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The City of Binghamton Code Enforcement Department responds to complaints and provides enforcement services in relation to exterior and interior condition of buildings. Students living in off-campus housing can contact Code Enforcement with concerns regarding safety and property maintenanace. 

Reporting code violations

Typically, a tenant must first notify the landlord of a problem before filing a complaint with the county or city health department. This affords a landlord an opportunity to adequately and punctually fix the issue and avoid a complaint that may blemish their record.

Check your lease for your rental repair agreement and follow the steps it outlines with regard to requesting maintenance on your rental. Even if you signed a lease that conflicts with basic habitability rules, most judges will not enforce a contract that contradicts your rights to a safe, clean and habitable rental. Keep a record of your outreach. If the landlord doesn’t respond or declines to fix the problem, your next step would be to flee a formal complaint with code enforcement.

1. Document the violation(s)
   • • Before you file a complaint, make sure to collect information on the issue. Jot down the problems you see, when or how often they occur, and the impact they’ve had on you and/or your neighbors.
     • Take photos, record videos and talk to your neighbors to help create additional evidence for code enforcement and in case you end up going to court.
2. File a complaint
   1. • Once you’ve amassed evidence and information, seek out your cities or county’s health inspector or building inspector to report the violations.
      • Emphasize if your issue has the potential to cause imminent harm, has caused bodily harm or has prevented you from living there.
      • Ask them any questions about the process and what may or may not be a health code violation. You’ll need to provide code enforcement such information as your name, the rental’s address, the landlord or property manager, your correspondence with your landlord, when the problem began, for how long it’s occurred, and how frequently it occurs.

More information