Days after the controversial short-term rental law was passed in Southold Town, with a 14-day minimum stay now required, Town Supervisor Scott Russell said he’d like to amp up code enforcement efforts.
At last week’s town board work session, Russell said currently, the legislation was sent to New York State Department of State for approval, as is customary.
The new law will go into effect 60 days after that approval. “We expect the approval any day,” he said Tuesday.
The board discussed how the code would be enforced. If a short-term rental was discovered on a site such as airbnb, board members asked how the town would crack down.
Russell said the onus would be on the property owner to show that the home was not being rented for less than the 14-day minimum. “You have to remember, when we pass code, we get substantial compliance,” he said. He said the notion that there would be mass disregard for the law simply hasn’t proven to be true in the past.
However, Russell added, enforcement will be “problematic, like any code.” While the internet is a “good launching point,” he believes a second code enforcement officer is critical to help with case building.
Recently, the town board moved forward to hire a second, part-time code enforcement officer. Down the line, Russell said the hope is to make that a full-time position and hire another part timer, so that there are two full-time code enforcement officers on board.
Town Attorney Bill Duffy said the town would have to prove an owner was in violation of the code.
Justice Louisa Evans asked where a suspicion would originate from that the house was a short-term rental.
Russell said websites, as well as complaints from neighbors, that have “a different parade of people every week” would help to establish suspicion.
Councilman Jim Dinizio said one issue is that when a person is renting from a site such as airbnb, an address isn’t given until an application is made to rent the house; photos on the websites, he said, are not always the actual house up for rental. He said funds might be put in the budget for code enforcement to actually make a reservation and investigate complaints.
