Since 2020, Cornell Law School’s Tenants Legal Hotline (607-301-1560) has connected residential tenants in upstate New York to free legal assistance, housing resources, and other social services. This “Housing Hotline”, as it was known in earlier days, was originally a project of the Ithaca Tenants Union. Flooded with calls for legal advice, the Hotline separated from the union and was renamed the Tenants Legal Hotline in early 2021 to clarify its legal service component and expand its jurisdiction beyond Ithaca. Since its founding, the hotline has fielded over 7,000 calls from tenants throughout the state of New York. The Hotline has been supported by the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, and Legal Assistance of Western New York.
*As of November 3, 2025.
If you are an Ithaca tenant in a legal emergency, please call LawNY first at (607) 273-3667.
Tenants with housing-related concerns may request free legal assistance by completing our online intake form here. We will keep confidential any personal information that you give to us. We will not share your information with other people or agencies without your permission. If your application is accepted upon review by our legal team, the student/attorney assigned to your case will reach out to you by phone and email. Levels of assistance vary on a case-by-case basis ranging from brief advice to full court representation.
Our hotline number is (607) 301-1560. The hotline accepts voicemails 24/7. Volunteers answer and return calls daily. If you called our hotline and nobody answered, please leave a voice message with your name, phone number, best times to reach you, and whether your issue is urgent or not. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Please keep in mind that undergraduate volunteers run our hotline, so their hotline hours will change every semester based on class schedules.
For assistance in completing the intake form or for more information on other available resources, call our hotline or email TenantsLegalHotline@gmail.com. By phone or email, volunteers can inform you about your rights under the Tenants’ Rights Guide, direct you to the appropriate legal and non-legal resources, and help submit your intake form to request free legal assistance from our team. Please note that hotline volunteers are NOT lawyers and cannot give legal advice.
