Southampton, NY Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Town Code § 270-1 defines "transient" as a rental period of 14 days or less, and § 270-9C states plainly that "a transient rental is prohibited," except when the Town Board first determines that local transient housing capacity is likely to be inadequate during a "regionally significant event" (a major one-time or recurring event expected to draw significant visitor numbers, defined in § 270-1) and then, by resolution, temporarily suspends the transient rental ban for specific dates. Outside that narrow, Board-activated window, no rental permit process in Chapter 270 authorizes stays under 14 days; every rental permit issued under § 270-3 through § 270-8 contemplates rentals at or above the transient threshold.

The definition of "rental property" in § 270-1 also carves out legally operating commercial hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast establishments catering to transient clientele, meaning the transient-rental ban targets residential dwelling units, houses, condos, apartments and accessory apartments rented out short-term, not licensed lodging businesses. Section 270-9E further bars selling shares or similar arrangements that give tenants occupancy rights for less than a month. Because a transient rental is not merely unpermitted but affirmatively prohibited, an owner cannot cure the violation by belatedly applying for a permit the way an owner of an unregistered longer-term rental could; the rental itself is unlawful unless it falls within an active Town Board suspension resolution.