CT mechanics lien: what to do when a customer won't pay in Connecticut, the 90-day deadline, and the letter to send

Published November 4, 2026 · Statutes, court decisions and 2026 public acts checked November 4, 2026

• Free. The download links come by email.
• Deepsel is our product: free estimate, invoice and scheduling software for contractors (scheduling, quotes, invoicing, card payments). The section before the FAQ says where it fits and where it doesn't.
• Not legal advice. Have a Connecticut attorney read your lien certificate before you record it.

In Connecticut you have 90 days from your last day of real work to record a mechanic's lien with the town clerk, 30 days after that to have a state marshal serve it on the owner, and one year to start a foreclosure, or the lien is gone. Before you file, send a written demand and offer a payment plan. Check your paperwork first, too: a lien built on a home improvement contract that misses one of the §20-429 items, or that you signed while unregistered, gets discharged unless you can prove the owner acted in bad faith. For smaller balances, small claims court hears claims up to $5,000 (up to $15,000 on some home improvement claims) for a $95 fee, and you don't need a lawyer.¹⁴⁵¹⁵

The free download has a demand letter written to Connecticut's collection rules, a notice of intent for subcontractors and suppliers, and a deadline worksheet with every date on this page: make your own copy in Google Docs, download the Word version (.docx), or download the PDF. Pick a format, enter your email and I'll send the links.

"Slap a lien on the house" was the top answer, with 179 upvotes, when a roofing company asked Reddit "Customer refuses to pay. What should we do?" In Connecticut that's half right. The lien is the strongest tool you have on a home job. It also runs on a hard clock, has to be served by a marshal, and only holds if the contract under it holds. Another contractor put it fairly: "I mean liens are pretty effective. Just not always quick."

What to do first when a homeowner refuses to pay

These steps are the same in most states. Connecticut changes the details in steps 3 and 4.

1. Decide whether to keep working. If your contract lets you stop after a late payment with written notice (Section 3.6 of our Connecticut contract template does), send the notice and stop. If it says nothing, ask a lawyer before you walk off, because leaving can hand the owner a claim against you. Either way, write down the last day you did real work. That date starts the lien clock.
2. Put it in writing the same day. A short email or text with the amount, the invoice number, the due date and one question: is something wrong with the work? A lot of "won't pay" is really "won't pay until you fix the gutter." Get the complaint in writing, fix what's yours, and photograph it.
3. Resend the invoice, then send a demand letter. When you collect from a homeowner yourself, Connecticut's creditor collection rules apply to you. Every collection message has to say you're attempting to collect a debt. You can't threaten anything you can't legally do or don't intend to do, so don't mention a lien you won't file, and never mention arrest or criminal charges. A homeowner can sue a creditor who breaks these rules for actual damages plus up to $1,000 and attorney's fees.¹⁹ If your contract has an attorney's fee clause, you can't charge those fees before a lawsuit starts, and they're capped at 15% of a judgment.¹⁸ The template's letter follows all of this.
4. Offer a payment plan. Written, signed by both of you, with amounts and dates. A commenter in a thread about an unpaid $2,500 insurance deductible had the right pitch: "How much can you pay every 2 weeks so we can avoid a lien situation?" A payment plan doesn't stop the 90-day lien clock, though. Nothing in the statute pauses it,¹ so if day 90 gets close and the plan looks shaky, record the lien anyway.
5. Call a lawyer when the balance is more than you can afford to lose, the owner disputes the scope or price, your contract may be missing a §20-429 item, the owner's lawyer writes, or the owner asks a court to discharge your lien. A foreclosure needs one.

Connecticut has no prompt-payment law for home jobs: the statute that sets payment deadlines on construction contracts excludes contracts of $25,000 or less and buildings of four or fewer residential units.¹² Interest comes from your contract. Without a rate in it, a court can award up to 10% a year as damages for money held back after it was due.¹⁷

Can you file a mechanic's lien in Connecticut? Your registration and your contract decide

The lien itself reaches far. Anyone with "a claim for more than ten dollars for materials furnished or services rendered" on a building, under an agreement with the owner or with the owner's consent, can claim one. It covers homes and rental property but not public buildings.² A contractor who signs with the owner gives no notice before the job, and the lien law adds nothing special for owner-occupied homes.¹²

What decides your lien is the contract under it. A lien secures a debt, and the Home Improvement Act says no home improvement contract "shall be valid or enforceable against an owner" unless it meets nine requirements: it's in writing, signed by both of you, holds the entire agreement and the date, gives your name, address and registration number, has the cancellation notice and start and completion dates, is entered into by a registered contractor, and lists your other contracting businesses from the last five years.⁶ (The CT contract page walks through each one.) Superior Court judges have put the result for liens in one line: "A mechanic's lien based on a home improvement contract which is unenforceable under the provisions of the [HIA] must be discharged."⁵

If you weren't registered

In 2023 the Appellate Court affirmed judgments against a contractor that admitted it "was not a licensed or registered home improvement contractor." It had brought five suits against property owners for breach of contract, quantum meruit, unjust enrichment and foreclosure of its mechanic's liens, and lost all of them on summary judgment. It couldn't use the act's fallback, which lets a court award "the reasonable value of services" in some cases, because the fallback only covers registered contractors.⁹⁶ In practice, an unregistered home improvement contractor in Connecticut has no lien. The registration rules and the $1,000-a-year floor are on our CT home improvement license page; the Department of Consumer Protection's page has the application.¹⁰

If your contract misses an item: the bad-faith exception

There's one way back, and it's narrow. In Habetz v. Condon (1992) the Connecticut Supreme Court let a contractor recover despite a missing cancellation notice, because the homeowner had invoked the act in bad faith: "Proof of bad faith therefore serves to preclude the homeowner from hiding behind the protection of the act." The court also said what bad faith takes: "more than mere negligence; it involves a dishonest purpose."⁷

Burns v. Adler (2017) showed the limit. A contractor recorded a $214,039.09 mechanic's lien and sued to foreclose it. Two lower courts found the homeowner had acted in bad faith. The Supreme Court reversed, because the changes to the job had never been put in writing and signed, and "when a contractor fails to meet this burden and, as a result, a genuine, good faith dispute about the authorized scope of the work or the contract price arises, the homeowner's refusal to pay the amounts claimed by the contractor is not in bad faith."⁸⁵ The lien claim failed with the contract. Don't plan on proving bad faith. Plan on a contract that complies, with every change signed.

The act's fallback, §20-429(f), lets a court award the reasonable value of work the owner asked for, when it would be "inequitable to deny such recovery," if the contract was written and signed by both of you, had the cancellation notice and both dates, and you were registered.⁶ I found no decision on whether a mechanic's lien can secure that recovery, so ask your lawyer before you lien on a contract with a known gap.

Licensed electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors

Work within your trade license is outside the Home Improvement Act.⁶¹⁰ But §20-338d, added in 2021, says a written contract for licensed work on a private residence isn't "valid or enforceable against an owner" unless it has seven items, including your license number and the name and license number of each licensee doing the work.¹¹ That's the same wording that sinks home improvement liens. I found no appellate case applying it to a lien yet, and I'd assume a court would treat it the same way. HVAC licensing is on our CT HVAC license page.

The 90-day deadline: what counts as your last day of work

A mechanic's lien "is not valid unless" you record the certificate "within ninety days after he has ceased" doing the work or furnishing materials.¹ The question is which day you ceased.

The Supreme Court's rule, from F.B. Mattson Co. v. Tarte (1998): the clock normally starts on "the last date on which services were performed or materials were furnished." If the job was substantially done and you dragged out the finish, it starts at substantial completion. A small task after that, done "at the initiative of the contractor for the purpose of saving a lien," doesn't restart it. The same small task done "at the request of the owner" does.⁵ The Appellate Court has also counted inspecting, removing and replacing materials after the owner complained as services that extend the time, and has held that trivial work after substantial completion doesn't.¹

For warranty and punch-list work, then: what the owner asked you to come back and do can count, and a visit you schedule to reset the clock won't. If you're not sure, count from the earlier date and file early. The worksheet in the download sets your own target at day 60.

One roofing company that couldn't get paid thought a blocked inspection stopped them: "He's not allowing the county to do the final inspection. Therefore, we aren't able to place a lien, or at least we think we can't from what we've read." In Connecticut, nothing in the lien statute ties the lien to a passed inspection. The 90 days run from your work, so an owner who blocks the final inspection doesn't block your lien. It doesn't pause your clock either.¹

How to file a mechanics lien in CT: the certificate, the town clerk and the fee

The state has no official form. The statute lists what the certificate must say, and a missing piece can void it:¹

• A description of the property. Use the deed's description or its land records volume and page.
• The amount claimed as a lien.
• The name of each person the lien is against. Name every owner of record; the town's land records show who they are.
• The date you started the work or deliveries. This date sets your priority, so get it right.
• A statement that the amount "is justly due, as nearly as the same can be ascertained."
• Your signature, sworn. The certificate has to be "subscribed and sworn to," and courts read that strictly: you sign, you take an oath before a notary public or a commissioner of the Superior Court (any Connecticut attorney is one), and the certificate shows it, usually with a jurat. Courts have refused to enforce liens that lacked a sworn verification.¹⁵

Claim the unpaid price of your work and materials and nothing more. A lien can't exceed the price the owner agreed to pay.² An honest overstatement doesn't void the lien, but the owner can ask a court to cut it, and a lien filed without just cause can cost you damages (more below).¹³

Record it with the town clerk in the town where the property is. Since July 1, 2025, recording costs $70 for the first page and $5 for each page after.¹³

Then serve it. Within 30 days of recording, a "true and attested copy" has to be served on every owner, the same way the statute has a subcontractor's notice served: by a state marshal or another impartial adult, in hand or at the owner's home if they live in that town, or by registered or certified mail if they live somewhere else.¹² You can't serve it yourself, and neither can your employee; the Supreme Court has held an employee of the lien claimant isn't an "indifferent person."² Find a marshal in the Judicial Branch's State Marshals Directory.¹⁴

Lis pendens and the one-year foreclosure deadline

A recorded lien doesn't collect anything by itself. It sits on the title, and many get paid when the owner sells or refinances. If that isn't coming, you have to foreclose. A lien "shall not continue in force for a longer period than one year" unless you start a foreclosure action and record a notice of lis pendens on the land records within one year of recording the lien, or within 60 days after a final ruling on an owner's application to discharge it, whichever is later. Miss that and the lien is "invalid and discharged as a matter of law."⁴ A lien is foreclosed "in the same manner as a mortgage," in Superior Court, so you'll need a lawyer.² If you win after a hearing on the form of judgment, the court allows a reasonable attorney's fee.¹⁸

The owner has two moves. They can apply to court to discharge or reduce the lien on as little as four days' notice. At that hearing you go first and must show "probable cause to sustain the validity" of your lien, and either side then has seven days to appeal. Or they can put up a bond in place of the lien, and then you have one year from recording the lien to sue on the bond.³

When a lien backfires: overstated or invalid liens

If your lien is invalid (filed late, never served, on an unenforceable contract, or already paid), the owner can send you a written demand by registered or certified mail to release it. If you don't release it within 30 days, a court can discharge it and, if it finds you filed "without just cause," award damages of $100 a week up to $5,000, or the owner's actual loss including a reasonable attorney's fee, whichever is greater. A lien amount the owner proves excessive "by clear and convincing evidence" gets reduced.³ When you're paid, record a release with the town clerk that week.

Subcontractors and suppliers versus the prime contractor

If you work for a general contractor or sell materials to one, you have one more step: a written notice that you've furnished materials or services "and intend to claim a lien," served on every owner and on the original contractor "not later than ninety days after ceasing" your work. You can skip it only if your subcontract is in writing and the owner agreed to it in writing.² A single document served on the owner can satisfy both the notice and the certificate's service.² A general contractor is owed the notice only if it recorded a short affidavit with the town clerk within 15 days of starting the job.²

Your lien is also capped by what the owner still owes the general contractor. The owner gets credit for payments made in good faith before receiving notice of your lien, so give notice early.² Two rules help you. The Home Improvement Act doesn't govern a subcontractor's dealings with the homeowner, and the Appellate Court has held that a sub who had no part in an invalid general contract isn't barred by it.²⁶

Lien waivers in Connecticut: when to sign

Connecticut voids a waiver of lien rights for work "which have not yet been performed and paid for," but only in contracts its construction-contract statute covers, and that statute leaves out contracts of $25,000 or less and buildings of four or fewer residential units.¹² Google's AI answer for "ct mechanics lien" says waivers for future work are void. On most home jobs that protection doesn't reach you. And once you've waived a lien, "there is no provision under the statute for the revival of that right upon the breach of a contract."⁵

So sign a waiver only for money you've received, and write the amount and a through date on it: "for payments received through October 31, 2026, totaling $8,000." The Appellate Court has upheld a reading of partial waivers as covering only the work already paid for.⁵ One contractor's rule is the safe one: "Final waiver only after we get the last check and it clears."

Connecticut mechanic's lien deadlines at a glance

Other routes: small claims in CT, collection agencies, card disputes

Small claims court

Connecticut small claims hears claims for money up to $5,000. Since July 2022 the limit is $15,000 for claims over home improvement work by a registered contractor, or over new home construction.¹⁵ The statute words the higher limit for "loss or damages sustained by reason of" the work, which reads as if written for homeowners; the Judicial Branch's FAQ says "in the case of a home improvement contract." Over $5,000, ask the clerk before you file. The entry fee is $95, you don't need a lawyer, and the court only awards money, so it can't foreclose a lien. The owner can ask to move the case to the regular docket.¹⁵

Winning isn't the same as getting paid. "Just because you win in small claims doesn't mean you get paid, you still have to collect. The court doesn't do that for you." After a judgment you can record a judgment lien on the owner's property, but it runs into Connecticut's homestead exemption, which protects up to $250,000 of a home's value from judgment creditors.¹⁶ That's one more reason to keep your mechanic's lien deadlines while you sue. You have six years to sue on a written contract.¹⁶

Collection agencies

An agency collecting from Connecticut homeowners on your behalf needs a consumer collection agency license from the Department of Banking. Check it against the department's list of licensed agencies before you sign anything.²⁰ Handing the account over doesn't change your lien deadlines.

The Guaranty Fund pays owners, not you

The Home Improvement Guaranty Fund you pay into each year pays only homeowners who win against a contractor, up to $25,000 a claim. If it pays one of your customers, DCP can revoke your registration, and you can't get a new or renewed one until you repay the fund with interest or sign a repayment agreement. Since June 2, 2026, an owner applying to the fund has to swear they tried to collect from the contractor first, unless the judgment came from small claims.²¹

Card disputes

If the customer paid part by card and disputes the charge with their bank, answer through your payment processor with the signed contract, the signed changes, the invoice and photos of the finished work.

By trade

Roofers: the deductible and the insurance check

The deductible is part of your price, and an unpaid deductible is an unpaid balance like any other, with the same lien deadline. The case in our research was "Long story short total job $16,700": the owner passed along everything the insurer paid and asked for time on the $2,500 deductible. One roofer's habit heads it off: "I always collect a separate check for the deductible with deductible written in the memo line." On claim work, Connecticut gives the insured the right to be named as a joint payee on the insurer's payment, so expect checks that need the owner's endorsement, and tie each payment on your schedule to a release of insurance money.²² Appendix C of our CT contract template has the required disclosure.

Electricians, plumbers and HVAC contractors: bill by stage, and the inspection hold

Bill in stages tied to things a town inspector signs off on: a deposit, then the rough inspection, then the final. The less that rides on the last payment, the less an owner can hold back. Don't treat the final inspection as your lien date. The 90 days run from your last real work, and a trip back only to meet the inspector may not restart them (see F.B. Mattson above). Your contract also has to meet §20-338d for licensed work on a home, or you're in the same spot as a home improvement contractor with a defective contract.¹¹

General contractors and remodelers: the punch list holding the last check

You've seen this one: "Client withholding $6,000 over a small crack in a concrete patio." That contractor had already gone back and repaired the crack. Burns v. Adler is the Connecticut version: the owner barred the contractor once he got notice of the coming lien, had someone else finish the punch list, and won because the changes had never been signed.⁸ Get every change in writing and signed before you do the work, as §20-429 requires.⁶ Punch-list work the owner asks for can extend your lien clock, but don't bet a $6,000 balance on it. Count 90 days from the last real work.

What to do this week if a customer owes you now

1. Write down your last day of real work. Count 90 days, and put day 60 on the calendar as your filing target.
2. Pull the file: signed contract, signed changes, invoices, payments, photos, texts and emails.
3. Check the contract against the nine §20-429 items (or the seven in §20-338d for licensed trades), and check that your registration was current when you signed. If anything is missing, call a lawyer before you mention a lien.
4. Send one written reminder, then the demand letter by certified mail and email. It has to say it's an attempt to collect a debt.
5. If they can't pay at once, offer a signed payment plan, and keep the lien date anyway.
6. No money by your date: get the certificate drafted, swear to it before a notary, record it ($70 for the first page), and book a state marshal to serve every owner within 30 days.
7. Subcontractor or supplier? Serve your notice of intent on the owner and the general contractor now, not on day 89.
8. Sign no lien waiver for money you haven't received.
9. Balance of $5,000 or less? Small claims costs $95 to file.
10. Put the one-year foreclosure date on the calendar, with a lawyer lined up two months before it.

The free demand letter and deadline worksheet

• Part 1, the demand letter: blanks for the job, amounts and dates, a payment-plan offer, an optional interest line, a plain intent-to-lien paragraph (Connecticut sets no required wording for one), and the "attempt to collect a debt" line.
• Part 2, for subcontractors and suppliers: a notice of intent with what §49-35 requires it to say.
• Part 3, the deadline worksheet: your last day of work, each deadline with a blank date, the statute and a box to tick, and a checklist for the lien certificate.

Download it: Google Docs copy, Word (.docx), or PDF. Have a Connecticut attorney look at the lien certificate before you record it. It's a sworn document, and the deadlines don't forgive mistakes.

More for new contractors

• How to find work as a new contractor: where your first customers come from, with a free first customers plan.
• Angi vs Thumbtack: should you pay for leads yet, with a free lead cost calculator.
• Google Business Profile for contractors: setup, verification and your first reviews, with a free checklist.
• How much to set aside for taxes: self-employment tax, quarterly payments and your state, with a free calculator.
• Hiring your first employee: W-2 or 1099, workers comp and what a helper really costs, with a free checklist.
• Contractor insurance: what you need from day one, what it costs and what can wait, with a free checklist.
• Punch list template: stop a small list holding your final payment.

Where Deepsel fits

At the edges, mostly as your record. Deepsel is free estimate, invoice and scheduling software for contractors. Each invoice has a due date and shows as overdue once it passes; you can resend it with your own message, each email is listed on the invoice, and it shows when the customer first opened it. With card payments set up, the customer can pay the balance from the invoice link, and you can record checks with a receipt. The approved quote keeps the customer's name, on-screen signature and approval time, and each visit keeps its completion time, notes and photos, which helps when you have to prove your last day of work. What it doesn't do: send automatic overdue reminders, add late charges or interest, track lien deadlines, write demand letters or file liens. Change orders the customer signs online are on Pro; on Free, get changes signed with your contract paperwork. The Free plan covers 30 estimates and 30 invoices a month for your whole team, with scheduling and dispatch, quotes, invoicing, card payments, and customer and equipment records; Pro is $29 a month for unlimited estimates and invoices. Prices are on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I file a mechanics lien in CT?

Within 90 days after your last day of work, record a sworn certificate of mechanic's lien with the town clerk where the property is: the property, the amount, the date you started, every owner's name, and a statement that the amount is justly due. Recording costs $70 for the first page and $5 for each page after. A state marshal then serves every owner within 30 days, and you have one year to start a foreclosure and record a lis pendens.

What is the deadline for a mechanic's lien in Connecticut?

90 days after you stop work to record the certificate (Conn. Gen. Stat. §49-34), 30 days after recording to serve the owner, and one year after recording to start a foreclosure (§49-39). Work the owner asks for after substantial completion can restart the 90 days; a small task you add to save the lien doesn't.

Can a contractor put a lien on a house without the owner knowing in Connecticut?

No. The lien isn't valid unless a copy is served on every owner within 30 days of recording, by a state marshal or another impartial adult. Subcontractors and suppliers also serve a notice of intent within 90 days after they stop, unless the owner agreed to their subcontract in writing.

Who can't file a mechanic's lien in Connecticut?

Anyone owed $10 or less, anyone who worked on a public building, a subcontractor or supplier who missed the 90-day notice of intent, and in practice an unregistered home improvement contractor, because the contract can't be enforced and a lien built on it gets discharged. A registered contractor whose contract misses a §20-429 item is at risk too.

What is the small claims limit in CT?

$5,000 for most claims, and $15,000 for claims about home improvement work by a registered contractor or new home construction (Conn. Gen. Stat. §51-15(d), since July 2022). The entry fee is $95 and you don't need a lawyer. It only awards money, so it can't foreclose a lien. Over $5,000, ask the clerk whether your claim fits the higher limit.

Is there a Connecticut mechanics lien form?

Not from the state. Section 49-34 lists what the certificate must contain. The free download here has a demand letter, a subcontractor's notice of intent and a deadline worksheet with a checklist for the certificate. Have a Connecticut attorney draft or check the certificate itself: it's sworn, and a defect can void it.

Are lien waivers for future work void in Connecticut?

Only in contracts covered by §42-158l, which leaves out contracts of $25,000 or less and buildings of four or fewer residential units. On most home jobs a waiver you sign can end your lien rights for good. Sign waivers only for money you've received, with the amount and a through date.

Can a homeowner refuse to pay a contractor for poor work in Connecticut?

They can refuse, and then you have to prove what you're owed, in small claims, a lawsuit, or a lien hearing where you must first show probable cause. If the dispute comes from changes you never had signed, the Connecticut Supreme Court has held the owner's refusal isn't bad faith; that contractor lost a $214,039 lien claim.

Sources

1. Conn. Gen. Stat. §49-34, "Certificate of lien to be recorded and notice given to owner," with the official annotations (18 C. 349 on innocent overstatement; 47 CA 265 on trivial work; 247 C. 234 on work at the owner's request; 126 CA 18 on corrective work after complaints; 280 C. 672 on the oath and jurat). cga.ct.gov, General Statutes revised to January 1, 2025. The 2026 Supplement changes no mechanic's lien section on private work (cga.ct.gov). Read November 4, 2026.
2. Conn. Gen. Stat. §49-33 (lien for claims over $10; foreclosure "in the same manner as a mortgage"), §49-35 (notice of intent, the 15-day affidavit, service by "any indifferent person, state marshal or other proper officer"), §49-36 (lien limited to the agreed price; good-faith payments), with annotations (81 C. 632 on public buildings; 141 C. 193 on employees as servers; 185 C. 549 on one document for both notices; 136 CA 184 and 196 CA 430 on subcontractors). cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
3. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§49-35a, 49-35b, 49-35c (application to discharge or reduce, probable cause, seven-day appeal), §49-37 (bond in place of the lien, one year to sue on it), §49-51 (discharge of invalid lien, damages of $100 a week up to $5,000 or actual loss). cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
4. Conn. Gen. Stat. §49-39, "Time limitation of mechanic's lien," and §49-40a. cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026. No 2025 or 2026 public act changed them: 2026 Supplement and Office of Legislative Research, "2026 Acts Affecting Housing and Real Estate" (2026-R-0090), cga.ct.gov.
5. Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Libraries, "Mechanic's Liens in Connecticut: A Guide to Resources in the Law Library," 2025 edition, quoting F.B. Mattson Co. v. Tarte, 247 Conn. 234, 239-240 (1998); HM Construction & Painting, LLC v. McEnery (Super. Ct., Danbury, July 26, 2023), quoting Lambert v. Abe Con, LLC (Super. Ct., Waterbury, 2008); Pero Building Co. v. Smith, 6 Conn. App. 180 (1986); Capp Industries, Inc. v. Schoenberg, 104 Conn. App. 101 (2007); Red Rooster Construction Co. v. River Associates, 224 Conn. 563 (1993); Louis Gherlone Excavating, Inc. v. McLean Construction Co., 88 Conn. App. 775 (2005); Burns v. Adler, 325 Conn. 14 (2017). jud.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
6. Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-429(a) and (f), Home Improvement Act, with annotations (215 C. 350; 224 C. 231); §20-427(b)(5) (no home improvement without a current registration); §20-428 (licensed trades); §20-419 annotation (act "not intended to apply to the transaction between a subcontractor and a homeowner," 249 C. 155). cga.ct.gov; §20-429 unchanged in the 2026 Supplement, cga.ct.gov. Read November 4, 2026.
7. Habetz v. Condon, 224 Conn. 231 (1992). courtlistener.com, read November 4, 2026.
8. Burns v. Adler, 325 Conn. 14 (2017). courtlistener.com, read November 4, 2026.
9. HM Construction & Painting, LLC v. 32 Wilmot Place, LLC, 222 Conn. App. 261 (2023). jud.ct.gov (Connecticut Law Journal, November 7, 2023), read November 4, 2026.
10. Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, "Home Improvement Contractor" ("Home improvement does not include ... Sub-contracted work · Work that is covered under the scope of a trade license"). portal.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
11. Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-338d, "Requirements for contract to perform work on private residence." cga.ct.gov; not changed in the 2026 Supplement, cga.ct.gov. Read November 4, 2026.
12. Conn. Gen. Stat. §42-158i(2) (construction contract excludes contracts of $25,000 or less and buildings "intended for residential occupancy containing four or less units") and §42-158l (waivers of lien rights for work not yet performed and paid for are void). cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
13. Conn. Gen. Stat. §7-34a(a), (d) and (e), town clerk recording fees, as amended by P.A. 25-168 effective July 1, 2025, 2026 Supplement, cga.ct.gov; Town of Glastonbury Town Clerk, "Recording & Copy Fees" ("$70.00 for the first page, $5.00 for each additional page"), glastonburyct.gov. Both read November 4, 2026.
14. Connecticut Judicial Branch, "State Marshals Directory." jud.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
15. Conn. Gen. Stat. §51-15(d), small claims limits ($15,000 provision added by P.A. 21-197, effective July 1, 2022), cga.ct.gov; Connecticut Judicial Branch, "Small Claims Frequently Asked Questions" ($95 entry fee; "You do not need an attorney"), jud.ct.gov. Both read November 4, 2026.
16. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-576 (six years on a written contract), cga.ct.gov; §52-380a (judgment lien on real property) and §52-352b(21) (homestead exemption to $250,000), cga.ct.gov. Read November 4, 2026.
17. Conn. Gen. Stat. §37-3a, interest "at the rate of ten per cent a year, and no more ... as damages for the detention of money after it becomes payable," and §37-1. cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
18. Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-249(a), attorney's fees in lien foreclosure, cga.ct.gov; §§42-150aa and 42-150bb, attorney's fee clauses in consumer contracts (none before a lawsuit, 15% cap, reciprocal fees for the consumer), cga.ct.gov. Read November 4, 2026.
19. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§36a-645, 36a-646 and 36a-648, Creditors' Collection Practices Act, cga.ct.gov; Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies §36a-647-6 (items 5, 6 and 12), eregulations.ct.gov. Both read November 4, 2026.
20. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§36a-800 and 36a-801, consumer collection agency license, 2026 Supplement, cga.ct.gov; Department of Banking, "Consumer Collection Agencies Licensed in Connecticut," portal.ct.gov. Both read November 4, 2026.
21. Conn. Gen. Stat. §20-432, Home Improvement Guaranty Fund, subsections (d) to (p) as amended by Public Act 26-100 §20, signed June 2, 2026 and effective on passage. cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.
22. Conn. Gen. Stat. §38a-313a(a)(1)(B), the insured's right to be named as a joint payee. cga.ct.gov, read November 4, 2026.