Southampton Town code enforcement officials this week charged a Southampton man with 50 misdemeanor code violations at six houses that he owns in Tuckahoe and North Sea after an investigation revealed that they were being illegally rented, sometimes to more than a dozen people on a short-term basis.
Southampton Town Chief Investigator David Betts said John Distefano was issued court appearance tickets for the charges after investigators visited the six properties—on North Magee Street, Sherwood Road and Fords Lane—over the last two weeks and found numerous violations of the town’s rental law, as well as fire, safety and building code violations.
At least five of the houses have never been issued certificates of occupancy or had undergone major renovations to divide them into multiple rental units, in violation of their certificates, according to the town.
The numerous other violations that Mr. Distefano was charged with include renting without a permit, transient renting, and building without a permit. Some of his houses had swimming pools, hot tubs, and volleyball and basketball courts added without the required building permits. Other houses had been converted from single-family to multi-family homes or had apartments added above a garage illegally. There were also charges for having an excessive number of vehicles parked at a property—town code allows only four per house—and for overflowing Dumpsters.
Mr. Betts said code enforcement investigators had visited each of the houses in recent weeks and interviewed the occupants—which he estimated at 10 to 15 people per home in some cases. He said most admitted to being renters and stated that Mr. Distefano was not living in any of them.
Mr. Distefano faces criminal punishment for the violations, including possible jail time, according to town officials. He is due to appear in Southampton Town Justice Court later this month.
Mr. Distefano could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mr. Betts said the codes that were violated are intended to protect the health and safety of people within the houses, as well as quality of life issues for neighbors.
“If you put 25 people in a four-bedroom house, people are sleeping where they’re not supposed to be sleeping—rooms without CO2 detectors or smoke detectors,” Mr. Betts said. “You can’t overcrowd a house and be safe.”
The investigation was spurred by complaints about illegal rentals at two of the houses, which led the town to investigate the other houses also owned by Mr. Distefano, Mr. Betts explained.
on Jun 9, 2010