I was born and raised in Merrick, a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead. On the North Shore, a short drive can take you from a hamlet run by its town to an incorporated village with its own government, and buyers often don't know which one a house is in until their attorney tells them. It decides whose zoning applies, which building department holds the permits, how many tax bills you pay, and which beaches you can use.
- Hamlets such as Syosset, Woodbury, Huntington, Cold Spring Harbor, Dix Hills and Melville are governed by their town.
- Villages such as Muttontown, Brookville and Lloyd Harbor have their own board, code, building department and tax bill. Their residents still pay town taxes too.
- Beaches follow the same lines: town beaches need a town resident permit, some villages keep beaches for their own residents, and some neighborhoods have private association beaches.
- A mailing address won't tell you which one a house is in. The tax bills will.
What the difference is
In New York, a village is a municipal corporation that residents of part of a town vote to form. It's run by a board of trustees, usually a mayor and four trustees, and the New York Department of State lists the power to zone a village separately from the rest of the town as one incentive to incorporate. Village residents remain residents and taxpayers of their town. A hamlet isn't a government at all, just a named community that never incorporated, so the town handles its zoning, building permits, inspections and certificates of occupancy.
| Place | Type | Zoning, permits and certificates |
|---|---|---|
| Muttontown, Brookville | Villages | Each village |
| Lloyd Harbor | Village | Village of Lloyd Harbor |
| Syosset, Woodbury | Hamlets | Town of Oyster Bay |
| Huntington, Cold Spring Harbor, Dix Hills, Melville | Hamlets | Town of Huntington |
Muttontown and Brookville are in the Town of Oyster Bay; Lloyd Harbor is in the Town of Huntington. ZIP codes don't follow village lines: Muttontown's village hall has an 11791 ZIP code, the same as Syosset, and Lloyd Harbor shares 11743 with Huntington. If there's a village tax bill, the house is in a village.
Zoning and lot sizes
In a hamlet, the town's zoning applies. The Town of Huntington's code zones everything outside its incorporated villages into districts such as R-80 and R-40, and the Town of Oyster Bay administers its own code in Syosset and Woodbury. Villages write their own, and these three set large lots:
- Muttontown has five residential districts with minimum lots from half an acre (A-3) to five acres (E-5), under Chapter 190 of the village code.
- Lloyd Harbor requires a net lot area of at least two acres in its A-1 district and four acres in A-2. For a new house, wetlands and floodplain don't count toward it (Chapter 205).
- Brookville says on its website that its zoning requires at least two acres for residential property.
Accessory work is regulated village by village too. Brookville's building department, for example, requires permits for pools, cabanas, tennis courts, fences over four feet, retaining walls and tree removal, and some applications go on to the planning board or zoning board of appeals. If you're buying with plans, read the code before you sign.
Permits and certificates of occupancy
Whoever handles zoning keeps the building records. In the Huntington hamlets, that's the Town of Huntington's Building and Housing Division; in Syosset and Woodbury, the Town of Oyster Bay's Department of Planning and Development; in Muttontown, Brookville and Lloyd Harbor, the village building department. Lloyd Harbor's code makes it unlawful to use a building that's been built, altered or enlarged until the village building inspector issues a certificate of occupancy or completion.
A finished basement or pool with no certificate on file is a problem for a buyer's attorney either way. The difference is which office fixes it, and whose rules the fix has to meet.
Taxes: how many bills
Each town's Receiver of Taxes collects county, town, school and district taxes, village or not. Villages bill on top of that. Muttontown's village taxes are due June 1, payable without penalty through July 1. Lloyd Harbor's are payable in June, with the no-penalty deadline in early July. Brookville has its own assessing department, which prepares the village tax bills. Hamlets get no village bill, but special district charges vary by property. Compare the total of every bill, not one line.
Beaches: town, village and association
Which beaches you can use depends on where the house is, not just how close it sits to the water. On the North Shore there are three kinds.
- Town beaches. The Town of Huntington sells beach permits to town residents only, for beaches including Crab Meadow, Centerport, Crescent, Fleets Cove, Asharoken, Hobart and West Neck. The permit is tied to your license plate. Town of Oyster Bay beaches, including Tappen in Glenwood Landing, Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park in Oyster Bay and the Centre Island beaches, need a town resident in the car with a New York driver's license showing a town address. Village residents are town residents too, so they qualify for their town's beaches.
- Village beaches. Some villages keep a beach for their own residents. Laurel Hollow issues beach parking permits only for cars registered to a Laurel Hollow address. Lloyd Harbor requires a village sticker to enter Village Park, and Bayville's beaches are for village residents only. Oyster Bay Cove's recreation area is for residents and their guests. Lattingtown's village beach runs on a membership through its beach committee.
- Private association and club beaches. Many neighborhoods have their own beach, such as Bay Crest, Bay Hills and Wincoma in Huntington Bay, Knollwood in Huntington, Eagle Dock in Cold Spring Harbor and the Lloyd Neck Bath Club in Lloyd Harbor. Whether a particular house comes with rights, and what the dues are, varies from house to house.
Inland, Syosset and Woodbury residents use the Town of Oyster Bay's beaches, and Melville and Dix Hills residents use the Town of Huntington's.
If a listing mentions beach rights, find out what kind they are. A 2022 New York appeals court decision shows why: beach rights written into the deed passed to later owners as part of the land, and the deed's own wording set how far they went. A dock privilege that came only with membership in the association wasn't part of the deed. Ask for the deed language, the association's bylaws and its current dues, and have your attorney confirm what transfers with the house.
Before a contract
- Buyers: get every current tax bill, have your attorney confirm the jurisdiction from the section, block and lot, match the certificates on file to the house, check the code for anything you plan to add, and confirm any beach rights in the deed or association documents. When you're ready, start your search here.
- Sellers: New York's Property Condition Disclosure Statement asks whether there are certificates of occupancy, so pull your file from the right building department and close out open permits before you list. Get in touch and we'll start with your paperwork.
Sources: New York Department of State, Local Government Handbook; Village of Muttontown Code, Chapter 190, and village FAQs; Village of Brookville Building Department, Assessments and History pages; Village of Lloyd Harbor Code, Chapter 205, and village tax notices; Town of Huntington Code, Chapter 198, Building and Housing Division and Receiver of Taxes; Town of Oyster Bay Department of Planning and Development and Receiver of Taxes; New York Real Property Law Section 462; Town of Huntington beaches page and 2026 beach permit notice; News 12 Long Island; Town of Oyster Bay Beach and Boating and Incorporated Villages and Unincorporated Areas pages; Village of Laurel Hollow information guide; Village of Lloyd Harbor; Village of Bayville; Village of Oyster Bay Cove; Village of Lattingtown; Suffolk County beach listings as reported by Huntington Now and The Huntingtonian; Witecki v. Saratoga Lakeside Acres Association (N.Y. App. Div., 3d Dept., 2022). Codes, tax dates and beach rules change. This isn't legal advice: confirm the specifics for any property with your attorney and the village or town.
