Binghamton town hall on good-cause eviction draws sharp divisions between tenant advocates and landlords

The Binghamton City Planning Committee hosted a town hall on good-cause eviction that drew more than three hours of public comment and sharply divided perspectives from tenant advocates, legal aid attorneys and landlords.

Council member Nate Hotchkiss, who introduced the local opt-in legislation, opened the presentation by summarizing the state law and the local choices the city must make. "Good cause eviction is a tenant protection," Hotchkiss said. "Just this past April 2024, it passed through the state, and it requires a local opt in for each municipality." He described three central features he said are in the opt-in: protections against unjustified or retaliatory evictions, a right to renew a lease at a reasonable rent and a cap on rent increases (a formula of 10% or 5% plus CPI, which he said currently translates to about 8.45%).

Hotchkiss also outlined exemptions in the state framework and local options. Under the state template, a "small landlord" is commonly defined as one owning 10 or fewer units; the version Hotchkiss introduced would redefine a small landlord as an owner of a single unit to close perceived LLC loopholes. "If we kept the state definition, 23% of tenants would be covered. If we lower it to 1 unit, then 84% of tenants are covered," he said. He also said the local bill would allow a luxury threshold at 345% of fair-market rent so very high-priced units would be exempt.

Tenant advocates, housing lawyers and residents described a local pattern of displacement and asked the council to move forward. Willa Payne, managing attorney at Legal Services of Central New York, said the bill is aimed at preventing retaliatory and discriminatory evictions. "Good cause does not remove the right of landlords to reobtain possession. It simply limits them from doing so arbitrarily," Payne said, adding that carve-outs in the bill preserve landlordsability to evict for nonpayment, nuisance and other specified causes.

Landlords and representatives of the real-estate community urged patience and more data. Several landlords described problems they said are common under current practice: burdensome nuisance cases, difficulty proving misconduct in court, and rising costs of repairs and insurance. Mike Reed, identifying himself as a landlord, said he had taken nuisance cases to court and sometimes found they were difficult to win. "I have personally been to court with nuisance stuff," Reed said. "I had 16 police reports of extreme domestic violence over the course of five months. It was almost considered irrelevant." Supporters of the bill countered that some landlords use holdover notices as a pretext for displacement.

Speakers also debated practical details and enforcement. Attorneys and council members discussed the lawidentified in the meeting as Real Property Law, chapter 50, article 6-A (the state opt-in statute), and whether local courts have capacity to hear more contested nuisance or holdover cases. Hotchkiss and others said they had contacted or planned to contact other municipalities that have moved ahead, including Ithaca and Rochester, but several landlords and real-estate representatives urged the council to wait for multiyear impact data from early adopters.

There was no council vote on the opt-in law at the meeting. The session ended after public comment; a routine motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved.

Why it matters: The local choice matters because New York Statelaw lets municipalities decide whether to opt in to a statutory good-cause regime. If Binghamton opts in, the law would change the legal and practical balance between preventing arbitrary displacement and preserving landlords' existing legal avenues for regaining possession; the details local leaders choose (for example, how to define "small landlord") will determine how many tenants gain protections.

What happens next: Council members said they are continuing discussions and due diligence; no formal decision or adoption occurred at the town hall. Additional briefings and committee meetings were suggested by both supporters and opponents.