Committee advances revisions to residential licensing: clearer checklist, anti-retaliation and single licensing term

The legislation committee advanced a package of changes to the City of New Haven’s residential licensing ordinance aimed at simplifying requirements, clarifying enforcement, and strengthening tenant protections.

What changed: Livable Cities Initiative (LCI) staff told aldermen the update consolidates exemptions into a single section, clarifies a landlord’s obligation to provide phone and email contact information, and adds an anti-retaliation provision to protect tenants who report code violations. The proposed revision also removes a previously adopted tiered licensing schedule and restores a single three-year license term for qualifying properties; LCI staff said tiers were never fully implemented and…