Burlington charter amendment lets city council set rental-notice periods; committee seeks more stakeholder input

Burlington voters approved a charter amendment that removes specific landlord notice periods from the city charter and authorizes the Burlington City Council to set rental-notification and tenancy-termination periods by ordinance, Burlington City Attorney Jessica Brown told the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on May 15, 2025. “With regard to rental notification, 6,115, yes votes, so just over 65%,” Brown said.

Under Burlington’s current charter, landlords must provide between 90 and 120 days’ notice to terminate residential leases depending on tenancy duration — a requirement that the city attorneys said exceeds state law. The proposed charter amendment eliminates those fixed periods and gives the city council discretion to adopt shorter or longer notice periods through the ordinance-adoption process.

Assistant City Attorney Eric Ramakrishnan told the committee the city intends to use the council’s ordinance process to solicit feedback from tenants, landlords and service providers. “We have an extensive ordinance adoption process, so there’s plenty of opportunity for feedback,” he said. City attorneys and council members described the change as a means of making local policy more responsive to changes in the rental market, including demographic shifts that followed the pandemic and new housing stock coming online.

Committee members raised several concerns during the hearing. Some representatives asked why the change is necessary if existing notice periods are working and whether the city’s resources and legal perspective are sufficient to craft ordinance language that aligns with statewide landlord-tenant law. One member asked whether making the decision at the municipal level could disadvantage property owners if a larger share of voters are renters; city attorneys replied they did not have the renter/owner ratio available at the hearing and said they would provide those figures on request. Members also requested the CDNR committee minutes and a list of groups and individuals who testified during the city’s internal process.

City staff said the proposal was developed through Burlington’s Community Development and Neighborhood Revitalization committee and was reviewed by the full city council before going to the ballot; Carter Neubezer chaired CDNR when the matter was taken up, the city attorneys said.

The committee did not adopt any formal action at the hearing; members asked the city to send documentation of CDNR discussions and a list of stakeholders so the committee can hear additional testimony next week.

Why it matters: The amendment gives Burlington local control to set landlord and tenant notice periods by ordinance rather than by fixed charter language. The city says the change will allow faster, stakeholder-informed responses to shifts in the rental market, while committee members want more information on stakeholder outreach and possible interactions with state landlord-tenant law before advancing the proposal.