Free Connecticut Room Rental Agreement Template

A room rental agreement lets one person occupy a bedroom while the kitchen, bathroom and living space stay shared with others in the property.

Connecticut treats the deposit differently from most states. It stays the tenant’s money throughout, it has to sit in escrow, and it earns interest.

A Connecticut room rental agreement runs alongside section 47a-21 of the General Statutes. Verify its wording as it stands now before you act on any limit set out here.

The Cap Depends on Age

For a tenant under sixty-two years of age, a landlord shall not demand a security deposit exceeding two months’ rent.

That limit is reduced to one month’s rent where the tenant is sixty-two or older. It is a rare example of a deposit cap that turns on who the tenant is rather than what the property is, and in a shared house different occupants may sit on different sides of it.

What Counts as a Deposit

The definition is broad. A security deposit means any advance rental payment, or any installment payment collected under section 47a-22a, except an advance payment for the first month’s rent or a deposit for a key or any special equipment.

So last month’s rent collected up front is part of the deposit, while the first month’s rent and a key deposit are not.

Whose Money It Is, and Where It Sits

The deposit remains the tenant’s property throughout the tenancy, with the landlord holding only a security interest in it. It must be kept in an escrow account at a financial institution located in Connecticut.

Interest is payable at a rate tied to the average commercial bank savings deposit rate determined and published annually.

It comes back with interest, or it comes back with an itemized explanation.

Under section 47a-21(d)(1), the person who is the landlord when the tenancy terminates must pay the tenant the amount of the deposit, less the value of any damages that any person who was a landlord at any time during the tenancy has suffered through the tenant’s failure to meet their obligations, together with any accrued interest.

Note how wide that reaches. Damages suffered by a previous landlord during the tenancy can still be set off, so a change of ownership partway through does not wipe the slate.

Where damages are claimed, the written notice must itemize their nature and amount, including any unpaid rent or utility payments, and must be accompanied by the balance of the deposit not being claimed, plus interest.

On timing, the statute sets the deadline by reference to the tenant’s forwarding address, so giving that address in writing is what starts the clock running properly.

Tip: Failing to return the deposit with interest, or to give the written notice of damages, within the statutory limits can make a landlord liable for twice the amount of the deposit. The interest is part of what must be returned, not an optional extra.

The deposit rules do most of the work, so get those terms right in the Connecticut room rental agreement.

1. Set the deposit within two months’ rent, or one month if the tenant is sixty-two or older.
2. Say plainly whether any advance payment is the first month’s rent, a key deposit, or part of the deposit.
3. Name the Connecticut institution holding the escrow account.
4. Record how interest will be handled each year, whether paid over or credited against rent.
5. Sign and date, and require a written forwarding address on leaving.

Ask each occupant’s age band where the reduced cap could apply. It changes the lawful deposit for that person, not for the house as a whole.

Alongside the basics, these points carry a Connecticut room rental agreement.

• The deposit, and which cap applies to this occupant.
• How advance payments are labeled, since the label changes the treatment.
• The escrow arrangements and how interest is handled.
• The exclusive room and the shared areas, described separately.
• Rules on visitors, noise and cleaning, and how utility bills are divided.

Attach the documents the agreement relies on, and keep the signed copies together.