A message to absentee and nuisance landlords in Seaside Heights from the mayor -- you're on notice.

Mayor Tony Vaz is pushing to remove mercantile license holders in the borough after police responded to hundreds of calls at nine properties around town --- three hotels and six private rentals.

A few years ago, the town promised to shed its image left in the wake of MTV and return to a family atmosphere. Part of the revisioning began along the boardwalk. Now, the town is targeting year-round rentals and properties in efforts to clean up the neighborhoods.

“They are on notice, and they know they are on notice because there is conversation within the community that they are being watched,” says Vaz.

It's a crackdown on landlords who the mayor says simply don't care about being good neighbors.  

“All they want is their money,” says Mayor Vaz.

The first round of notices went out this summer to nine properties. Vaz says properties such as the Offshore and Skyview motels, just blocks away from new million-dollar homes, take away from the new vision Seaside Heights has for the town.  

A task force formed and collected data last year from the police department, which left the mayor astonished. Since April 2020, police responded to Skyview Motel 272 times for overdoses, trespassing, drug use, robberies, dozens of fights and even three deaths. Out of the calls, 22 people were arrested for a list of different charges.

In the same time span, police also showed up at the Offshore 153 times for similar crimes, and even a homicide, leading to 19 additional arrests.  

“This is not going to pass,” says Vaz. “It’s here. We have a problem. We are going to solve the problem by either cooperating or having their license revoked.”

News 12 has reached out to the motels' owner and is told their attorneys are handling the case. The owner would not provide any additional comment or the name of their attorney.

Hearings for the property owners are scheduled for the fall.  Additional property owners will be notified in the coming weeks.