Owners of mobile and manufactured homes who rent their units in mobile home parks will be required to provide park management with town-issued rental permits — and the park will be required to maintain the permits in its management office — under proposed code revisions set for a public hearing next month.
The revisions will also require the park office to maintain a list of names of occupants of units that are not owner-occupied.
The changes were proposed by Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, who said they are in response to “complaints from the manufactured and mobile home owners task force” about rentals in some of the mobile home parks in the town.
Residents in the Lakewood community on River Road in Calverton have been complaining for years about rentals there they say have been allowed contrary to park rules, with tenants who have drawn police attention for drug activity, weapons and more.
Individual mobile home owners who rent their units to others — which not all parks allow — are already required by town code to obtain rental permits. Unit owners do not always comply and the town’s code enforcement division does not have an easy time figuring out who is not in compliance.
In the wake of an enforcement crackdown begun two years ago, Giglio said, the town has had more than two dozen rental permit applications from unit owners in two parks alone, Giglio said.
The proposed code revision are intended to make it easier for town code enforcement officials to identify rented units and make sure a town rental permit is in place.
“Our first point of contact is the office manager after the occupant is not cooperative,” Riverhead code enforcement officer Richard Downs told the town board at its March 14 work session. “The office management should have that information — who’s staying in the unit, a copy of the town rental permit.”
“This allows us to impose the responsibility on them — to make sure they’re paying attention,” deputy town attorney Erik Howard told the board.
The board will hold a public hearing on the proposal on April 2 at 2:05 p.m.
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