Letter: Town Council must intercede on ‘lockouts’

Regarding your recent “lockouts” article, lockout renting occurs in multi-bedroom condos having a one bedroom/one bath suite with a separate entrance when the owner physically splits off or “locks out” the suite by locking its inside door, and rents the lockout suite separately from the rest of the condo.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Extra money, minimal cost, no muss, no fuss. Only problem — it’s dangerous and, in my opinion, illegal, and Town of Hilton Head Island staff, far from preventing the practice, now actively encourages it.

The crucial issue is the town’s refusal to properly enforce the National Electric Code, which requires that every occupant of any dwelling unit have “ready access” to the unit’s circuit breaker box. Simple enough, unless you live in a lockout suite and sparks erupt from your wall outlet and, attempting to shut off the power, you look for a breaker box that isn’t there because it’s on the other side of a locked door.

Incredibly, senior town staff claim that the code is satisfied — locked door or not — because the main unit has a breaker box and was in compliance when built. Compounding this perverted reasoning, they contend that, since most lockouts lack kitchens, they don’t “qualify” as legal dwelling units under the various codes and hence aren’t officially split; one box therefore being enough.

There’s only one solution. Town Council must step in, mandate that anything being used as a dwelling comply with all codes, and forbid any renting until it does.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 1:53 PM with the headline "Letter: Town Council must intercede on ‘lockouts’."