Local Resident Starts Petition to Create Rental Registry in Town of East Hampton

A local resident recently started a petition on change.org to create a rental registry in the Town of East Hampton.

The petition, created by Frank Riina, has a total of 256 signatures as of Wednesday. The goal is to get a total of 500 signatures.

According to the petition, residents are asking for 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.

Several Suffolk County towns and villages have already established rental registries, including Huntington, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southampton, Greenport and Southold is in process of establishing one, according to the petition.

According to the petition the Town Board said “show us the community support for a Rental Registry and we will act on it”.

Riina stated on the petition that the board has assured him last week that they will be moving forward with the rental registry.

Several citizens have commented in support of the petition.

Joseph Lenahan, of Montauk wrote that he signed the petition because he is “tired of share houses and the influx of taxi’s in residential neighborhoods from people renting their house.”

“One thing to rent your house to try and offset the cost of putting your children through college,” he wrote. “Other than that their should be regulations on renting your house for only once a year for max of one month in the course of a calendar year.”

The petition comes after Montauk citizens became fed up after the Fourth of July weekend, stating that the hamlet has gained a reputation as a “party town,” and created problems in the small hamlet including public urination, noise, parking problems, and overcrowding of rental homes and bars.

Earlier this week, East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said that the town is working to propose laws that will help solve some of these problems.

Most recently, the board proposed a law would require the manager or person in charge of any bar, tavern or restaurant with a maximum occupancy of over 100 persons to have some sort of mechanical system in place in order to count the number of patrons, according to Cantwell.