Help Is a Few Clicks Away
With a new law in place requiring rental properties to be registered with East Hampton Town, a new business, Rental Registry Expediters, has been established to relieve homeowners of that task.
Kyle Herman, an Amagansett resident and Rutgers University political science instructor whose family members work in both construction and real estate, has launched a website, homexregistry.com, where property owners can start the registration process with a few clicks.
The business will have a professional home inspector verify and notarize the registration forms, assuring that properties meet the letter of the law, sign off on compliance with numerous codes (such as those requiring pool gates, alarms, and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors), and file the paperwork with the town.
The company, according to its website, provides “a turnkey solution to a painstaking and time-consuming process,” streamlining registration for “homeowners, real estate agents, and rental companies.” Turnaround, it says, is two to three weeks.
The service begins at $200 for properties with a current certificate of occupancy that are already in compliance with building and safety laws. The fee covers paperwork preparation and processing and the inspectors’ verification.
For those “unsure of the information required” for a property or whether it is “rental-ready,” a “premium” package starting at $650 covers a more extended review. An appointment may be made with one of the company’s house inspectors or architects, and if work is needed to get a property up to code, the business, which has partnerships with local home care companies, will arrange to have it done.
“Basically, we’re a liaison to the whole process; we’re in-between,” Mr. Herman said recently. Property owners who do not live here often “can’t be bothered,” he said, with the details of the new law. “It’s been kind of like the Wild West out there,” he said. “Now, it’s going to be a lot more regulated.”
While the registry was implemented earlier this year, the town is giving prospective landlords until May 1 to comply; after that date the requirement will be enforced, and those renting unregistered properties will be subject to fines of from $3,000 to $15,000 per day or, potentially, jail time.
Local real estate brokers were reluctant to discuss the new rental laws this week, saying that it is early days as yet, but at least one brokerage is rumored to be planning to eliminate rentals from its listings after May 1 if they have no registration numbers.
The Building Department, which is overseeing the registry, said 450 rental permits had been issued to date. Beginning in the middle of next month, payment of the registration fee, which is $250 for two years, will be accepted by credit card.
A brochure outlining the new requirements and other applicable laws is being prepared, Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said Tuesday, and will be mailed out to town residents.
The rental registry fee is also apparently becoming a factor for potential tenants. In a recent classified ad, a person seeking an apartment or cottage offered to pay the fee if the landlord