In Connecticut, all tenants have certain legally protected rights, including special protections for individuals who are 62 or older.
What types of protections do I have as a tenant in Connecticut?
For a general overview of tenant rights, please read our booklet on "Tenant Rights: General Information."
What are my rights if I am disabled?
A tenant who has a disability that may interfere with properly using the apartment may have the right to have the landlord make changes in policy to allow the tenant to use the apartment. See legal services’ brochure called "What You Should Know about Housing Discrimination."
Leases
Landlords must make repairs to keep a place clean and safe, while a tenant must pay the rent on time (within ten days of the due date, if the rent is payable by the month,) keep the place clean and not disturb neighbors. A lease is a contract binding both parties to follow its terms. The lease may be for a year, or it could be month-to-month or even week-to-week. The lease does not have to be in writing.
Security Deposits
There are limits on the amount of security deposit a landlord can ask for, before you move into an apartment. For a tenant aged 62 or older, a landlord may get up to one month’s rent as security, along with the first month’s rent. For a tenant under 62, a landlord may get up to two months’ rent as security. A tenant is also entitled to interest on his or her security deposit, paid annually, and each year the rate of interest may be adjusted. A landlord must also return the security deposit or provide an itemized statement of any security deposit withheld within certain time periods after a tenant vacates the apartment. See our article on "Security Deposits."
Rental Increases
Landlords sometimes demand unreasonable rental increases. A tenant has certain options in that case and tenants aged 62 or over may have special protection from unfair increases. It is important to remember that the amount of the rent is an essential term of the lease, a contract, and therefore, both parties must agree on those terms. See our articles on "Rent Increases" and "Fair Rent Commissions" for a discussion of your options.
Safe, decent housing
Landlords are required to maintain their property in decent, safe condition, including complying with the building, housing, health and fire codes and supplying essential services or equipment in working order that will provide the services, if the tenant has to pay for them. Our brochures on "Tenants' Rights: Repairs," and "Lead Poisoning" explain your rights in these areas.
Evictions
Tenants cannot be removed from their apartment without being provided basic notice and an opportunity to defend the eviction in court. A tenant may not be evicted during the term of the lease without good cause, usually misconduct. At the end of a term, a landlord may evict a tenant just because the lease has expired, but in certain cases, tenants aged 62 or over may not be evicted even at the end of the lease without good cause.
See our brochures:
- The Eviction Process: Before the Judge Decides
- The Eviction Process: After the Judge Decides
- Tenants' Rights: Good Cause Eviction
- Tenants' Rights: Lockouts
- Is Your Landlord Going through Foreclosure? What a Tenant Needs to Know
Miscellaneous
Other Issues that legal services has brochures on "Looking for An Apartment" and, if you live in public housing, "A Guide to the Housing Authority Grievance Procedure."
For a complete listing of all of our brochures, visit our Self-Help Guides.
