginning of the occupancy. Occupancy of 30 days or more is deemed non-transient, unless the establishment is not the occupant’s primary residence. Occupancy of 90 or more days is non-transient regardless of whether the occupant has another residence. Non-transient occupants are protected under landlord and tenant laws but transient occupants are not; thus, they are subject to, for example, lockout as opposed to eviction.

PA 01-186— CGS § 47a-14h

AN ACT CONCERNING COURT OPERATIONS

By law, any tenant who claims his landlord has not performed his statutory duties may file a complaint in Superior Court to seek relief. This act requires that the tenant deposit an amount equal to the last agreed-upon rent with the court clerk within nine instead of 10 days after the rent is due. In the case of a week-to-week tenancy, the act requires it to be deposited within four instead of 10 days after the rent is due.

PA 01-133—CGS § 47a-11d

AN ACT CONCERNING DEATH OF A TENANT

This act gives landlords an alternative to bringing an eviction action to regain possession of a dwelling unit after the only tenant living there dies. Landlords who follow the act’s provisions are protected against an action for entering a dwelling unit without consent.

When the only tenant living in a dwelling unit dies, the act authorizes the landlord to notify the tenant's next of kin of (1) his death and (2) the landlord’s intentions regarding the tenant’s personal belongings if the next of kin fails to reclaim them within a specified period. The act requires all landlords who follow its provisions to file an affidavit in probate court regarding the deceased tenant and his personal belongings.

The act authorizes a landlord who follows its provisions to dispose of the tenant’s property if (1) no relative appears to claim it or (2) no one asks the probate court to take any action on the deceased tenant’s will within the time specified in the notice.

The act specifies that it does not relieve a landlord of the duty to comply with the landlord and tenant laws, other than the law regarding security deposits, when he knows or should reasonably know that the dwelling unit has not been abandoned. Under existing law, a security deposit, minus any deductions for damages, belongs to the tenant who paid it or, in the event of death, the tenant's estate.

Notice to Next of Kin

When a landlord has complied with the terms of a lease that includes the tenant’s death as a ground for termination, the act permits him to send a notice to the last-known address of the next of kin upon the death of the sole tenant in a dwelling unit. He must send the notice by regular and certified mail, return receipt requested. The notice must be in clear and simple language and include the landlord’s telephone number and address. It must state that the (1) tenant has died, (2) landlord intends to remove his belongings from the dwelling unit and re-rent the premises, and (3) next of kin has 60 days to reclaim the belongings or the landlord will dispose of them.

Probate Court Affidavit

The act requires landlords to file an affidavit with the probate court when the sole tenant in a dwelling unit dies. The affidavit must include the deceased tenant’s name and address, the date he died, the terms of his lease, and the names and addresses of any known next of kin.

If the court receives a request to determine the validity of a will or appoint an administrator of a decedent’s estate within 55 days of the date the affidavit is filed, it must immediately notify the landlord. A landlord who receives this notice cannot dispose of the tenant’s property or re-rent the dwelling unit as indicated above.

Landlord Removal of a Deceased Tenant’s Property

A landlord must inventory the belongings left in a dwelling unit by a deceased tenant no earlier than 30 days after the date he files the affidavit and file a copy of the inventory with the court. If no relative appears to claim the belongings and no one asks the probate court to take any action on the deceased tenant’s will, the landlord can store the belongings within 15 days after the inventory and after 30 days the state marshal can put them on the adjacent sidewalk, street, or highway.

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