What Does a Notice to Quit Mean in Connecticut?
Full Question:
Answer:
When a notice to quit is served, it means that the tenant must remove himself from the premises by the specified date. If the tenant remains after the date in the notice, the tenant may be deemed a holdover tenant and the landlord may use the eviction process to have the tenant removed.
You may try to cure the breach by offering to pay the rent due. If the landlord accepts the rent or partial rent, it may be deemed to be a waiver of the breach. Until the date in the notice to quit, the tenant may enter the property and remove and personal property belonging to the tenant. After such date, the landlord must provide notice and give you an opportunity to remove your property before the landlord may dispose of such property, however, storage costs may be owed.
Please see the following CT statutes:
Sec. 47a-23. (Formerly Sec. 52-532). Notice to quit possession or
occupancy of premises. Form. Delivery. Federal termination notice.
(a) When the owner or lessor, or the owner's or lessor's legal
representative, or the owner's or lessor's attorney-at-law, or in-fact,
desires to obtain possession or occupancy of any land or building, any
apartment in any building, any dwelling unit, any trailer, or any land
upon which a trailer is used or stands, and (1) when a rental agreement or
lease of such property, whether in writing or by parol, terminates for
any of the following reasons: (A) By lapse of time; (B) by reason of any
expressed stipulation therein; (C) violation of the rental agreement or
lease or of any rules or regulations adopted in accordance with section
47a-9 or 21-70; (D) nonpayment of rent within the grace period provided
for residential property in section 47a-15a or 21-83; (E) nonpayment of
rent when due for commercial property; (F) violation of section 47a-11 or
subsection (b) of section 21-82; (G) nuisance, as defined in section
47a-32, or serious nuisance, as defined in section 47a-15 or 21-80; or
(2) when such premises, or any part thereof, is occupied by one who never
had a right or privilege to occupy such premises; or (3) when one
originally had the right or privilege to occupy such premises but such
right or privilege has terminated; or (4) when an action of summary
process or other action to dispossess a tenant is authorized under
subsection (b) of section 47a-23c for any of the following reasons: (A)
Refusal to agree to a fair and equitable rent increase, as defined in
subsection (c) of section 47a-23c, (B) permanent removal by the landlord
of the dwelling unit of such tenant from the housing market, or (C) bona
fide intention by the landlord to use such dwelling unit as such
landlord's principal residence; or (5) when a farm employee, as described
in section 47a-30, or a domestic servant, caretaker, manager or other
employee, as described in subsection (b) of section 47a-36, occupies such
premises furnished by the employer and fails to vacate such premises after
employment is terminated by such employee or the employer or after such
employee fails to report for employment, such owner or lessor, or such
owner's or lessor's legal representative, or such owner's or lessor's
attorney-at-law, or in-fact, shall give notice to each lessee or occupant
to quit possession or occupancy of such land, building, apartment or
dwelling unit, at least three days before the termination of the rental
agreement or lease, if any, or before the time specified in the notice
for the lessee or occupant to quit possession or occupancy.
(b) The notice shall be in writing substantially in the following
form: "I (or we) hereby give you notice that you are to quit possession
or occupancy of the (land, building, apartment or dwelling unit, or of
any trailer or any land upon which a trailer is used or stands, as the
case may be), now occupied by you at (here insert the address, including
apartment number or other designation, as applicable), on or before the
(here insert the date) for the following reason (here insert the reason
or reasons for the notice to quit possession or occupancy using the
statutory language or words of similar import, also the date and place of
signing notice). A.B.". If the owner or lessor, or the owner's or
lessor's legal representative, attorney-at-law or attorney-in-fact knows
of the presence of an occupant but does not know the name of such
occupant, the notice for such occupant may be addressed to such occupant
as "John Doe", "Jane Doe" or some other alias which reasonably
characterizes the person to be served.
(c) A copy of such notice shall be delivered to each lessee or occupant
or left at such lessee's or occupant's place of residence or, if the
rental agreement or lease concerns commercial property, at the place of
the commercial establishment by a proper officer or indifferent person.
Delivery of such notice may be made on any day of the week.
(d) With respect to a month-to-month or a week-to-week tenancy of a
dwelling unit, a notice to quit possession based on nonpayment of rent
shall, upon delivery, terminate the rental agreement for the month or
week in which the notice is delivered, convert the month-to-month or
week-to-week tenancy to a tenancy at sufferance and provide proper
basis for a summary process action notwithstanding that such notice
was delivered in the month or week after the month or week in which
the rent is alleged to be unpaid.
(e) A termination notice required pursuant to federal law and
regulations may be included in or combined with the notice required
pursuant to this section and such inclusion or combination does not
thereby render the notice required pursuant to this section equivocal,
provided the rental agreement or lease shall not terminate until after the
date specified in the notice for the lessee or occupant to quit
possession or occupancy or the date of completion of the pretermination
process, whichever is later. A use and occupancy disclaimer may be
included in or combined with such notice, provided that such disclaimer
does not take effect until after the date specified in the notice for the
lessee or occupant to quit possession or occupancy or the date of the
completion of the pretermination process, whichever is later. Such
inclusion or combination does not thereby render the notice required
pursuant to this section equivocal. Such disclaimer shall be in
substantially the following form: "Any payments tendered after the date
specified to quit possession or occupancy, or the date of the completion
of the pretermination process if that is later, will be accepted for use
and occupancy only and not for rent, with full reservation of rights to
continue with the eviction action."
Sec. 47a-42a. Eviction of tenant and occupants from commercial property.
Disposition of unclaimed possessions and personal effects.
(a) Whenever a judgment is entered against a defendant pursuant to
section 47a-26, 47a-26a, 47a-26b or 47a-26d for the possession or
occupancy of nonresidential property, such defendant and any other
occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h shall
forthwith remove himself or herself, such defendant's or occupant's
possessions and all personal effects unless execution has been stayed
pursuant to sections 47a-35 to 47a-41, inclusive. If execution has been
stayed, such defendant or occupant shall forthwith remove himself or
herself, such defendant's or occupant's possessions and all personal
effects upon the expiration of any stay of execution. If the defendant or
occupant has not so removed himself or herself upon entry of a judgment
pursuant to section 47a-26, 47a-26a, 47a-26b or 47a-26d, and upon
expiration of any stay of execution, the plaintiff may obtain an
execution upon such summary process judgment, and the defendant or other
occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h and
the possessions and personal effects of such defendant or other occupant
may be removed as provided in this section.
(b) The state marshal charged with executing upon any such summary
process judgment shall, at least twenty-four hours prior to the date and
time of the eviction, use reasonable efforts to locate and notify the
defendant or occupant of the date and time such eviction is to take
place. Such notice shall include service upon each defendant and upon any
other person in occupancy, either personally or at the premises, of a
true copy of the summary process execution. Such execution shall be on a
form prescribed by the Judicial Department, shall be in clear and simple
language and in readable format, and shall contain, in addition to other
notices given to the defendant or occupant in the execution, a
conspicuous notice, in large boldface type, that a person who claims to
have a right to continue to occupy the premises should immediately
contact an attorney. Such execution shall contain a notice advising the
defendant or occupant that if he or she does not remove such defendant's
or occupant's possessions and personal effects from the premises by the
date and time set for the eviction and thereafter fails to claim such
possessions and personal effects from the landlord and pay any removal and
storage costs within fifteen days after the date of such eviction, such
possessions and personal effects will be forfeited to the landlord.
(c) The state marshal who served the execution upon the defendant or
occupant as provided in subsection (b) of this section shall return to
the premises at the date and time such eviction is to take place. If the
defendant or occupant has not removed himself or herself from the
premises, the state marshal shall remove such defendant or occupant. If
the defendant or occupant has not removed such defendant's or occupant's
possessions and personal effects from the premises, the plaintiff, in the
presence of the state marshal, shall prepare an inventory of such
possessions and personal effects and provide a copy of such inventory to
the state marshal. The plaintiff shall remove and store such possessions
or personal effects or shall store the same in the premises. Such removal
and storage or storage in the premises shall be at the expense of the
defendant. If such possessions and effects are not called for by the
defendant or occupant and the expense of such removal and storage or
storage in the premises is not paid to the plaintiff within fifteen days
after such eviction, the defendant or occupant shall forfeit such
possessions and personal effects to the plaintiff and the plaintiff may
dispose of them as the plaintiff deems appropriate.
Sec. 47a-15a. Nonpayment of rent by tenant: Landlord's remedy.
If rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within
nine days thereafter or, in the case of a one-week tenancy, within
four days thereafter, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement
in accordance with the provisions of sections 47a-23 to 47a-23b,
inclusive.
