Broome County, NY Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Broome County Code § 210-7(D) sets fees for 'miscellaneous inspections,' defined as all inspections of existing buildings requested by an owner, an owner's agent, a lessee, a tenant or an occupant, then carves out one category from that fee: unless the request 'is related to a complaint alleging Uniform Code violations.' A tenant who believes their unit or building violates the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, as enforced locally under Chapter 210, can ask the Code Enforcement Officer for an inspection without paying the miscellaneous-inspection fee that would otherwise apply.

This fee waiver matters because § 210-4A(2) otherwise exempts occupied dwelling units from the county's regular periodic firesafety/life-safety inspection cycle, the schedule that covers public-assembly areas and multiple-dwelling common areas every 12 months and other buildings every 24 months. Without a complaint, a lived-in unit is not on that recurring schedule; the code preserves inspection access for tenants specifically by waiving the fee for a violation complaint and by allowing inspection at the invitation of the occupant or where conditions on the premises threaten public health, safety or welfare.

Requests go to the Code Enforcement Officer housed under the Commissioner of Public Works. The county's own Code Enforcement Official has jurisdiction only over county-owned buildings, county special-purpose units and the Off-Track Betting Corporation under § 210-1; a tenant renting from a private landlord inside a town, village or city files a Uniform Code complaint with that municipality's own code enforcement office instead.