East Hampton is preparing to go after illegal short-term rentals as local leaders warn that unchecked investor activity and online booking platforms are eating into the town’s housing stock.
Town officials said they plan to solicit proposals for software that can track and flag unregistered rentals listed on platforms such as Airbnb, according to Newsday. Deputy Supervisor Cate Rogers told the board that only about half of the 1,874 listings found through analytics firm AirDNA are registered under East Hampton’s rental registry law, which has been in place since 2015 and requires a $200 permit.
Rogers said the proliferation of homes purchased and flipped by out-of-town investors — many backed by specialized lenders and property managers — has distorted the local market.
“I do think we are looking at commercial investment in our residential districts by investors who only seek to make profit and are not looking at being part of this community at all,” she said.
The town’s rules already restrict short-term rentals to 14 days at a time, and no more than twice in a six-month period, but enforcement has proved cumbersome. The monitoring software could help pinpoint violators and track investor ownership, following the example of nearby Southold, which adopted the Rentalscape platform earlier this year.
While Rogers floated several potential reforms — such as creating a dedicated section of the town code for short-term rentals, imposing a local tax, or raising registration fees — board members struck a cautious tone, warning that overregulation could harm the seasonal rental economy that underpins much of East Hampton’s tourism sector.
Councilperson Ian Calder-Piedmonte said the board must “make sure that we don’t become purely seasonal, and that we have a healthy, vibrant year-round community that we’ve always had,” emphasizing that the town’s challenge is balancing visitor demand with year-round livability.
Others, like Councilperson David Lys, noted that many local families rely on rental income to make ends meet.
East Hampton’s consideration mirrors a broader East End push to rein in short-term rentals. Southampton Village recently banned rentals under 14 days, while Riverhead requires a 30-day minimum.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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