New Britain, CT Property Maintenance: Property Blight (2026)

Section 7-41 prohibits any owner or tenant of real property in New Britain from allowing, creating or maintaining a blighted property, and requires the city to post and mail notice of a violation before entering the premises to remediate blighted conditions, though the city and its agents may never enter a dwelling itself without consent. Section 7-42 defines dozens of blighting conditions, including broken or vandalized boarded windows and doors, facades with more than thirty-three percent of exposed surface showing chipped or faded paint, cracked foundations, vermin harborage, inoperable vehicles, and dead hazardous trees.

A property becomes officially blighted under section 7-42(c) when the city finds a condition posing a significant risk to health and safety, or when an anti-blight enforcement officer documents at least fifteen occurrences of a lesser condition within one year that still hurts neighborhood quality of life or property values. Section 7-45 assigns anti-blight enforcement officers to investigate complaints logged in a citywide database, inspect the property, and issue a written order to correct the violation within thirty days, with a right to appeal to a mayor-appointed hearing officer within ten days.

Section 7-46 creates a blighted premises committee, made up of the licenses and permits director, fire marshal, police, health director, corporation counsel and municipal development director, to track blighted properties citywide and report to the mayor and common council by January 31 each year.