If a tenant stops paying rent in Connecticut, the first thing to know is that you cannot serve a Notice to Quit until the 9-day grace period has run (C.G.S. 47a-15a), and the second is that your best financial outcome is almost never the eviction. A summary process takes 45-60 days and costs $3,000-$4,000 in lost rent on a $2,000 unit. A payment plan agreed in week one costs nothing but patience.
Here is what to do, week by week, and the two mistakes that decide most cases.
Week 1: find out what actually happened
Before anything formal, make contact. Not to be soft - to gather the information that determines every later decision.
Call, then follow up in writing. A phone call gets you the reason; the written follow-up gets you the record. Every message from here forward is potential evidence, so write each one as though it will be read aloud in a courtroom: factual, dated, unemotional.
Establish which of three situations this is.
| Situation | Signals | Best route |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary setback | Communicates, has a date, previously reliable | Written payment plan |
| Declining situation | Partial payments, slipping later each month | Plan with a hard review date |
| Non-communication | No response, no explanation | Formal process, promptly |
The first two are worth working with. The third is the one where waiting costs you.
Check your own ledger before you assert anything. Confirm what was received and when, including partial payments. A landlord whose arrears figure turns out to be wrong loses credibility on everything else in the case.
Week 2: get any agreement in writing
If there is a plan, document it. A verbal arrangement is worth nothing in three months when memories differ.
A workable plan states:
- The exact arrears figure as of a specific date
- The catch-up amount and the date each instalment is due
- That ongoing rent continues in full alongside the catch-up
- What happens if an instalment is missed
- Signatures and the date
Two things to watch:
Do not let the plan quietly extend the arrears. If the catch-up amount is small enough that the balance keeps growing, it is not a plan, it is a slower version of the same problem.
Partial payment now is different from partial payment later. Before any Notice to Quit is served, taking money reduces your exposure and is the right move. After service, it can be treated as reinstating the tenancy - which ends the eviction and sends you back to the start.
Week 3: decide, and mind the grace period
By now you know whether the tenant is engaging. If they are not, start the formal route - and start it correctly.
For a monthly tenancy, rent is not actionable until the 9-day grace period has passed. Four days for a weekly tenancy. A Notice to Quit served on day five is defective, and the defect cannot be cured later; the case is dismissed and you begin again, having lost the time.
When the grace period has run and there is no agreement:
- Serve a 3-day Notice to Quit - through a state marshal, as C.G.S. 47a-23(c) requires. Not by hand, not by post, not taped to the door.
- Count the three days properly: not the day of service, not the move-out day, not Sundays or holidays.
- Stop accepting payments from the moment of service if you intend to proceed.
The full court sequence, fees and timeline are in how to evict a tenant in Connecticut.
Week 4: run the arithmetic before you commit
This is the step most landlords skip, and it is the one that saves the most money. Compare the three routes with actual numbers on a $2,000/month unit with $4,000 in arrears.
| Route | Cost | Likely recovery | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payment plan over 4 months | $0 | Most of $4,000, tenancy continues | 4 months |
| Cash for keys | $1,500-$2,500 offered | Arrears usually written off | 2-3 weeks |
| Eviction | $3,000-$4,000 lost rent, plus $175 filing, marshal and legal fees, plus a turnover | Judgment often uncollectable | 45-60 days |
The line that matters is the last one in the recovery column. Winning a money judgment against a tenant who could not pay the rent frequently produces nothing collectable. You have spent two months of rent and a turnover to obtain a document.
That is not an argument against evicting. It is an argument for evicting when it is the right answer - damage, nuisance, non-communication, growing arrears - rather than by default because it feels like the appropriate response.
What is cash for keys, and when does it fit?
An agreed payment for the tenant to leave by a date, with the unit clean and the keys handed back. Put it in writing: the amount, the date, the condition expected, and the fact that it settles the arrears.
It fits when the tenant cannot realistically catch up but will cooperate, when you want the unit back quickly, and when the arrears are already unlikely to be recovered. Offering one or two months’ rent to save two months of vacancy plus fees is straightforward arithmetic, not a concession.
It does not fit when there is damage or nuisance in play, or when the tenant will not engage at all.
The two mistakes that decide most cases
1. Accepting payment after serving the Notice to Quit. The court may find you reinstated the tenancy. The eviction ends. Decide before you serve whether you want the money or the property.
2. Self-help. Changing the locks, removing belongings or shutting off utilities is illegal in Connecticut and creates liability of your own, on top of the arrears you were already owed. However justified it feels, possession comes back through a judgment and a marshal.
A third, less dramatic but very common: stopping repairs because the tenant stopped paying. Your habitability obligations do not pause because the rent did, and a documented failure to repair hands the tenant a defence in the very case you are about to bring.
How to make this less likely next time
Almost every non-payment case traces back to one of three things.
- Screening. Verified income against a written standard, and a call to the previous landlord rather than only the current one. See how to screen tenants.
- Rent that was set too high. A tenant stretched at signing has no margin when anything changes. Pricing to the market is a retention decision as much as a revenue one.
- A slow first response. Rent that is quietly late for three months is a much harder conversation than rent that prompted a friendly call on day ten.
If you would rather have arrears handled on a defined process - grace periods diarised, notices served properly, marshals instructed - that is part of full management. Tell us where things stand and we will give you a straight read on the options.
This article summarises Connecticut practice as of August 2026, with reference to C.G.S. 47a-15a and 47a-23. Statutes change and every case differs. This is general information, not legal advice - consult a Connecticut attorney before serving notices or filing.