CT SB00940

Landlords must offer tenants the opportunity to conduct a joint walk-through inspection of rental units after signing a lease but before occupancy, effective January 1, 2024.

Landlords and tenants use a standardized preoccupancy walk-through checklist prepared by the Commissioner of Housing to document existing conditions, defects, or damages; both parties sign duplicate copies and retain one each.

Landlords cannot retain security deposits or seek payment from tenants for any conditions, defects, or damages noted on the preoccupancy walk-through checklist.

The walk-through checklist is admissible as evidence in administrative or judicial proceedings regarding the unit's condition at occupancy start, but is not conclusive.

The Commissioner of Housing must prepare and make available the standardized checklist on the Department of Housing website by December 1, 2023; the law does not apply to rental agreements entered before January 1, 2024.