In Debate Over Rooming Houses, Stony Brook Landlord Speaks Out

The debate over college boarding houses in Three Village has often been one-sided, as few landlords have stepped up to publicly tell the other side of the story.

At least one of those property owners has now come forward. Kai Li, who owns three local houses that he rents to college students, said he believes the town's actions against the landlords who don't follow the rules are victimizing those who do comply with town codes.

And not all of the so-called illegal rooming houses are harming the surrounding homeowners' property values, he said.

"Actually, in some ways we help the community," Li said. "If we don’t come in to buy the houses, a lot of houses would be on the market for a long time. They would be vacant, abandoned, and would be taken over by the bank. When I bought them, they were almost at the brink of bankruptcy."

Plus, he said, the rentals satisfy the demand for affordable housing within the community; when no other housing options are available – apartment complexes are few and far between, and most of the nearest ones are "luxury" developments that are out of most young people's price range – what else are students supposed to do? He said rentals such as his provide the chance for students to "live together, make lifelong friends and still have a private living space that is more affordable."

He said he feels the community doesn't realize the students and the university are very important.

"If you want to eliminate all these rental houses, legal or illegal, the university will have to expand the dorms in order to meet all the student requirements, or if they don’t have enough money to expand, they'll just cut enrollment," Li said. "If they cut enrollment they will cut the staff, cut the teachers, cut the professionals. ... Most of the professors live nearby. If they lose their job they are going to move out. In the end, you hurt this community."

RELATED: Stony Brook University Pledges to Clamp Down on Illegal Housing

Li displayed a Certificate of Occupancy from the Town of Brookhaven for one of his homes, which showed the house could legally have only three unrelated people living there – but could have up to 13 related people living there. Moreover, he said, the building department still charged him rental permit fees specific to an eight-bedroom house, even though only three of those bedrooms could be occupied by unrelated tenants.

"It doesn’t make sense. They really don’t understand the argument I bring up," he said, noting that eight people would theoretically create less waste and consume fewer resources than a family of 13.

If the town continues in this direction, Li said, he won't be able to recoup the money he has invested in making the properties safe, attractive, livable, and within code.

At a press conference on Monday, deputy town attorney David Moran said the town intends to "blow up the business model" to make it difficult for unscrupulous landlords to pack sometimes up to 12 or 14 students into a single-family house.

"We need to protect the streetscapes. The residential integrity of our neighborhoods is important," Moran said. "They need to be single family homes. You have an absolute right to rent your home. You don't have an absolute right to get rich doing it at the expense of the good citizens of the Town of Brookhaven who abide by our laws."

Li, who said he has a Master's degree in business, said that not all landlords are unscrupulous – but the town seems to be lumping everyone together, which is unfair to those whose business is property management.

"The town makes a trap for us to fall into," said Li, who said he has paid around $10,000 in fines and said he no longer has an active case with the town.

Li said he has invested money bringing his houses into rentable condition, making them safe and attractive both inside and out – which is more upkeep than some residents do at their own houses, he said.

"I fixed a lot of electrical issues, plumbing problems, safety problems," he said. "All that stuff inside the house people have never seen. Some of the houses I painted the outside, or put up a new fence. Little by little we spent a lot of money in order to bring those houses to a livable condition."

He said he plans to mobilize other landlords he knows to potentially take Brookhaven to court over the code amendment that redefined the concept of "family" within the town code. Li pointed to a 1989 court decision – Baer vs. Town of Brookhaven – that struck down a Brookhaven law prohibiting four unrelated people from living in a single-family home. The court ruled as it did because the town's law "did not similarly restrict the number of related people who could live together," according to The New York Times.

"I think my rights should be protected. It doesn’t matter if you’re an investor or if you’re a homeowner," he said. "I have consulted my legal [adviser]. They are sure that the town will lose the case again if they want to pursue this. You divide people into groups. This is not allowed based on the constitution."

But Brookhaven officials have said they wrote the code defining "family" based on what has held up in court for other municipalities facing similar legal situations.

"I think we'll fare well [in court]," town supervisor Ed Romaine said Monday. "Our law has been tested in the courts. We have met extensively with the town attorney's office and outside counsel. We believe the [the code] to be constitutional."

Li said he would happily rent to a single family – if he had any interest from families. None responded to his advertisements, he said, which listed the house for rent for $2,500 per month.

But he said that as long as the town's stifling codes exist, he doesn't want to buy any more houses.

"In the area I see a couple of abandoned houses for sale, now they have to sit there. I believe that anybody who knows the situation won’t come to buy," he said. "If I knew this before I [bought] these houses, I wouldn’t buy anything. I bet those houses would still be sitting there."

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