As the General Assembly gears up to consider legislation that would greatly expand eviction protections for renters in the state, Connecticut’s landlords feel that they are increasingly being placed between a rock and a hard place.
One of the agenda items for the Housing Committee this legislative session is to consider expanding “no-fault” eviction protections. In a no-fault eviction, landlords can remove tenants at the end of their leasing agreement. Under current state law, people over the age of 62 or people with disabilities are protected from being removed without cause. One proposal before the committee would expand this protection to all renters in the state.
Landlords fear that this legislation will make dealing with problematic tenants and managing their properties more difficult.
“Housing providers intend to fight this litigation aggressively,” said Bob DeCosmo, president of the Connecticut Property Owner’s Alliance. “This legislation is well-meaning but misguided, and in practice will cause more harm than good.”
DeCosmo says disruptive tenants are a real problem.
“If this legislation passes, it will become more difficult to get rid of disruptive tenants, especially those who have a 100% subsidy. Good tenants don’t want to testify against disruptive ones [in eviction proceedings] because it causes conflict in the properties. And since the passage of the Police Accountability Act, police are reluctant to get involved in housing disputes,” DeCosmo said.
Kelly DeMatteo, president of the Connecticut Apartment Association, echoed those sentiments. “If a problem tenant violates their lease, then it becomes a problem for the neighbors. Our job is to resolve problems as quickly and professionally as possible. The process for evicting a tenant is the same either during or at the end of a lease, so terminating occupancy at the end is the easiest way.”
DeMatteo also sees a more fundamental problem with the proposal.
“Legislators are trying to change what a contract is,” she said. “Both parties have an obligation to fulfill their agreements in the lease. What if the tenant doesn’t fulfill theirs? What the legislature is talking about is perpetual tenancy, with no end date to a contract.”
Landlords do enjoy significant structural advantages in their legal dealings with tenants. The People’s Parity Project (PPP), a nonprofit organization which organizes lawyers across the country to take on public interest work, released a report titled Impact of Judges’ Professional Backgrounds on Eviction Outcomes. The report focuses on the Connecticut judicial landscape, and the PPP explained two significant findings:
- Judges with prosecutorial or corporate experience were more likely to issue rulings in favor of landlords, whereas judges with experience as legal aid or plaintiff’s attorneys were more likely to issue rulings favorable to tenants, and;
- Tenants had better outcomes when their cases were heard in housing session courts rather than normal court proceedings.
These findings are significant because unlike many other states, Connecticut does not have specialized housing courts that are separate from other judicial matters. Housing sessions are held in major cities such as Hartford, Bridgeport, and Stamford, but this can leave many tenants in regular courtrooms where they face a disadvantage.
Additionally, tenants face hurdles based on the overconcentration of judges with particular types of legal experience.
The study analyzed 3,605 cases presided over by 62 different judges. Researches found that judges with backgrounds in legal aid and plaintiffs’ litigation had the lowest scores, corresponding with better average renter outcomes, while judges with corporate and prosecutorial backgrounds had the highest scores.
According to the Eviction Lab, a nonprofit think tank at Princeton University, Connecticut had 20,625 evictions from December 2022 through November 2023, representing 3% of all renter households.
