Southampton bans short-term rentals in move that officially cancels weekend trips to Hamptons: ‘Out of luck’

It’s the end of the Southampton girls weekend.

Tony Southampton has banned short-term home rentals after crabby locals complained that weekend warriors’ all-night “ragers” were keeping them up too late and making the ritzy beachside village unbearable.

The measure — passed 4-1 by the village board of trustees on Aug. 19 — sets a new two-week minimum for home rentals across the ritzy beachside locale, effectively banning weekend trips for anyone who can’t shell out for a hotel or fork over thousands of dollars typically required to hold a house for 14 days.

That means Hamptons trips — which already cost between $900 and $2,000 for a weekend stay — could now cost anything from $10,000 to $15,000 and up for a two-week rental.

“All those girls and bridesmaids weekends are out of luck now,” one local real estate broker told The Post.

But Southampton mayor Bill Manger says its short-term renters’ own fault for partying too hard and losing their weekend privileges.

“We have been getting complaints from people in the village that the house next door is having lots of different renters coming in every weekend, and causing a disruption to the peace and harmony,” Manger told The Post, explaining locals have been calling cops with relentless noise complaints “every weekend” for months.

“They came to me as the mayor and asked, ‘Can’t you do something about this?’ Manger said.

He looked at Southampton’s neighboring communities on Long Island’s South Fork and realized almost everywhere else had already banned weekend rentals over similar complaints, and made the proposal for the village.

“We were the only outlier so it seemed to make sense to put something in place,” he said.

Word of the new law — which covers the heart of the Southampton beach community, but not the wider township’s other villages — has been slow to disseminate across the sleepy but well-heeled enclave, and some fear it will only serve to keep people out and hurt local business owners.

“It’s over. This ends my Airbnb business. That’s it,” said 55-year-old Joel Perez, who divides his time between Long Island and Miami and rents out his Southampton home when he’s in Florida.

“Nobody can afford to be out here for two weeks. What happens to people who just want a weekend getaway?” he said. “It’s really about catering to the rich and keeping people from the middle class down and out of the Hamptons.”

And he thinks the parties will only continue — but harder.

“The people who can afford to book those whole houses and throw ragers will still do it — they’ll just rent for two weeks, throw more than one party,” he said.

Zach Erdem, a Southampton restauranteur and star of HBO Max’s “Serving the Hamptons,” said he was “shocked” when the law passed.

“The rich want the Hamptons to be more exclusive. It’s been the same issue for many years, but in the end, cutting short term rentals will stop people from coming,” he said.

“They want to know how to get people to come here, but they are keeping it for only the 1% to enjoy the Hamptons. They are stabbing us all in the back,” Erdem added.

The new law comes in effect at the end of a Hamptons summer where rentals were down 30%, according to reports, which some of attributed to pandemic-era buyers pumping their prices to break-even paying off their mortgages.

And some real-estate agents have even lamented that the old-fashioned long-term rental market that once sustained the Hamptons is long gone — and not coming back, no matter what laws are passed.

Despite the criticisms, some have said the new rule is a sensible step in the right direction for homeowners who are in Southampton full time.

“There are too many damn people out here. That’s the problem. There’s too many people for one day or one night. There’s no consistency,” said Paul Brennan, a longtime Hamptons real estate broker with Douglas Elliman.

“Hopefully this will prevent the practice of one or two day rentals that drive everyone crazy. They pack the houses and don’t take care of them. Landlords go crazy,” he added.

Mayor Manger pointed out that the rest of the Hamptons — where similar rental restrictions are already in place — seemed to be doing just fine.

“I don’t think it will hurt business. Is Amagansett hurting? Is East Hampton hurting? I don’t think so, there are no issues on the rest of the South Fork because of this,” he said.

“I don’t see how this became an issue since we were the last ones to adopt a code.”