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

' Subsection (c) defines anti-blight violations to include conditions posing a serious or immediate danger, documented dilapidation, attraction of illegal activity, fire hazards, health or sanitary problems, unauthorized junk or inoperable-vehicle storage, and interference with neighbors' use of their property. Enforcement runs through the director of the Livable City Initiative and enforcement officers designated by the mayor (subsection f). Under subsection (i), a violation triggers written notice giving the owner ten calendar days to correct it; ignoring that notice draws a civil citation (subsection j) that can be contested within ten calendar days before a mayor-appointed hearing officer, addressed to the Director, Livable City Initiative, City Hall, 165 Church Street.

An owner who misses the ten-day contest window is deemed to have admitted liability. Subsection (e) sets the fine at up to the maximum listed in Conn. Gen. § 7-148(7)(H)(xv) per day the violation continues, and subsection (j) lets the city record the unpaid fine as a lien on the property, enforceable like a tax lien, or convert it to a court judgment. Elderly, disabled and low-income owners can get up to sixty extra days to fix most violations, but not those affecting lawn, weed or debris maintenance or public health and safety (subsection h). An assessed owner may appeal to the Superior Court's Housing Session within thirty days of the assessment notice (subsection l).