Connecticut Pretermination Kapa Notice to Cure or Quit (Material Noncompliance)

CONNECTICUT PRETERMINATION KAPA NOTICE TO CURE OR QUIT (MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE — § 47a-15)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Background — The Kapa Pretermination Notice
2. Pretermination Notice — Notice to Cure or Quit
3. Specification of Breach
4. Cure Instructions and Recurrence Warning
5. Tenant Rights Notice
6. Service Instructions and Proof of Service
7. Connecticut Practice Notes
8. Sources and References

1. BACKGROUND — THE KAPA PRETERMINATION NOTICE

The "Kapa" notice (named after the line of cases including Kapa Assocs. v. Flores and codified at Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15) is a pretermination cure notice that Connecticut law requires the landlord to serve before any Notice to Quit can issue for material noncompliance with a rental agreement, breach of rules and regulations, or breach of § 47a-11 tenant obligations.

The Kapa notice has three required elements:

1. Specification. It must specify the acts or omissions constituting the breach.
2. Termination date. It must state that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than fifteen (15) days after receipt of the notice.
3. Cure / recurrence warning. It must advise the tenant that timely cure within the 15-day period prevents termination, and that recurrence of substantially the same conduct within six (6) months will permit termination without further opportunity to cure.

If the breach is not remediable, Connecticut courts still require the notice; the cure language merely operates as a savings clause if cure is in fact possible. Failure to serve a properly drafted Kapa notice is grounds for dismissal of the subsequent summary process action. See Visco v. Cody, 16 Conn. App. 444 (1988); Marrinan v. Hamer, 5 Conn. App. 101 (1985).

2. PRETERMINATION NOTICE — NOTICE TO CURE OR QUIT

PRETERMINATION NOTICE OF MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE

CONN. GEN. STAT. § 47a-15

[LANDLORD / OWNER NAME]
[LANDLORD ADDRESS]
[CITY], CT [ZIP]
[TELEPHONE]
[EMAIL]

Date of Notice: [__/__/____]

To: [TENANT NAME(S)] and all other occupants of the premises located at:

[STREET ADDRESS, UNIT NO.]
[CITY], CT [ZIP]

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that you are in MATERIAL NONCOMPLIANCE with the rental agreement and/or with the obligations imposed upon you by Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11 and/or with the rules and regulations adopted by the landlord pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-9, and that, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15, the rental agreement governing your occupancy of the above-described premises shall TERMINATE on [__/__/____] (a date not less than fifteen (15) days after your receipt of this notice) UNLESS you remedy the breach as set forth herein within such fifteen (15) day period.

3. SPECIFICATION OF BREACH

The acts or omissions constituting the breach are as follows:

Breach No. 1:

• Date(s) of conduct: [__/__/____] through [__/__/____]
• Time(s) (if relevant): [________________________________]
• Location: [________________________________]
• Description of act or omission: [________________________________]
• Lease provision and/or statute breached: [________________________________]
• Witnesses (if applicable): [________________________________]

Breach No. 2 (if applicable):

• Date(s) of conduct: [__/__/____] through [__/__/____]
• Time(s) (if relevant): [________________________________]
• Location: [________________________________]
• Description of act or omission: [________________________________]
• Lease provision and/or statute breached: [________________________________]
• Witnesses (if applicable): [________________________________]

4. CURE INSTRUCTIONS AND RECURRENCE WARNING

4.1 How to Cure

If the breach described above is remediable by repair, payment of damages, removal of an unauthorized occupant, removal of an unauthorized animal, cessation of the prohibited conduct, or other corrective action, you may CURE the breach within the fifteen (15) day period ending [__/__/____], in which event the rental agreement shall NOT TERMINATE and your tenancy shall continue on the existing terms.

To cure the breach, you must take the following specific action(s):

• ☐ [SPECIFIC CURE STEP — e.g., "Remove all unauthorized occupants from the premises"]
• ☐ [SPECIFIC CURE STEP — e.g., "Repair the damaged interior door at your expense"]
• ☐ [SPECIFIC CURE STEP — e.g., "Pay damages of $[________] for [described damage]"]
• ☐ [SPECIFIC CURE STEP — e.g., "Cease the prohibited conduct described above"]

Proof of cure should be provided in writing to the landlord at the address listed above on or before [__/__/____].

4.2 Recurrence Warning

You are further notified that, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15, if substantially the same act or omission for which this notice is given RECURS within six (6) months from the date of this notice, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement in accordance with Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 47a-23 to 47a-23b, inclusive, WITHOUT further opportunity to cure.

4.3 Effect of Failure to Cure

If you fail to cure the breach within the fifteen (15) day period and the breach is not otherwise resolved by mutual agreement of the parties, the rental agreement shall terminate on [__/__/____] and a Notice to Quit Possession under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23 will be served upon you. A Summary Process action may thereafter be commenced in the Superior Court Housing Session at [GEOGRAPHIC AREA — Hartford / New Britain / New Haven / Bridgeport / Waterbury / Norwich / OTHER J.D.] seeking possession of the premises and such other relief as is permitted by law.

5. TENANT RIGHTS NOTICE

You may have legal rights and defenses. Among other rights, you may assert:

• Right to Counsel. If your household income is at or below 80% of state median income and you live in a qualifying ZIP code, you may be entitled to free legal representation under Public Act 21-34. Call 2-1-1 or visit EvictionHelpCT.org.
• Warranty of habitability under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-7.
• Retaliation defense under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-20 (rebuttable presumption that any termination commenced within six (6) months after a tenant's good-faith complaint to a code agency, request for repairs, or other protected activity is retaliatory).
• Discrimination defense under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-64c (race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, lawful source of income, familial status, religion, status as a veteran, status as a victim of domestic violence, lawful immigration status).
• Disability accommodation under § 46a-64c and the federal Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)).
• VAWA defense under 34 U.S.C. § 12491 — no termination based on the tenant's status as a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
• Self-help bar under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-43 — landlord may not lock out, shut off utilities, or remove belongings; doubles damages for forcible entry and detainer.
• Defective Kapa notice — strict construction; any defect in specification, timing, or content voids the notice and requires the landlord to start over.

6. SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS AND PROOF OF SERVICE

6.1 Methods of Service

This notice should be served upon the tenant by one or more of the following methods, with the date of receipt clearly documented:

• ☐ Connecticut state marshal personal service upon the tenant
• ☐ Connecticut state marshal abode service (true and attested copy left at usual place of abode)
• ☐ Certified mail, return receipt requested addressed to the tenant at the premises
• ☐ Personal delivery by the landlord with witness signature acknowledging tenant's receipt
• ☐ Hand delivery to the tenant by the landlord (date and time documented)

6.2 Affidavit / Proof of Service

STATE OF CONNECTICUT

COUNTY OF [____________]

I, [NAME], being duly sworn, depose and say:

1. On [__/__/____] at [____ AM/PM], I caused a true and accurate copy of the foregoing Pretermination Notice to be served upon [TENANT NAME(S)] at [STREET ADDRESS, UNIT NO., CITY, CT ZIP] by the method indicated below.
2. Method of service:
   - ☐ Personal service upon tenant
   - ☐ Abode service at usual place of abode
   - ☐ Certified mail, return receipt requested (Tracking No. [________]); receipt signed by [________] on [__/__/____]
   - ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Dated: [__/__/____]

Signature: [________________________________]

Printed Name: [________________________________]

Subscribed and sworn to before me this ____ day of [MONTH], [YEAR].

[NOTARY PUBLIC / COMMISSIONER OF SUPERIOR COURT]

My commission expires: [__/__/____]

7. CONNECTICUT PRACTICE NOTES

1. Specificity is jurisdictional. Boilerplate ("you have violated the lease") is insufficient. Notice must identify specific conduct so the tenant can intelligently choose to cure or contest. Jefferson Garden Assocs. v. Greene, 202 Conn. 128 (1987).
2. Single Kapa notice per breach. The landlord cannot serially serve Kapa notices on the same conduct. If cure is offered and refused or breach recurs within 6 months, the notice is not required again on that ground.
3. Reason on Notice to Quit must match. The ground on the subsequent § 47a-23 Notice to Quit must be substantially the same as the breach specified in the Kapa notice.
4. Federally subsidized housing. HUD project-based, Section 8 voucher, RAD, LIHTC, and USDA RD tenants require additional federal pretermination notice, which often must be served concurrently with — and may differ in timing from — the state Kapa notice.
5. Mid-cure complications. If the tenant partially cures, courts have held the landlord may proceed only if the remaining noncompliance is itself material.
6. Six-month recurrence trigger. The 6-month recurrence rule is a sword, not a shield: if the same conduct recurs within 6 months, the landlord can proceed to NTQ without re-serving Kapa, but only on substantially the same ground. New, unrelated conduct requires a new Kapa notice.
7. Rules and regulations under § 47a-9. Landlord-adopted rules must be (a) reasonable, (b) made known to the tenant in writing, (c) applied uniformly. Otherwise, the violation cannot support summary process.
8. Coordinate with serious-nuisance / illegal-use grounds. If the breach also constitutes serious nuisance under § 47a-15 or illegal use under § 47a-31, the landlord may proceed directly to NTQ without Kapa cure. Drafting in the alternative is risky and is not recommended.

8. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

Statutes

• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-15 — Pretermination Kapa cure notice (Justia)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-11 — Tenant responsibilities
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-9 — Rules and regulations
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23 — Notice to quit (Justia)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23a — Summary process complaint
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-23c — Protected tenants
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-7 — Landlord's responsibilities (Justia)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-20 — Retaliatory action prohibited
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-31 — Voiding rental agreement (illegal use)
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47a-43 — Self-help / forcible entry and detainer
• Conn. Gen. Stat. § 46a-64c — Discriminatory housing practices

Connecticut General Assembly

• Chapter 830 — Rights and Responsibilities of Landlord and Tenant
• Chapter 832 — Summary Process

Practice Resources

• Marder, Roberson & DeFelice — Pretermination KAPA Notice
• Connecticut Judicial Branch — Self-Represented Parties Series, Residential Summary Process (Landlord)
• A Tenant's Guide to Summary Process

Key Connecticut Cases

• Jefferson Garden Assocs. v. Greene, 202 Conn. 128 (1987) (specificity in pretermination notice)
• Marrinan v. Hamer, 5 Conn. App. 101 (1985) (Kapa notice required even where cure may be impractical)
• Visco v. Cody, 16 Conn. App. 444 (1988) (failure to serve Kapa notice voids subsequent summary process)
• Kapa Assocs. v. Flores, 35 Conn. Supp. 274 (1979) (origin of "Kapa" terminology)
• Tonetti v. Penati, 367 A.2d 1099 (Conn. 1976) (warranty of habitability)
• Bridgeport v. Barbour-Daniel Elecs., Inc., 16 Conn. App. 574 (1988) (strict construction)

END OF KAPA PRETERMINATION CURE NOTICE