127-1 Legislative findings.
- Chapter 164, Zoning, of the Code of the Village of Ocean Beach provides for residence housing, including single-family, two-family and condominium residence and accessory uses in conformance with the General Management Plan of the Fire Island National Seashore.
- This Board finds that in recent years an unhealthy, unsafe and dangerous practice has come about in connection with the rental and leases of single-family, two-family and condominium residence dwellings. Known as "group rentals," premises are often sublet to uncontrollable or indeterminate numbers of people. This Board finds that overcrowding of these residence dwellings is hazardous, unsafe, unsanitary, interferes with the interest of the public in the quality of life and total community environment and is not in conformance with acceptable building codes, fire laws, occupancy standards and Chapter 164, Zoning, and is detrimental to the health, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants of the Village of Ocean Beach and hereby enacts this chapter to secure the public health, safety and welfare.
127-2 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ADULT A person who has attained the age of 18 years.
BEDROOM A room used for the purposes of overnight sleeping. A kitchen or bath shall not be considered a "bedroom." No dwelling shall have more than four bedrooms, except for dwellings with more than four bedrooms with a grandfathered exception to § 164-22 and/or § 164-35.
DWELLING Any building that contains one or more dwelling units used, intended, or designed to be built, used, rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied or that are occupied for living purposes.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE A dwelling which is either rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied or is occupied as a dwelling unit, residence or home of three or more families living independently of each other.
DWELLING, SINGLE-FAMILY A detached building or a condominium unit, as defined in the New York Real Property Law, Article 9-B, designed for the exclusive occupancy of one family doing its own cooking.
DWELLING, TWO-FAMILY A detached building or a condominium unit, as defined in the New York Real Property Law, Article 9-B, designed for the exclusive occupancy of two families, each doing its own cooking.
DWELLING UNIT A building or part of a building where the unit consists of one or more rooms with provisions for cooking, living, sanitary and sleeping facilities designed exclusively for residential use and arranged or intended to be occupied by one individual household or family living independently of other individual households or families.
FAMILY
- One or more persons related by blood, adoption or marriage living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit, exclusive of household servants; or
- One or more persons living and cooking together as a single, permanent, nonprofit housekeeping unit and being the functional and factual equivalent of a traditional family, whether related by blood, adoption or marriage or not, shall be deemed to constitute a "family;" or
- A group of unrelated persons, limited in number to two persons per sleeping room of their dwelling, living and cooking together in a nonprofit housekeeping unit, whether or not their relationship constitutes the functional or factual equivalent of a "family" or whether such relationship is permanent or seasonal in nature.
RENT A return in money, property or other valuable consideration (including payment in kind or for services or other thing of value) for the use and occupancy or the right to the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit, whether or not a legal relationship of landlord and tenant exists between the owner and the occupant or occupants thereof.
RENTAL An agreement, which is either oral or written, whereby a dwelling unit is leased, used or occupied by a family for which compensation is paid, directly or indirectly.
SHARE The grant of authority or permission to a person or persons to reside overnight in a single-family, two-family or condominium dwelling in any room, rooms or portion thereof.
TENANT An adult who leases, uses or occupies a dwelling unit.
TRANSIENT A rental where the duration of the occupancy is less than seven consecutive days.
USE The purpose for which land or a building or structure is designed, arranged or intended or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. The term "use" shall include any actions of any owner, operator, tenant or subtenant and/or realtor.
127-3 Leasing and renting restricted.
- No dwelling unit shall be leased or rented except as provided herein in this chapter.
- No dwelling unit shall be leased or rented, except to a family as defined in this chapter.
- No dwelling unit shall be leased unless the lease and the premises thereof fully conform to all of the provisions of this Code and the laws of the State of New York.
- No rental shall be leased, occupied, or used by any tenant who is not listed as such on the rental application pursuant to § 127-4 of this chapter. Where there is a change in the individual tenants who will be leasing, occupying, or using the dwelling unit, the rental application shall be amended to indicate the name of the new tenant before the new tenant may occupy the dwelling unit. There shall be a filing fee for each application change as determined by the Board of Trustees,
- Transient rentals of dwelling units are prohibited.
- The selling of shares to tenants where they obtain the rights of use and occupancy in a dwelling unit on a transient basis shall be prohibited. The rent or compensation paid for a rental shall not be shared by more than the permitted number of tenants.
- The leasing, use or occupancy by a tenant of less than the entire dwelling unit is prohibited.
- Subleasing by a tenant without the written approval of the owner of the dwelling unit and the Village of Ocean Beach shall be prohibited.
127-4 Permit required; application; term; fee.
- It shall be unlawful to use, occupy, commercially advertise for rent, establish, maintain, operate or let a dwelling unit entirely or for partial occupancy where any rent is paid or charge is made for such use or occupancy in the Village of Ocean Beach without first having obtained a permit therefor. Failure or refusal to procure a permit hereunder shall be deemed a violation.
- Prior to occupancy by any tenant, the owner or his designee shall file, on a form provided, names, addresses and telephone numbers for all tenants and realtor, if any.
- Each application shall be accompanied by a certificate of occupancy or compliance or a special permit as may be required and by a plot plan or sketch showing the approximate size and location of all buildings and structures and the floor plan of each dwelling unit and accommodation. Each application shall include a sworn affidavit signed by the applicant(s) attesting that they are familiar with and shall remain in compliance with all aspects of the Village Code (including this chapter) and that each dwelling unit has a working fire extinguisher and smoke detectors.
- Terms of permits. All permits shall be valid for the calendar year in which they are issued.
- Fee. The fee for each rental permit shall be determined by the Board of Trustees from time to time by a duly adopted resolution.
127-5 Enforcement; penalties for offenses.
- Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a violation pursuant to the Penal Law of the State of New York, punishable by a fine not less than $250 nor exceeding $3,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Each day of such violation shall constitute a separate offense.
- In addition to all other remedies available to the Village, the Village Attorney, at the request of the Mayor or Village Administrator, is authorized to bring and maintain a civil proceeding in the name of the Village in Supreme Court to restrain and enjoin the rental or subrental of a single-family residence dwelling in violation of this chapter.
- Public nuisance.
- Upon issuance of a summons for a violation of any provisions of the Code of the Village of Ocean Beach against an owner, operator, tenant, subtenant and/or occupant of a rental property, the Police Department shall forward a copy of said summons to the owner(s) of the property for informational purposes only. Failure to forward a copy of the summons shall not invalidate the summons, nor shall it serve as an affirmative defense in a rental permit revocation hearing.
- Two or more convictions for violation of any provision of the Code of the Village of Ocean Beach against an owner, operator, tenant, subtenant and/or occupant of the same rental property within one calendar year during the tenure of ownership by the same record owner or owners thereof shall constitute a public nuisance. A "conviction" is as defined in § 1.20, Subdivision 13, of the Criminal Procedure Law, and two or more such convictions shall be presumptive evidence that the leased residence is a public nuisance.
- The owner and/or sublessor of a premises that constitutes a public nuisance shall be presumed to be conducting, maintaining and permitting a public nuisance under this chapter, provided that notice of such conviction has been sent to or provided such owner or sublessor.
- A rental permit issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be revoked by the Village after a duly noticed hearing and upon the findings and determination by the Village Board of Trustees that a rental property is a public nuisance, as defined in this chapter. In addition, no rental permit shall be issued or granted for a dwelling the calendar year following such a revocation. The revocation of a rental permit by the Village Board of Trustees shall be subject to review only by an appropriate Article 78[1] proceeding initiated in New York State Supreme Court, County of Suffolk.
- In the event that a permit application is denied by the Village, an applicant may appeal such denial by filing a demand for a hearing before the Village Board of Trustees. Such demand for a hearing must be made in writing and received by the Village within 15 calendar days of the denial of the permit. Such demand for a hearing must include a statement of the basis for the appeal and copies of any documentation the applicant wishes the Board of Trustees to consider. Upon receipt of a demand for a hearing, the Village shall schedule the hearing as soon as practicable. After a duly noticed hearing, the Board of Trustees shall issue findings and a determination with respect to the appeal. Such determination shall be to grant the permit, grant the permit with reasonable conditions or to uphold the denial of the permit. The action of the Board of Trustees with respect to such appeal shall be subject to review only by an appropriate Article 78 proceeding initiated in New York State Supreme Court, County of Suffolk.
- Upon conviction for violation of any provision of the Code of the Village of Ocean Beach against an owner, operator, tenant, subtenant and/or occupant of a rental property, the Court Clerk shall forward a copy of said conviction to the owner(s) of the property, along with a copy of this chapter of the Code.
