Babylon Town hires company to check out short-term rentals as part of crackdown

The Town of Babylon is cracking down on short-term rentals — and may soon ban them altogether — with the help of a company that will identify rentals that the town will then investigate.

The town last month signed a one-year contract with San Diego-based Deckard Technologies for $24,000. The company, using artificial intelligence and other means, will mine data 24 hours a day for online listings of all short-term rentals in the town. The town can then check out whether the owners have a proper permit. 

The town does not have a law specific to short-term rentals, but all house and apartment owners must have a permit and go before the rental board before renting out space. There has been an uptick in complaints from neighbors about raucous parties and other disturbances due to rentals such as those found on Airbnb and VRBO, officials said.

“During the summer we have a lot of problems with short-term rentals, especially in areas closer to the water,” said Babylon Deputy Supervisor Tony Martinez. “Some of these short-term rentals are like party houses.”

The town will also consult with the company to come up with language to possibly ban short-term rentals, which Martinez defined as those lasting less than a month.

Several other towns on Long Island have in recent years moved to limit rentals to no less than 14 or 30 days. Towns have also gone after pool rentals, which started to become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is Deckard’s first contract with a municipality on Long Island, but the company works with about 300 jurisdictions in 30 states, said CEO Nick Del Pego.

“To stay on top of this is a constant challenge of watching the data you can find … it’s a Whac-A-Mole game,” he said.

Del Pego said his company’s preliminary research found that there was more than $1 million in short-term rental revenue in the town in the last year.

The CEO said Babylon has to determine how much of a footprint it wants short-term rentals to have, as they do provide a way for visiting families to stay nearby and generate revenue for local businesses. Instead of a ban, the town could impose regulations on short-term rentals, he said.

“A lot of the nuisance issues tend to disappear when you regulate,” Del Pego said, noting that only a handful of the municipalities he works with have instituted outright bans.

David Maurer, owner of a house in Copiague that town officials said received a summons for operating a business out of a residence without a license, told Newsday last week that he has since received a rental permit but is no longer listing his home.

However, a Newsday reporter found two active listings for the basement of the house on Airbnb and Booking.com for as much as $200 per night, with the latter ad describing the space, which includes a whirlpool bath, as a “love hotel.” Town officials said there is no rental permit for the home.

Maurer said he’s had “no problems” and doesn’t “see where the issues with renting it are.”

Several neighbors have complained to the town, noting that their quiet block now has a stream of strangers coming and going.

“I have nothing against Airbnbs; I’ve stayed in them,” said Carol Lynch, who has lived on the block for 21 years. “But we have young children here. We have to know who’s coming into our neighborhood.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.