Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 47a — LANDLORD AND TENANT · Chapter 833a — Public Enforcement of Health and Safety Standards in Tenement and Boarding Houses, and in Rented Dwellings
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-55 (2026)

(Formerly Sec. 19-347). Enforcement. Penalties

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CT-CGAcga.ct.gov (official) JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
(a) The board of health of each town, city or borough shall enforce the provisions of this part, and the board of health is given authority for such purpose. Any such town, city or borough may by ordinance duly adopted by its legislative body designate another authority or authorities to exercise concurrent or exclusive jurisdiction in the enforcement of this part. All duties imposed and powers conferred by this part upon boards of health shall devolve upon the health authority or such other designated authority or authorities of each city, borough or town by whatever name such health or other authority or authorities may be known. Nothing in this part shall be construed to abrogate or impair the powers of a local board of health, or of the courts, or any such other lawful authority, to enforce any provision of any city or borough charter or health ordinances and regulations not inconsistent with this part, or to prevent or punish for violations thereof.

(b) Each person who violates or assists in violating, or fails to comply with, any of said provisions or any legal order of a board of health or such other authority made under any of said provisions, for which no other penalty is provided, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than six months or both.

(c) Each person who continues to violate or assist in violating, or who continues to fail or refuse to comply with, any of said provisions after having been convicted of violating or assisting in violating any of said provisions, or of failing to comply therewith, for which no other penalty is provided, shall, upon a subsequent conviction, be imprisoned not more than one year.

(1949 Rev., S. 4054; 1961, P.A. 517, S. 59; 1972, P.A. 178, S. 4; P.A. 74-345, S. 7; P.A. 79-571, S. 81.)

History: 1961 act deleted obsolete provision that prosecuting authorities of town, city or borough have power to prosecute; 1972 act added proviso authorizing towns to designate authorities other than board of health as enforcement agencies; P.A. 74-345 raised standard maximum fine from $200 to $1,000 and maximum term of imprisonment from 60 days to 6 months and maximum term of imprisonment for continued violation from 6 months to 1 year; P.A. 79-571 divided section into Subsecs., specified that stated penalties apply to violations “for which no other penalty is provided” and made other minor changes in wording; Sec. 19-347 transferred to Sec. 47a-55 in 1981.

Annotations to former section 19-347:

Cited. 117 C. 351.

City health authority not exclusive administrator of housing code requirements. 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 243.

Annotations to present section:

Cited. 13 CA 1; 35 CA 126; judgment reversed, see 235 C. 360.

(Return to Chapter
Table of Contents)		 (Return to
List of Chapters)		 (Return to
List of Titles)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1987–2004 · leading case: Comm'n on Human Rights & Opportunities v. Bd. of Educ., 855 A.2d 212 (Conn. 2004).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Comm'n on Human Rights & Opportunities v. Bd. of Educ., 855 A.2d 212 (Conn. 2004). · cites it 4× “is the tribunal having continuing, exclusive jurisdiction"); General Statutes § 46b-213q (d) ("Family Support Magistrate Division becomes the tribunal of continuing exclusive jurisdiction"); General Statutes § 47a-55 (a) ("town, city or borough may .”
Edwards v. Code Enf't Comm., 534 A.2d 617 (Conn. App. Ct. 1987). · cites it 2× “122 “pursuant to [§ 47a-55] of the General Statutes that the Housing Code Inspector, as defined in Section 1.”
Gore v. People's Sav. Bank, 644 A.2d 945 (Conn. App. Ct. 1994). “The court, in instructing the jury on simple negligence, did note that a violation of § 47a-8 renders an apartment uninhabitable. The court also instructed, how *128 ever, that, in order to impose tort liability, the landlord had to have actual or constructive notice of such…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.