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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5234 (as amended by House "A")*
AN ACT CONCERNING THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF
LANDLORDS AND TENANTS.
SUMMARY
This bill makes a number of changes in laws about landlords and
tenants.
Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill requires landlords to give tenants
the opportunity to request and complete a pre-occupancy “walk-
through” of a dwelling unit after or at the time of entering into a rental
agreement. The bill prohibits a landlord from keeping any portion of a
tenant’s security deposit or seeking payment for conditions specifically
identified during the walk-through. Rental agreements entered into
before January 1, 2023, are exempt from the bill’s walk-through
requirements.
The bill limits rental application-related fees that landlords may
demand from prospective tenants to reimbursements for tenant
screening reports. It requires landlords to (1) provide tenants with these
reports and a receipt or invoice and (2) waive the fee if the prospective
tenant provides a recent tenant screening report that is satisfactory to
the landlord.
Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill requires landlords to provide
tenants with a written Department of Housing (DOH) notice
summarizing the rights of protected tenants (i.e., certain tenants at least
age 62 or with a disability) whenever they rent, or enter or renew an
agreement to rent, certain dwelling units.
Finally, the bill makes technical and conforming changes.
*House Amendment “A” (1) eliminates provisions (a) allowing
landlords to accept damage insurance coverage in place of traditional 2022HB-05234-R010591-BA.DOCX
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security deposits and (b) requiring landlords to provide eligible tenants
with voter registration applications; (2) advances the deadline by which
DOH must prepare a pre-occupancy walk-through checklist; (3)
eliminates the $20 cap on screening report reimbursement fees; (4)
expressly exempts security deposits from the underlying bill’s
limitations on rental application-related fees; and (5) requires landlords
of certain dwelling units to provide information about protected
tenants’ rights to all tenants, rather than only protected tenants.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2022
§ 1 — PRE-OCCUPANCY WALK -THROUGHS
Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill requires landlords to give tenants
the opportunity to request and complete a pre-occupancy “walk-
through” of a dwelling unit after or at the time of entering into a rental
agreement.
Under the bill, a “walk-through” means a joint, in-person inspection
of a dwelling unit by the landlord and tenant or their designees to note
and list the unit’s existing conditions, defects, or damages using a DOH
checklist. The bill requires the DOH commissioner to prepare this
standardized, pre-occupancy walk-through checklist and make it
available on DOH’s website by December 1, 2022. Following a
walkthrough, landlords and tenants or their designees must each sign
and receive duplicate copies of the checklist.
When a tenant vacates the dwelling unit, the bill prohibits a landlord
from keeping any portion of a tenant’s security deposit or seeking
payment for a condition, defect, or damage noted in the preoccupancy
walk-through checklist. In administrative or judicial proceedings, this
checklist is admissible, subject to the rules of evidence, but not
conclusive, as evidence of the unit’s condition at the beginning of a
tenant’s occupancy.
§ 2 — LIMITS ON APPLICATION FEES FOR PROSPECTIVE
TENANTS
The bill prohibits landlords from requiring prospective tenants to pay
rental application-related fees or make any other payments before or at 2022HB-05234-R010591-BA.DOCX
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the start of tenancy unless the fee is for a tenant screening report (or
security deposit). Under the bill, a “tenant screening report” means a
credit report, a criminal background report, an employment history
report, a rental history report, or any combination of these that a
landlord uses to determine a prospective tenant’s suitability.
The bill allows landlords to charge prospective tenants a fee or fees
to reimburse costs associated with conducting a tenant screening report,
if the cumulative fee does not exceed the actual cost of the report.
Additionally, the bill requires landlords to waive the tenant screening
report fee if a prospective tenant provides a copy of a tenant screening
report that (1) is satisfactory to the landlord and (2) was conducted
within 30 days of the tenant’s rental application.
§ 3 — REQUIRED NOTICE OF PROTECTED TENANT STATUS
By law, certain tenants have additional protections against evictions
and rent increases (see below). These “protected tenants” generally
include those residing in dwelling units in buildings or complexes
consisting of five or more separate units or mobile manufactured home
parks who are (1) at least age 62 or (2) individuals with disabilities.
Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill requires landlords or their agents to
provide a written DOH notice summarizing these protections to any
tenant that rents, or enters or renews an agreement to rent, one of the
units described above.
Existing law, unchanged by the bill, prohibits protected tenants from
being evicted solely for their lease expiring (i.e., lapse of time). It also
requires that their rent only be increased by an amount that is fair and
equitable and allows those aggrieved by a rent increase, and residing in
a municipality without a fair rent commission, to bring action to contest
the increase in Superior Court.
Under the bill, the DOH commissioner must create the one-page,
plain-language summary of protected tenants’ rights and post it on the
department’s website by January 1, 2023. The bill requires that the notice
be available in other languages in addition to English, as determined by
the commissioner. 2022HB-05234-R010591-BA.DOCX
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BACKGROUND
Related Bill
HB 5233 (File 107), favorably reported by the Housing Committee,
extends protections available to “protected tenants” to all tenants in
those buildings.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Housing Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 15 Nay 0 (03/15/2022)