New Haven, Conn., Code of Ordinances tit. V § 401

Issuance of rooming house permits shall conform to the following: (a)
Permit and license issuer. The permit and license issuer, hereinafter cited as "the issuer", is a city official who has been appointed to administer the city's permitting and licensing processes. The purposes of such appointment are to increase the efficiency of those processes and to make it easier for persons to apply for permits and licenses issued by the city. The centralization of these activities under the issuer does not relieve the police chief, fire marshal, building official, health inspector, or any other city official of any obligation imposed by federal, state or local law upon such official to review and/or approve permits or licenses of any specific class. Likewise, the issuer is not authorized to issue a license or permit that lacks such required approval.
(b) Controller to delegate licensing forms to issuer. Unless otherwise provided, the controller shall designate the issuer as the official who shall provide suitable records, forms, blanks and applications for every license required by this article.
(c) Permit required. No person may operate a rooming house, or occupy or let to another for occupancy any rooming unit in any rooming house, except in compliance with the provisions of every paragraph of this title except the provisions of paragraphs 300 and 304 through 309.
(d) Application. In order to obtain a permit under this article, an interested person must file an application with the issuer on the prescribed form, and provide all of the following information:
(1) Name, residence address and telephone number, business address and telephone number, sex, social security number, birth date and age of the applicant.
(2) The application date.
(3) Name and address of the principal.
(4) If applying as a partnership, corporation, or other entity: name, address, telephone number and employer identification number of such entity, application date, and the name, residence address and telephone number, business address and telephone number, sex, social security number, birth date and age of each partner or officer.
(5) Nature of business and activities.
(6) Name, residence address and telephone number, business address and telephone number, sex, social security number, birth date and age of all owners of the dwelling that is the site of the proposed rooming house, and the address of the dwelling that is the site of the proposed rooming house.
(e) Disqualification of applicant. An applicant will not be issued a permit if the police chief or his designee determines that the applicant is not a suitable person. This determination will be made on a case-by-case basis, depending upon factors that include, but are not limited to, one (1) or more of the factors listed below. The issuer has the discretion to request a background check, which will be performed on an as-needed basis.
(1) The criminal history of the applicant, specifically the factors listed in section 17-1.4 (a);
(2) The applicant was denied a license or permit under this title within the immediate past year, unless the applicant can and does show to the satisfaction of the appropriate city authority that the reasons for such earlier denial no longer exist.
(3) The applicant had a similar license or permit previously revoked by any lawful authority for just cause not otherwise inconsistent with this ordinance.
(4) The applicant has named a person who has been found unsuitable under the criteria in subsection (1) as having the active management or operation of building or portion thereof.
(5) Other just cause not otherwise inconsistent with this section.
(f) Conditions.
(1) Before a permit may be issued under this article, the issuer shall investigate whether the use is a legal occupancy, and whether the dwelling in question is located within a zoning district that will lawfully tolerate such use. Thereafter, a housing code inspector and fire code official shall determine whether the dwelling complies with fire and housing code regulations. These investigations shall be conducted within a reasonable time from the filing date of the application.
(2) No permit shall be issued unless and until the inspections demonstrate that there is compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.
(g) Effect on neighborhood. Before the issuer may issue a permit, the police chief or his designee will investigate the neighborhood where the licensed or permitted activity is to be conducted to ensure that it will not have a negative impact on accepted community standards concerning public health, safety or welfare.
(h) Issuance.
(1) Upon approval of the application and payment of the fee prescribed by section 17-20.21 of the Code of General Ordinances of the City of New Haven, the issuer shall issue a permit to the applicant in accordance with the provisions of this article and this Code.
(2) The issuer shall issue a permit in the name of the applicant only, and designate the place where such business is to be carried on.
(3) The permit shall be displayed in a conspicuous place within the rooming house at all times.
(4) If an applicant does not acquire a permit after paying the appropriate permit fee, the city shall deduct from any refund all administrative costs associated with the processing of such permit application.
(i) Records kept by the city. The city shall maintain a record of every permit issued, including its number, dates of issuance and expiration, the name of the licensee or permittee, the purpose for which it was issued, and any special conditions pertaining to it.
(j) Permits not to excuse violation of law or extend liability to city. No permit shall authorize or excuse any breach of law, or any trespass upon the rights of others. The city shall not be held liable for any damage that may be committed or caused under color thereof.
(k) Term.
(1) Each permit issued under this chapter shall be issued for one (1) year from its date of issuance.
(2) The renewal of a rooming house permit shall be contingent upon a satisfactory annual inspection of such dwelling by the appropriate city authorities.
(3) A person wishing to renew a permit shall apply for its renewal prior to its expiration date, allowing due time for the issuer and city agencies to perform their duties with respect to such application.
(l) Regulations.
(1) All those issued a permit under this article shall comply with all laws and regulations, including but not limited to the provisions of this Code. In addition, each permittee shall keep a register, card file or other suitable record-keeping system in which he shall list in English the names of all persons residing from time to time in the rooming house.
(2) The police chief or his designee and an insurance authority's designee shall at all times have the right of inspection of all such records kept in compliance with subsection (a) of this section.
(3) No permit may be transferred to a different person, location, purpose or use.
(4) Each permittee must notify the issuer in writing in advance of any change in the information that was part of the approved permit application, any change in ownership or interest or control of the permitted activity or premises, or closure or discontinuance of the permitted business, premises or activity.
(5) If issuance of a permit by the issuer was conditional upon the acquisition or retention of some other license, permit, certification or approval, then the permittee must notify the issuer immediately of the expiration, suspension, cancellation or revocation of such license, permit, certification or approval.
(m) Suspension, cancellation or revocation.
(1) The issuer, or other appropriate authority, may suspend, cancel or revoke a permit after it has been issued for any of the following reasons:
(i) The same was procured by fraud or false representation of facts.
(ii) A breach of the terms or conditions of the license.
(iii) The applicant or permittee has failed to comply with the provisions and requirements of any lawful rule or regulation.
(iv) Any other reason for which, in the opinion of the issuer or his designee, continued operation of the rooming house would jeopardize the public health, safety or welfare.
(2) The police chief and his designee shall have the power to suspend, cancel or revoke the permits issued under this chapter for just cause.
(3) The issuer shall mail written notice of any suspension, cancellation or revocation to the permittee and make a record thereof. Such action shall take effect when the permittee receives such notice. Any act done thereafter under color of such permit shall subject the person so acting to the same penalty as if he had done such act without such permit unless the issuer's action shall be disapproved as hereinafter provided.