A. 
For the purposes of this article, certain terms and words are defined as follows:
DORMITORY
A living accommodation owned, rented or leased by a college or university and which is customarily referred to and generally known by the title "dormitory."
DWELLING
A room, apartment, cottage, house, or other living accommodation, excluding a hotel, motel, dormitory, or rooming house as defined herein.
FAMILY
One or more persons living together in one dwelling unit and maintaining a common household and cooking as a single housekeeping unit, and whose association is of a permanent and distinct domestic character, and where the association is permanent rather than temporary in nature.
GROUP
Any collective body of two or more persons, not constituting a family.
HOTEL
A building containing one or more rooms used, rented or hired out on a transient basis to be occupied for sleeping purposes only, and not containing individual eating and cooking facilities.
INSPECTOR
The person designated by the village to inspect and issue certificates of occupancy pursuant to this article.
MINOR
A natural person not having attained his 18th birthday.
MOTEL
A building containing one or more rooms with individual entrances used, rented or hired out on a transient basis to be occupied for sleeping purposes only and not containing individual eating and cooking facilities.
ROOMING HOUSE
A building containing one or more rooms, quasi-public in nature, where roomers are generally and habitually kept, which is held out and known as a place of that kind, and in which the owner is resident.
VILLAGE
The Village of Canton, St. Lawrence County, New York.
B. 
Word usage. For the purposes of this article, and except as the context may otherwise require, the singular number includes the plural and the plural the singular; and the present tense includes the past and the future tenses, and the future, the present.
No person, firm, partnership, association, corporation or the like shall rent, lease or suffer or allow any person or persons, except members of a family, to live in or occupy, as a tenant, any dwelling, unless a certificate of occupancy is obtained from the Inspector after an inspection thereof certifying that said dwelling is fit for human habitation and is in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and local laws or ordinances of the village.
Applications for certificates of occupancy shall be made in writing to the Inspector and shall state:
A. 
The name, address and principal place of business of the owner.
B. 
Such description of the dwelling, by street number or otherwise, as will enable the Inspector easily to locate the same.
C. 
The name and address of the principal place of business of the agent, person, association or corporation, if any, appointed by said owner for the management of same.
No dwelling shall be rented or occupied in whole or in part by any new tenant until application has been made for a certificate of occupancy and an inspection has been made by the Inspector to determine whether such dwelling is in violation of any applicable federal or state law or local law or ordinance of the said village. If no such violation exists, the Inspector shall issue a certificate of occupancy; otherwise, he shall notify the owner in writing setting forth the specific violations existing.
An inspection pursuant to § 248-4 shall be made and either a certificate of occupancy or a notice of violation shall be issued, as aforesaid, within five days from the date of application. If said inspection is not accomplished in said five-day period, the dwelling may be occupied by the tenant, but subject to the right of the village to cause said dwelling to be inspected and, if a violation is found, to cause said premises to be vacated or the violation remedied to the satisfaction of the Inspector within 10 days from the date of notice thereof.
A certificate of occupancy issued pursuant to this chapter shall be posted in a conspicuous place in said dwelling, upon the issuance thereof.
The fee for said certificate of occupancy and inspection of said dwelling shall be $1.
No dwelling in the village shall be rented to, by or for the use of any group unless and until the following regulations have been complied with:
A. 
Before any dwelling, except as hereinafter provided, shall be occupied by a group, a member of such group 18 years of age or over shall report to the Inspector and register for the group. Said registration shall be under oath and shall contain the name, age and home address of each member of the group, and a statement that the persons so registering are not members of a family. Simultaneously therewith, the owner of the premises shall submit a statement under oath on the required form, which will be supplied by the Inspector, stating the name and address of the owner, the date of acquisition of said premises and the name and address of the real estate broker, salesman or other agent through whom the premises are presently being leased, rented or occupied. Said statement shall have affixed thereto a copy of the proposed lease, if any, covering the present rental.
B. 
In the event that all members of the group are minors, then no landlord, licensed real estate broker, salesman or other agent or owner of any dwelling shall permit the same to be occupied by any such group unless a person 18 years or older shall be permanently present with said group in the occupancy of the dwelling during the term of the tenancy, who shall have charge of said group and be personally responsible for their proper conduct, and who also shall be responsible for the registration referred to in § 248-8A hereinabove.
C. 
In every dwelling rented to, by or for the use of any group, every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one person shall contain at least 70 square feet of floor space, every room occupied for sleeping purposes by two occupants shall contain 120 square feet of floor space and every room occupied for sleeping purposes by more than two occupants shall contain an additional 50 square feet of floor space for each occupant in excess of two. Hallways, dining rooms and kitchens shall not be occupied for bedroom or sleeping purposes and no room shall be so used or occupied unless it is separated from the rest of the dwelling area by a complete partition or wall with a full-length access door, and with at least one window opening to the outside of the building.
A sublease or an assignment of an existing lease shall constitute a new occupancy of the dwelling.
A. 
A violation of any of the provisions of this article shall constitute disorderly conduct and shall be punishable by imprisonment in the St. Lawrence County Jail for a term not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding $50, or both.
B. 
Each and every day that a violation exists shall be deemed to constitute a separate and distinct violation.