Share houses and the rules that govern them

Five jurisdictions, five sets of rules, and the summer share is the arrangement most of them were written to stop. What each one requires, and what a renter is exposed to.

What actually causes the trouble

Too many unrelated people. East Hampton Town caps a residential rental at four unrelated occupants, and four cars if the owner does not live there.
Paying for a bedroom or a set of weekends. Sag Harbor prohibits selling shares outright, and prohibits letting or occupying less than the whole house.
Short stays. Southampton Town sets a fourteen-day floor. Both East Hampton jurisdictions set a two-week one. A long weekend is not a rental either place.
Being the tenant rather than the owner. In East Hampton Town a tenant in an unregistered house can be charged. In Sag Harbor tenants can be named as defendants.
Swapping people in and out. Sag Harbor and both Southampton registries name every tenant on the filing, so a rotating cast is visible on the paperwork.

Before you send anyone money

Ask for the registry or permit number. In East Hampton Town it is already required to be in the advertisement.
Check the number covers the right jurisdiction. A Town permit does nothing for a house inside a village.
Read the lease for the term. If it runs shorter than the local minimum, the rental is not permitted however the money is split.

Town by town

Town of East Hampton

Montauk · Amagansett · Springs · Wainscott · Napeague · unincorporated East Hampton

The Town law does not apply inside the incorporated villages of East Hampton or Sag Harbor — those have their own rules.

What is required: Rental Registry Number. Owners who rent their residential property by the week, month, season or year. Valid 2 years.
Minimum stay: None as such, but a rental of less than two weeks may only happen twice in any six months. Two weeks or longer is unlimited.
How many people: No more than four unrelated persons in a residential rental property, and no more than four cars parked at a rental property that is not owner-occupied.
Shares and single rooms: The Town names "properties offering shares" as one of the illegal uses the registry exists to catch, alongside short-term rentals and overcrowded houses.
Advertising: The Rental Registry Number must appear in every advertisement listing the property for rent.
If you are the tenant: A tenant living in an unregistered rental can be found in violation. A first offense carries $3,000 to $15,000, or up to six months, or both.
Penalties: Failure to register: $3,000 to $15,000, or up to six months, or both, and a violation may be issued for every day the property is unregistered. Failure to publish the number in an ad: $150 to $1,500, or up to 15 days.
Exemptions: Not required for immediate family living in the home, or for an owner-occupied house where the owner rents out one or two rooms.
What to check: Ask the owner for the Rental Registry Number before you send money. In this Town it has to be in the ad already — a listing without one is telling you the house is not registered.

Source: Town of East Hampton — Rental Registry Frequently Asked Questions (Town Board), and the Building Department's current Rental Property Registration Form & Self-Inspection Checklist · Apply or download the forms

Village of East Hampton

East Hampton Village

What is required: Rental (Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit) Registry form. Every Village rental lasting fewer than 120 days.
Minimum stay: Two weeks. Rentals of fewer than two weeks are not permitted under the Village Code.
How many people: Not published on the Village's registry page; ask the Clerk's Office.
Shares and single rooms: A maximum of two short-term rentals per property per year, which is what stops a house being turned over weekly.
Advertising: Not published on the Village's registry page.
If you are the tenant: Not published on the Village's registry page.
Penalties: Not published on the Village's registry page — the Clerk's Office at (631) 324-4150 is the place to ask.
Exemptions: Rentals of 120 days or longer fall outside this form.
What to check: Two weeks is the floor here. If someone offers you a long weekend in the Village, the rental itself is not permitted.

Source: Village of East Hampton — Rental (Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit) Registry, Clerk's Office

Village of Sag Harbor

Sag Harbor Village

What is required: Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit Registry (Village Code Chapter 215). Any dwelling occupied as a seasonal rental. It may not be occupied at all unless registered with the Village Clerk first.
Minimum stay: Thirty consecutive days, except that two-week rentals are permitted not more than twice in a calendar year. A unit rented more than 120 days in a year is not a seasonal rental.
How many people: The application states the number of tenants requested and names every one of them. Rent may not be shared by more than the permitted number of tenants.
Shares and single rooms: Chapter 215 is explicit: selling shares to tenants who obtain rights of use and occupancy for less than the term of the rental is prohibited, and so is leasing or occupying less than the entire dwelling.
Advertising: Not specified in Chapter 215.
If you are the tenant: Each tenant signs the registry affidavit. A notice of violation can be served on a tenant, and tenants may be joined as defendants in the Village's civil proceeding.
Penalties: Up to $1,000 for each day the violation is conducted, maintained or permitted.
Exemptions: A dwelling rented more than 120 days in a calendar year is not a seasonal rental and falls outside the chapter.
What to check: Swapping people in and out is the specific thing the code forbids. A change of tenant requires the registry application to be amended before the new person may occupy the house.

Source: Village of Sag Harbor — Local Law No. 7 of 2022, adopting Village Code Chapter 215, Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit Registry, §§ 215-1 to 215-3

Town of Southampton

Hampton Bays · Bridgehampton · Water Mill · Noyac · Flanders · East Quogue · unincorporated Southampton

The incorporated villages — Southampton, Sag Harbor, Westhampton Beach, Quogue, Sagaponack, North Haven — set their own rules on top of this.

What is required: Rental Permit. Any home rented for any period of time. Valid 2 years.
Minimum stay: Fourteen days. Anything shorter is a transient rental and is not allowed under the Town Code. There is no maximum.
How many people: An owner who lives in the house may rent up to two bedrooms to no more than two renters or boarders total, sharing the kitchen, living space and entrance. No permit is needed for that arrangement.
Shares and single rooms: The two-bedroom boarder exemption is the only room-by-room letting the Code allows, and it requires the owner to be living there.
Advertising: Advertising, listing or showing a house for rent without a permit in place can bring violations, suspension or revocation of the permit, loss of the ability to rent for two years, and an in-violation fee.
If you are the tenant: The FAQ frames enforcement against the owner, agent and designee rather than the tenant.
Penalties: Violations, suspension or revocation of permits, a two-year bar on renting the property, and an in-violation fee.
Exemptions: The owner-occupied two-bedroom boarding arrangement described above.
What to check: Ask for the permit number and note that it is non-transferable — if the house changed hands or moved into an LLC or trust, the old permit is void and a new one is required.

Source: Town of Southampton — Code Enforcement Investigations & Enforcement Unit, Rental FAQ's, form CP-26504 (rev. 3/2026) · Apply or download the forms

Village of Southampton

Southampton Village

What is required: Seasonal Rental Registry. Any dwelling used as a Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit, registered with the Building Department before the rental term begins.
Minimum stay: Not stated on the registry checklist, but no Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit may be rented more than 120 days in any year.
How many people: The application asks for the number of tenants requested and names each one.
Shares and single rooms: Every lessee signs a Tenant Affidavit, and the lease must state that each tenant has a primary address to return to and list it. A house of people whose only address is the share house does not fit that form.
Advertising: Not stated on the registry checklist.
If you are the tenant: Each tenant signs an affidavit as part of the owner's registration, so tenants are named on the filing.
Penalties: Not stated on the registry checklist; the Building Department at (631) 283-0247 is the place to ask.
Exemptions: None stated on the checklist.
What to check: The lease itself has to say the unit is registered as a Seasonal Use Dwelling Unit. If your lease does not say that, it is not registered.

Source: Village of Southampton Building Department — Seasonal Rental Registry Checklist, application, and Owner Rental Affidavit

Where to look

Shares are found in group chats and invite links rather than on listing sites, which is part of why the rules are easy to miss. The groups directory collects the East End communities that exist in public.

For hotels, inns and the neighborhood shorthand, start at where to stay.

This is a summary of rules each municipality publishes itself, with every card linking the document it came from. It is not legal advice. Building departments and clerks answer these questions directly.