Connecticut eviction law

Once rent is unpaid past the nine-day grace period (four days for a weekly tenancy), you may end the tenancy with a written notice to quit. The notice must give the tenant at least three days before the quit date and must be served by a proper officer.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15a(a) Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a)

• Since January 1, 2026, nonpayment is not a ground for a notice to quit if your own online payment system kept the tenant from paying within the grace period. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a)(1)(D)
• The notice follows the statutory form: the unit's address including apartment number, the quit date and the reason in the statute's words. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(b), (c)
• Accepting rent you know is overdue waives the right to end the lease for that nonpayment. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-19
• The Judicial Branch's one-page right to counsel notice must be attached to a notice to quit, and to the summons and complaint, delivered to a tenant who is income eligible for the state's right to counsel program. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-75(a)(1), (f)(2)
• For a month-to-month or weekly tenancy, a nonpayment notice ends the tenancy for the period in which it is delivered. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(d)

For a material lease violation, or a breach of the tenant's duties that materially affects health, safety or the premises, give written notice describing it and a termination date at least 15 days after the tenant receives it. If the breach can be fixed by repair or payment and the tenant fixes it within those 15 days, the lease does not end.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15

• If substantially the same breach recurs within six months, you may serve a notice to quit without a new chance to cure. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15
• For nonpayment and for serious nuisance, such as violence, threats, serious property destruction or drug sales on the premises, you may go straight to a notice to quit. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15 Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23(a)(1)(G)

Evictions are summary process cases in Superior Court. After the notice to quit expires, the landlord files a writ, summons and complaint that can be returnable six days after service. If the tenant does not appear within two days after the return day, the court enters judgment for possession on the landlord's motion. Execution is stayed five days after judgment, not counting Sundays and legal holidays.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23a Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-26 Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-35

• After the stay, a state marshal carries out the eviction and must try to notify the tenant at least 24 hours before. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-35(a) Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-42(b)
• A tenant 62 or older, or with a qualifying disability, in a building or complex of five or more units may be evicted only for listed causes: nonpayment, refusing a fair and equitable rent increase, material violations, a lease made void by illegal use, permanent removal of the unit from the market, or the landlord's good faith move-in. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23c(b)
• For an income-eligible tenant, the right to counsel notice must be attached to the summons and complaint as well as the notice to quit. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-75(f)(2)
• If a written lease has the tenant waive the notice to quit when the lease ends by lapse of time, the three-day notice is not needed for that ground. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-25
• The return date on the summons is used for filing deadlines; it is not the date to attend a hearing. An Appearance and an Answer are different forms: the Appearance identifies the responding party, while the Answer responds to the complaint and raises any applicable defenses. Read the current forms and court notices promptly and follow the separate hearing notice when one is issued. Keep the lease, notice and service records, payment history, relevant photographs and messages in a dated file so the disputed facts are ready for the hearing. Connecticut Judicial Branch: rights and responsibilities Connecticut Judicial Branch: tenant eviction guide

Never remove a tenant, change the locks or hold their belongings without a court order. A landlord who deprives a tenant of access to the unit or their possessions without a court order commits criminal lockout, and the tenant can ask a Superior Court judge for a quick hearing and may recover double damages.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-214 Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-43 Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-46

• A lease term letting the landlord dispossess the tenant without a court order, or seize the tenant's property for rent, is unenforceable. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-4(a)(5), (a)(6), (b)
• The judge must summon the landlord to a hearing within eight days after the complaint is presented. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-43(b)
• If a landlord fails to supply heat, water, electricity, gas or another essential service it must provide, the tenant has self-help and rent abatement remedies. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-13 See Tenant repair remedies on the Connecticut page

If all occupants have abandoned the unit, you may send notice by regular and certified mail to their last known address. If they do not contact you within ten days, you may retake the unit without an eviction. Inventory what they left, store it for at least 30 days so they can reclaim it, and only then dispose of it.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11b

• Abandonment means the occupants left without notice and do not intend to return, shown by removal of substantially all their belongings and either more than two months' unpaid rent or an express statement that they will not stay. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11b(a)
• If you know or should know the unit was not abandoned, you must use the normal eviction process. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11b(c)
• After an eviction judgment, a state marshal removes the belongings to town storage; the town may auction what is not reclaimed within 15 days. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-42(a), (c)
• When the sole occupant dies, a separate procedure runs through the emergency contact, the next of kin and the Probate Court. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11d

For six months after a protected act, a landlord may not bring an eviction, demand a rent increase or cut services. Protected acts are a good faith effort to fix a code violation by lawful means, including a complaint to officials or a fair rent commission; a code agency's notice or order; a good faith repair request; a repair lawsuit in housing court; and organizing or joining a tenants' union.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-20

• An eviction may still proceed for nonpayment, illegal use or a lease violation, a good faith need to live in the unit yourself, a condition the tenant wilfully caused, or a notice to end a periodic tenancy given before the complaint. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-20a(a)
• A rent increase may still proceed if the tenant carelessly caused the condition, or to pass on a prorated share of a substantial tax or operating cost increase that arose at least four months before. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-20a(b)