The Tenants Advocacy Program primarily assists with civil residential landlord-tenant disputes or disputes between residential tenants or subtenants in upstate New York.
What We Can Help With
Issues we help with include, but are not limited to: evictions, security deposits, lease-related issues, rent-to-own agreements, issues getting repairs, accessibility or other disability-related issues, privacy/safety issues, housing voucher issues or other public/subsidized housing disputes, domestic violence-related lease terminations or evictions, and housing discrimination.
Location
We can provide free legal advice to all residential tenants in upstate New York, which we consider to be anywhere in New York State outside New York City and Long Island. We cannot help tenants living within New York City or Long Island, nor can we help with any matters outside the state of New York.
Court Representation
We can provide free court representation only in Tompkins, Tioga, Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Monroe, or Allegany County. If you need representation but do not live in a county listed above, we unfortunately cannot assist you. Please contact your local legal aid provider.
What We Can’t Help With
Unfortunately, we cannot assist with criminal matters. We also cannot help landlords or commercial tenants (e.g. businesses, food trucks).
Income
There is no income requirement to receive free legal assistance from our Program. Most of our clients are low-income.
Citizenship
There is no citizenship requirement to apply for our services. We can help tenants regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
University Affiliation
Our services are not restricted to tenants affiliated with Cornell University. Although our Program is based in Ithaca, and many clients study or work at Cornell, we assist tenants statewide regardless of their connection to Cornell.
