Hamden, CT Landscaping Rules: Weed Ordinances (2026)

Section 154.31 makes it the duty of every owner, agent, tenant, occupant, corporation or other entity in control of residential or commercial real property to keep the property from becoming a blighted premises. Section 154.32(4) defines that a lot is not being maintained, and therefore blighted, if it shows overgrown grass, brush, shrubs or weeds of at least one foot in length, or a front yard left to deteriorate into bare dirt patches with litter, poison ivy, ragweed or broken glass. The Town Planner, Building Official, Director of Health or another Enforcement Officer the Mayor designates investigates and enforces under § 154.33.

Under § 154.35(B), the town serves written notice by certified mail giving the owner ten calendar days to remove or correct the overgrown growth before a citation follows. Section 154.36 sets the penalty: $150 per day for an occupied blighted premises, $250 per day if the property is unoccupied, and $1,000 per day once the same property racks up a third violation within 12 months. The owner may contest liability before the town's citation hearing officer within ten days of the citation, but § 154.34(B) expressly denies the extra correction time normally given to disabled or low-income owners whenever the blighted condition is lawn, brush, weed or shrub maintenance. Unpaid fines become a lien on the property enforceable like a tax lien under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-148aa.