Municipal Fair Rent Commissions (Connecticut)

The mandate first applied to municipalities of 25,000 or more in July 2023 and was extended to the 15,000 threshold effective January 1, 2026; any smaller town may create a commission voluntarily. A commission does not set rent ceilings: it hears individual complaints and can roll back a specific rent it finds harsh and unconscionable after weighing thirteen factors set by state law.

What is in force

In force statewide. Connecticut law has required larger municipalities to maintain fair rent commissions since Public Act 22-30 (municipalities of 25,000 or more, commissions required by July 1, 2023). November Special Session Public Act 25-1, Section 35, effective January 1, 2026, extends the mandate to every municipality of 15,000 or more people, which may satisfy it with its own commission, a joint commission with neighboring municipalities, or a regional commission, and must do so on or before January 1, 2028. Municipalities that had commissions before 2026 may not abolish them before January 1, 2028 except by joining a joint or regional commission. Public Act 25-121 (effective July 1, 2025) added public-hearing and online-bylaws requirements.

The rent increase limit

There is no percentage cap. A fair rent commission works case by case: after a hearing, it may limit the rent of a specific unit to a fair and equitable amount if it finds the rent so excessive as to be harsh and unconscionable, weighing thirteen factors listed in the statute (comparable rents, the condition of the unit, services and furnishings, needed repairs, taxes and overhead, code compliance, the tenant's income and available housing, utilities, the amount and frequency of increases, and reinvestment in improvements, among others). Commissions may also suspend rent into escrow for health or safety violations and order a landlord to stop retaliating against a complaining tenant.

What housing is covered

Complaints may concern rents and rental charges, including fees charged on top of rent, for residential housing in any municipality that has a commission. Every municipality of 15,000 or more people must have a commission (its own, joint, or regional) by January 1, 2028; any smaller municipality may create one voluntarily. The state Department of Housing posts adopted ordinances; its list is an ordinance repository rather than a certified roster, and some long-standing commissions (Hartford, Stamford) predate it.

What happens on vacancy

Commission orders address a specific tenancy's rent. The statute contains no vacancy rules of the kind found in percentage-cap ordinances.

Eviction and termination rules

A commission may order a landlord to cease and desist from retaliatory action against a tenant who has complained. Eviction procedure itself is governed by state landlord-tenant law, and tenants who are 62 or older or have disabilities in buildings of five or more units have separate statewide protections that commissions help administer.

Registration and filings

The framework imposes no landlord registration duty. Within 30 days of adopting or joining a commission, a municipality's chief executive must notify the state Commissioner of Housing and transmit the ordinance.

Other requirements

Violations of commission orders carry fines of $25 to $100 per offense, with each day beyond five days a separate offense. Hartford's commission (five members appointed by the mayor, at least two tenants and two landlords) and New Haven's (nine members, at least five tenants, with a complaint process run by an executive director) are long-standing examples adopted under this framework.

Notes and caveats

• The threshold is 15,000 now, not 25,000 — many circulating guides still give the 25,000-population threshold from Public Act 22-30 (2022). November Special Session Public Act 25-1, Section 35 cut it to 15,000 effective January 1, 2026, gave newly covered municipalities until January 1, 2028 to comply, and added the joint and regional commission options. The operative text appears in the 2026 Supplement to the General Statutes rather than the base revision.
• No official statewide roster of commissions exists — the Department of Housing posts the ordinances it has received, listing 35 municipalities under the mandate and 3 voluntary adopters, but that page omits some long-standing commissions such as Hartford's and Stamford's and predates the 15,000-threshold expansion. Whether a particular municipality has a commission is best confirmed with the municipality itself.
• A 2026 bill to add a rent-increase cap did not pass — 2026 House Bill 5092, which would have limited certain rent increases after a property transfer through the fair rent commission process, was tabled in the House in April 2026 and did not become law.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Municipal Fair Rent Commissions (Connecticut) (verified August 13, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/connecticut/fair-rent-commissions/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148b (2026 Supplement — as amended by Nov. Sp. Sess. P.A. 25-1, § 35) subsecs. (b)–(e) (verified 2026) Official source
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148c (thirteen excessiveness factors) (verified 2026) Official source
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148d (rent limitation, escrow, retaliation orders) (verified 2026) Official source
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148f (penalties) (verified 2026) Official source
• CT Department of Housing — Fair Rent Commission ordinances by town/city (verified 2026) Official source

This page records local law. Statewide rules — deposits, notice periods, late fees, entry, evictions — live on the Connecticut hub, and the state-level position on local rent regulation appears there with its own citations and verification date.