Over 300 East Hampton Town Residents Pack Hearing to Oppose Rental Registry Law

About 300 local residents packed a hearing held last Thursday to express their opposition on the proposed rental registry law for the Town.

The 3-hour meeting took place at American Legion hall in Amagansett rather than Town Hall to accommodate the extra people and had over 40 speakers.

The possible rental registry law, which was proposed by the Town Board over the summer when they began working on proposing laws that will help solve the problems in Montauk that were expressed by angry local residents, including complaints of overcrowding after the hamlet had received a reputation of a “party town” and locals got fed up after the “crazy” Fourth of July weekend.

The proposed law would require homeowners who wish to rent their house either seasonally or year-round, to fill out a two-page form to describe the size and arrangement of their house as well as make sure the home meets basic fire and safety codes every time new tenant moves into the home.

Last month, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell, said that the law is still under draft form and still has to undergo review.

Currently, there is no law on the subject, so the board is hoping implement a rule to require homeowners to register all rentals with the Town by next summer in order to better enforce and prevent over occupation, according to Cantwell.

Since then, local residents have been expressing their opposition, creating online petitions and websites encouraging people to stop the rental registry law.

The law would affect the couple 1,000 homeowners who rent their homes to visitors, especially over the summer.

“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,” a message on StoptheRentalRegistry.com 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.”

The website also claims that under the law homeowners who rent their homes and violate the law, could face fines up to $1,500.

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.”

At the hearing on Thursday, opponents claimed the law would be “intrusive” and claimed it “represented ’Big Brother’ in action, according to a report in Newsday.

Tom Steele, a member of the Stop the Rental Registry group who claims the law was “unconstitutional” and would require landlords to perform “unwanted searches and inspections and bed checks,” presented an online petition started on Change.org that was signed by 1,325 people, according to the report.

Supporters of the law claimed it will help with problems such as “overcrowding, noise, illegal parking and other problems attributed to rentals,” Newsday reports.

“Our community’s crying for relief from those who rent illegally,” Frank Riina, a Springs resident, told Newsday. “There are noisy parties that go throughout the night.”

The town board did not make a decision on whether or not to enact the law at the hearing.