East Hampton's Hotly Contested Rental Registry Law Enforced in May, Workshops Scheduled

After months of public debate, East Hampton adopted its rental registry legislation last month.

Moving forward, landlords hoping to rent their properties will need to register with the town or face charges.

And now, East Hampton Town ha scheduled rental registry workshops, to help explain the new legislation to real estate agents and the public, especially prospective landlords.

Real estate brokers can attend a session on Wednesday, January 20, at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, members of the general public are invited to attend on Wednesday, January 27, at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. or 5 p.m.

All workshops will take place in the main meeting room of East Hampton Town Hall at 159 Pantigo Road.

If attending, please RSVP with your name and preferred workshop time to Supervisor’s Larry Cantwell’s office at (631) 324-4140 or by email to Colleen Reynolds, assistant to the supervisor, at creynolds@ehamptonny.gov.

During each workshop, town staff will walk participants through the rental registry application process and answer any questions on this process that participants may have. The building department will handle and process the applications, which will be available on the homepage of the town website, www.ehampton.ny.gov as well as on the building department’s page, http://www.ehamptonny.gov/HtmlPages/Building/BuildingForms.htm. The phone number for the building department is (631) 324-4145.

Inquiries regarding the rental registry may also be directed to rentalregistry@ehamptonny.gov.

Important dates:

January 15, Friday: Rental Registry applications will become available on the Town website (www.ehamptonny.gov) or at the building department, located at 300 Pantigo Place), and the town will begin accepting completed applications. The form may be filled out online, but must be submitted either in person or by mail, along with the $100 application fee.

February 1: The Building Department will begin issuing rental registration numbers.

May 1: The Town will begin full enforcement of the rental registry law. This date was selected to allow property owners ample time to come into compliance with these new requirements.

The issue has been the subject of much public debate: In October, anonymous opponents of the rental registry law in East Hampton created a website to ask residents to vote against the law.

The website, StoptheRentalRegistry.com, stated that the law would “hurt local property owners, local businesses and our local economy on the East End of Long Island.”

The town first pitched the idea of a rental registry legislation last summer, when the board began working on proposing laws to help solve the problems in Montauk, such as overcrowding, noise and a constant turnover of guests, that angry local residents, said were destroying their quality of life.

The hamlet has received a reputation of a “party town” and locals got fed up after the “crazy” Fourth of July weekend.

The board’s aim was to implement a rule to require homeowners to register all rentals with the town by this summer in order to address safety and quality of life violations with enforcement and prevent over-occupation, according to Cantwell.

Cantwell says that there are probably a “couple thousand” homeowners who rent their homes to visitors, especially over the summer.

Residents have been vocal on both sides of the hot-button issue.

In July, a local resident started a petition on change.org to create a rental registry in order to help prevent illegal housing, ensure tenant safety, reserve water quality and the environment, preserve the quality of life on the East End, preserve real estate values and preserve the single family residential character of the hamlets.

The website links to a second petition on Change.org, STOP the Rental Registry Law in East Hampton.

According to the website, East Hampton visitors who rent a home for their vacation may face fines upward of $15,000.

“It is widely recognized that a Rental Registry Law will not achieve its legislative intent of addressing overcrowded year-round rentals and unruly seasonal share houses,” the website reads. “The Rental Registry Law is misguided in what it can achieve, while providing code enforcement with an end-run around the U.S. Constitution and the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unwarranted searches.”

However, Cantwell previously said that “the purpose of the rental registry is not to stop rentals, people have been renting in East Hampton for years.” Instead, the goal is to ensure that landlords are not crowding renters into homes, and to be sure health and safety standards are met, with required measures such as smoke detectors and pool fences onhand.

Seven out of the 10 towns in Suffolk County had already implemented a rental registry, including Southampton Town, before the East Hampton town board’s unanimous vote in favor of the legislation last month.