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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1266
January Session, 2025
AN ACT REQUIRING THE POSTING OF FAIR RENT COMMISSION
BYLAWS AND THAT THE HEARINGS OF SUCH COMMISSIONS BE
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-148b of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 2
(a) For purposes of this section and sections 7-148c to 7-148f, 3
inclusive, "seasonal basis" means housing accommodations rented for a 4
period or periods aggregating not more than one hundred twenty days 5
in any one calendar year and "rental charge" includes any fee or charge 6
in addition to rent that is imposed or sought to be imposed upon a 7
tenant by a landlord. 8
(b) Any town, city or borough may, and any town, city or borough 9
with a population of twenty-five thousand or more, as determined by 10
the most recent decennial census, shall, through its legislative body, 11
adopt an ordinance that creates a fair rent commission. Any such 12
commission shall make studies and investigations, conduct hearings 13
and receive complaints relative to rental charges on housing 14
accommodations, except those accommodations rented on a seasonal 15
basis, within its jurisdiction, which term shall include mobile 16
manufactured homes and mobile manufactured home park lots, in 17 Substitute Bill No. 1266
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order to control and eliminate excessive rental charges on such 18
accommodations, and to carry out the provisions of sections 7-148b to 19
7-148f, inclusive, section 47a-20 and subsection (b) of section 47a-23c. 20
The commission, for such purposes, may compel the attendance of 21
persons at hearings, issue subpoenas and administer oaths, issue orders 22
and continue, review, amend, terminate or suspend any of its orders and 23
decisions. The commission may be empowered to retain legal counsel 24
to advise it. All hearings conducted pursuant to this section shall be 25
open to the public. 26
(c) Any town, city or borough required to create a fair rent 27
commission pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall adopt an 28
ordinance creating such commission on or before July 1, 2023. Not later 29
than thirty days after the adoption of such ordinance, the chief executive 30
officer of such town, city or borough shall (1) notify the Commissioner 31
of Housing that such commission has been created, and (2) transmit a 32
copy of the ordinance adopted by the town, city or borough to the 33
commissioner. 34
(d) Any two or more towns, cities or boroughs not subject to the 35
requirements of subsection (b) of this section may, through their 36
legislative bodies, create a joint fair rent commission. 37
(e) Any town, city or borough that creates a fair rent commission 38
pursuant to this section shall make any bylaws adopted by such fair rent 39
commission publicly available on the Internet web site of such town, city 40
or borough. 41
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 7-148b
HSG Joint Favorable Subst.