South Salem NY Homes | Town Shuts Down ‘Noyac Party Palace’ – Southampton, NY Patch

The owners of a large Noyac home are facing legal trouble after Southampton Town code enforcement discovered they had rented it to 25 guests, illegally converting various spaces to bedrooms, according to the town.

Code enforcement officials executed a search warrant Sunday morning at 2210 Noyac Road, which has a certificate of occupancy for six legal bedrooms. Officials said they discovered 25 individuals renting at the “Noyac Party Palace,” lodging that included a basement that had been illegally converted to four bedrooms.

Owners Muhammad and Anessa Rahman of New York City now face several charges including building permit and rental permit violations, operation of a transient rental, and charges relating to fire safety. It is illegal to rent a home for less than 30 days in Southampton town.

“The residence has been the subject of numerous code complaints,” Chief Town Investigator David Betts was quoted as saying in a statement from the town. “There were 12 complaints during 2010 and eight more in 2011.”

Among the claims were various noise violations and the construction of a sand volleyball court without a permit. Original violations had been cited in 2010, and the new charges were the result of the yearlong ongoing investigation, said Ryan Horn, a legislative aide for the Southampton Town Board.

Life safety charges that include lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and change of use violations can yield fines of upwards of $1,500 for each count, Horn said. Generally, prosecutors would not seek jail time for such violations, and offenders are still free to apply for a rental permit while the case goes through court, he said.

“The key to all this is to bring in properties to compliance that wouldn’t be otherwise,” Horn said. It is within the town’s right to issue a total restraining order barring access to the property, he said, but such a measure is typically issued only to immediately stop offenders who have blatantly disregarded compliance orders. “The person has their day in court.”

The Rahmans’ home had previously been listed for rent with Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, but real estate agents had terminated their representation at the start of the season, about two months ago, according to the listing agents. It remains on the StreetEasy and Douglas Elliman websites, but is listed as no longer available. The agents had been receiving calls from concerned family members of the renters, they said, and because of a policy against group renting the agents say they dropped the client.

The home had previously been listed for $95,000 for Memorial Day through Labor Day, or $20,000 for June, $45,000 for July, and $60,000 for August.

In April, Southampton Town issued a restraining order against a Shinnecock Hills landlord, a “chronic violator” who attempted to rent a home for a week in June.