Tenants’ unions can fight rent increases

Renters can push for repairs and better living conditions

Connecticut is stronger when neighbors band together to improve their communities. If you rent, you can use that power to push for a more affordable, safe place to live.

Renters in our state gained the right to organize into tenants’ unions in 2021. Connecticut’s first formed in New Haven, and now people in towns across Connecticut are forming renters’ unions, working together to make our state more affordable.

Tenants’ unions can bargain with landlords to prevent skyrocketing rents and get necessary repairs done. They do this by talking to a landlord or management company directly or, if needed, by filing complaints with a local fair rent commission.

Tenants’ unions have a lot in common with workers’ unions – both use collective bargaining power to improve conditions. Only instead of being people who work in the same job, tenants’ unions are people who live in the same building and share the same landlord.

Each town has its own rules for how many units have to be in a building before tenants can unionize. For example, in New Haven, a building has to have five units for tenants to be allowed to form a tenants union. Other cities may require your building to have more. 

Tenants unions are one way that people’s voices can reach beyond their neighbors. Tenants unions across Connecticut have rallied to prevent their rent from rising, make absentee landlords make repairs that they’re legally required to do, and improve conditions for renters in our state. When someone joins a tenants union, state law also bans landlords from retaliating against tenants unions that file complaints. Renters who join a tenants union are protected from being evicted for no reason for six months after they form their union. 

For example, groups in New Haven and Hartford have fought to increase fines for bad landlords who refuse to make repairs. Tenants unions are also throwing their weight behind banning no cause evictions so that people can’t be evicted without a reason.

People who are interested in forming a tenants union don’t have to do it alone. The Connecticut Tenants Union has more than 15 chapters around the state, and the Connecticut Fair Housing Center has represented unions and helped them file complaints to their fair rent commissions. 

Renters are more powerful when they band together to stop predatory landlords from taking advantage of tenants. The cost of housing in Connecticut keeps going up. Tenants’ unions are one tool to help renters fight back against landlords who raise rent for no reason or refuse to make repairs they are legally required to. 

Even if your building isn’t large enough to form a tenants union, you still have rights. For instance, you can learn more about the power to negotiate rent yourself or file a case with a fair rent commission.

Talk to your neighbors to see if a tenants’ union is the best option for your families, and take our quiz to learn more about renters’ rights.