New Britain, CT Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 13-76 of the Code of Ordinances is the general habitability rule for New Britain: no owner may occupy or let a dwelling or dwelling unit to another person unless it and the surrounding premises are clean, sanitary, fit for human occupancy, and comply with applicable state and city legal requirements, including a certificate of occupancy from the building department. Later sections in the same division fill in specific standards behind that general rule. Sec. 13-88(a) requires a landlord who controls the heat supply to maintain at least sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit in habitable rooms, bathrooms and water closet compartments, measured thirty-six inches above the floor, and requires supplied hot water to reach one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit at the outlet; Sec.

13-88(b) lets the director of health raise the minimum to sixty-eight degrees for elderly, very young or chronically ill occupants. Sec. 13-89 requires owners to keep dwellings free of toxic hazards such as lead-based paint and noxious weeds, as determined by the director of health, and Sec. 13-84 puts extermination of insects and rodents on the owner whenever infestation is caused by the owner's failure to keep the building rat-proof or reasonably insect-proof, or whenever it spreads across two or more units. Owners of buildings with three or more units must supply garbage and rubbish storage facilities under Sec.

13-82, keeping receptacles at least ten feet from any dwelling unit. Violations of this division are misdemeanors under Sec. 13-63, punishable under Sec. 1-15 of the Code, and the chief building inspector or director of health can condemn a unit as unfit under Sec. 13-47 when defects create a serious health or safety hazard.