It was an historic night for the village of Mineola last Wednesday when the mayor and the board of trustees passed a rental registration law, which will require all landlords of multiple dwellings such as apartment buildings and mixed-use buildings such as those with apartments above stores to register apartments with the Village of Mineola.

"The laws we passed last night were very significant," said Mayor Jack M. Martins on Thursday, referring to three pieces of legislation that were discussed including the rental registration law.

The mayor wanted to make it clear though that the rental registration law has nothing to do with illegal housing. It is more an issue of safety.

The mayor and the board acknowledged that there are apartments in the village where overcrowding exists, codes and ordinances are violated, where multiple people dwell in one-bedroom apartments. Such premises, according to the law, pose hazards to the lives, limbs and property of the residents of the village, encourage the deterioration of the housing stock, create blight as well as excessive vehicle traffic and parking problems and overburden the services of municipalities.

The law is aimed not only to protect the safety of tenants of these types of apartments, but also to protect the safety of emergency workers including members of the fire department and ambulance corps who may have to enter these premises.

"I've been in several places that were firebombs," said resident Kevin Murray, a licensed plumber in the Village of Mineola who has advocated for a rental registration law.

The village's newly passed rental registration law is aimed to prevent such situations by requiring owners of mixed occupancy buildings, defined as a building occupied in part for residential and in part for another use such as buildings with apartments above a store, and multiple dwellings such as apartment buildings to obtain a valid permit before renting a dwelling unit.

The application for a Rental Occupancy Permit shall require among other conditions:

* A description of the structure including the number of rental units in the structure, the number of persons intended to reside in a rental unit and the number of rooms and the dimensions and use of each room in the structure.

* A property survey of the premises and site plan showing all buildings, structures, walks, drives and other physical features of the premises and the number, location and access of existing and proposed on-site vehicle parking facilities.

* A copy of the certificate of occupancy, certificate of completion and/or certificate of existing use, if any.

* The landlord shall also be required to pay an application fee of $150 for one dwelling unit; $300 of two dwelling units; $550 for three dwelling units; $700 for four dwelling units. The permit if the application is granted is valid for two years.

A code enforcement officer for the Village of Mineola shall review each application and make an on-site inspection of the proposed rental dwelling unit or units. If satisfied that the proposed rental dwelling unit or units comply with state and local laws, ordinances, rule and regulations of the county, town and village and that such rental dwelling unit or units would not create an unsafe or dangerous condition or create an unsafe and substandard structure or create a nuisance to adjoining, nearby properties, a permit shall be issued.

A permit can be revoked if a violation is found and thus not permitted to collect rent for the use of the dwelling . A landlord who is found to be in violation of the rental registration law is subject to a fine or not more than $2,000 for the first offense, $5,000 for the second offense and $10,000 for the third offense within a period of five years.