Register Before Renting? No Thank You

The East Hampton Town Board, which is pondering a law that would require homeowners to register with the town before renting their houses, got an earful Tuesday at an initial discussion of the idea. More than a dozen speakers said don’t do it.

A handful at most supported the idea, which would require landlords to pay a fee and obtain a registration number after providing the town with information including the number of tenants, length of rental period, and number of bedrooms at a property.

Owners would also have to show that the house complies with all state and local building codes, either by swearing to it themselves in an affidavit, hiring an architect or engineer to do so, or allowing an inspection by the town. Permits would have to be renewed, and fees paid, each time a rental period expired, or when tenants or anything else about the situation changed.

Speakers called the draft law onerous, overbearing, invasive, and unconstitutional. Applause broke out in the Town Hall meeting room after many comments.

A rental registry has been floated as a way to bolster enforcement of housing laws and address problems with share houses and illegal short-term rentals. But critics on Tuesday cited relevant housing laws already on the books and questioned how a registry would assist in enforcement.

Board members asked Michael Sendlenski, the assistant town attorney who drafted the proposed law, to prepare a memo addressing that question for presentation at the next public discussion of the registry, on Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. at the Montauk Firehouse.

Mr. Sendlenski told the board the town had received more than 200 complaints so far this year of potential housing code violations. Serial short-term rentals or “excessive turnover,” according to the code, are hard to prove, requiring inspectors to make multiple visits and spend extensive time to build a case.

The new law, the attorney said, would protect the “health, safety, and welfare not only of the people who are living in the structure, but those in the community,” by helping to avoid chronic issues resulting from housing violations, such as noise, neighborhood disruption, and septic-system overload. “If we can show that the occupancy doesn’t match the afidavit, it gives . . . the opportunity to address those,” he said.

Failure to obtain a rental registry number, which would have to be posted in rental advertisements, could bring a fine of up to $1,500. Violations of other provisions of the draft law would result in fees from $3,000 to $15,000, or up to $30,000 for a second violation within 18 months.

What the law would do, speakers told the board, is inconvenience law-abiding landlords who rely on rentals to raise money for living expenses.

That includes people who “are just trying to make ends meet,” using rental income to pay taxes, medical expenses, or to put kids through college, said Tom Steele, an East Hampton resident.

Mr. Steele and others also asserted that the law would have a negative impact on the local housing market. “There will be a reduction in rental properties, but not the ones that are problematic,” he said.

“A rental registry will hurt the legitimate, law-abiding landlords, and create difficulties for the renters,” many of whom are the town’s year-round, working residents, said Margaret Turner, the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance.

Many houses were built before changes in the building codes, which they would be expected to meet under the new law, Ms. Turner said. Those houses would require costly renovations in order to meet current standards. Rather than bear that burden, and pay the registry fees, she and others suggested, homeowners might choose to pull their rentals from the market.

“Our already difficult rental market will become an impossible one,” Beverly Bond said. “The registry creates a new administrative bureaucracy. Our taxes are better spent on enforcement, with an emphasis on rentals.” The town board, she suggested, could “resolve this issue without trampling on the wallet and the rights of my law-abiding neighbors.”

Mr. Sendlenski said the Building Department could process a rental permit application and issue a registry number within a day or two. But Ms. Turner took issue with that, citing Southampton Town, where, she said, there is a backlog and two-month delay.

The rental registry law in Southampton, where both Mr. Sendlenski and the town attorney, Elizabeth Vail, were formerly employed, is a failure, speakers said, citing low numbers of registrants. Only the law-abiding would follow the rules and register, many said.

Councilman Fred Overton questioned how homeowners, asked to attest that their houses were up to code, could be expected to know.

“They’re attesting to the best of their knowledge,” Mr. Sendlenski said. “If they need professional help, they can get professional help.”

Ms. Turner predicted that architects and engineers, with their professional licenses on the line, would be unwilling to certify a house that they did not design or build.

The other option — allowing an inspection by officials — did not sit well with some speakers. Ms. Bond called it a “frightening overreach by this board.”

“People should not lose their privacy rights just because they rent their property,” Mr. Steele said. “Please focus on the real problem, and leave the rest of us alone.”

“We are not the people you should be going after and should be making life more difficult for,” said Susan Jewett, to applause. Ms. Jewett, who lives in East Hampton, rents out a second family property.

“Overcorrecting is not the answer,” Marlene Dion told the board. “Why are you not focusing on those who abuse the law?” asked Charles Tabone. “It’s almost like punishing the whole family when one child does something wrong.”

Alexander Peters suggested that rather than try to crack down on compliance with existing laws, the board should relax the rules regarding short-term rentals. At present, two rentals of 14 days or less are permitted every six months. “Like it or not, we are a resort town,” Mr. Peters said, and short-term rentals “enable people to stay in this town. Homeowners shouldn’t have to live in fear of breaking the law to pay their bills.” Share houses should be the focus of enforcement efforts, he said. “Those are the ones that are disrespectful and out of control.” 

“I don’t think that this town board has ever established that short-term rentals are bad for this town,” Ellen Dooley said. “The vast majority of these vacationing families are respectful people.” She asked the board to conduct an economic study “on the rental business here in East Hampton and how the town can help its residents thrive.”

Ms. Turner and others also questioned lists of “presumptive evidence” in the draft law. If certain conditions exist, a property owner might be forced to prove that, for instance, a residence was not being used as a rental, or was not overoccupied. “You are guilty until proven innocent,” said Ms. Turner. “It smacks our Constitution right in the face.”

 One man who said problematic rental houses surround his own told the board that something to bolster code enforcement was needed. “I’m asking you to pass this law, because my quality of life is going downhill,” he said.

“Quite a few” Springs residents, and members of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee, oppose the registry, said Loring Bolger, chairwoman of the group, but she acknowledged that a number of others living in the hamlet, where overcrowded housing has become a major source of complaint, support it, in the belief that it will help the town eliminate those problems. “Will it?” asked Ms. Bolger. “I personally don’t see it.”

The draft law, said Tom Knobel, “does not yet have the specifics as to how it’s going to benefit us. That’s not sufficient to impose a really onerous requirement on many, many people.”

The proposed town budget for next year contains money to hire an additional code enforcement officer, said Supervisor Larry Cantwell. And, although the rental registry is still under discussion, also included in the budget is $50,000 in anticipated revenue from registration fees.