East Hampton wants to use AI to crack down on illegal rentals as half of listings found to be unlicensed

illegal short-term rentals after new data revealed half of the roughly 2,000 listings in the ritzy vacation getaway are unlicensed.

The elite East End town is seeing a surge in illegal bookings that elected officials blame on an influx of new investors — and now they want to use artificial intelligence to flag the black-market bookings and increase fees on owners who list their properties.

“We are looking at commercial investment in our residential districts by investors who only seek to make profit and are not looking at being part of this community at all,” Deputy Supervisor Cate Rogers said at a recent town board meeting.

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Rogers recommended purchasing AI software to track rentals within the town’s borders — or slapping hotel-like taxes on local AirBNB-style rentals or increasing registration fees.

Other suggestions include restricting rentals to owners who use the home as their own primary residences.

Currently, town law limits short-term rentals to a minimum of 14 days and only allows homeowners to open up for the two-week stays once every six months — resulting in a massive illegal black market on AirBNB where rentals can go for over a thousand dollars for just a weekend stay. 

But East Hampton homeowners are worried these crackdowns will end up targeting and pricing out regular homeowners who are trying to go by the book.

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“Since property taxes and everything else are so expensive, if I don’t AirBNB part of my house I wouldn’t be able to afford to live here,” Stephanie, an East Hampton rental host who inherited her grandparents home built in 1974, told The Post. 

“I’ve seen developers come in and price local people out who have lived here their whole lives — so there should be smart legislation and regulation for a good balance and to preserve affordable housing — but these recommendations are too overbroad,” she added.

Town officials acknowledged that short-term rentals are a deep part of the tourist-hotspot’s economy that many permanent residents rely on, and stressed the challenge of finding balance without hurting locals as new regulations could be a pocket-strainer. 

In August, Southampton officially banned short-term rentals as well, following East Hampton’s lead and establishing two-week minimum stays.