Thousands of military personnel assigned to Naval Support Activity Naples and living in off-base housing will be required to sign amended leases and other documents as the Navy divests itself of handling security deposits for their residences. (Alison Bath/Stars and Stripes)

NAPLES, Italy — Thousands of U.S. military personnel living in off-base housing here will be required to sign amended leases and other documents as the Navy stops handling security deposits for their residences.

The stipulation affects about 2,000 service members and Defense Department civilians who signed leases and paid security deposits for their homes directly to the base before June, Naval Support Activity Naples said in a statement Wednesday.

For years, DOD personnel living in off-base housing in Naples had to travel through the city with large sums of money and bring them to a cash cage on base. Electronic payments weren’t allowed and the money was held in an account until their leases expired.

But in June, the Navy started requiring new tenants to pay security deposits directly to their landlords electronically. The change modernizes the system and brings NSA Naples in line with other bases worldwide, the service said.

The new method also cuts down on cash transactions and saves on-base ATMs from being drained of money, NSA Naples commander Capt. John Randazzo said at a community meeting Monday.

After the amended lease and other documents are signed, the base will refund the deposit to the renter, who must in turn pay it directly to the landlord within five days, officials said.

The base expects that the switch, which includes informing landlords of the new procedure, will be completed by December 2025.

The amended lease modifies two clauses, including one about arbitration. It reflects a change to the base housing department’s role in dispute resolution, said Lt. j.g. Valentine Mulango, a base spokesman. He did not specify the change.

But Mulango said that when a lease ends, the housing office will schedule a meeting, during which the tenant and landlord review a list covering the home’s condition and any problems that were present at the beginning of the lease.

The review also includes determining any outstanding costs. The expectation is that any amounts owed, including the security deposit, will be paid promptly, he said.

In addition to the lease changes, about 800 tenants who live in areas of Naples deemed high-risk by the Italian government for volcanic activity, such as the bedroom communities of Pozzouli and Posillipo, must sign a form acknowledging they understand the associated risks, Mulango said.

The base wants to make sure that they’ve informed their commands of where they are living to ensure they can report to their jobs in the event of an emergency, he said.

The Navy initiated the requirement with new tenants earlier this year.

But no similar requirement or form exists to ensure that personnel understand the risks associated with living in a region with possibly elevated levels of radon gas, a known carcinogen.

The base has been doing an informational campaign about radon throughout Naples, Mulango said.

Leases also have been updated to reflect that tenants can test their homes for radon at their own expense and negotiate directly with their landlords to mitigate any problems, he said.

In 2023, two Navy-leased off-base residences in Naples were found to have levels of the gas that exceeded those at which the Environmental Protection Agency recommends remediation.

A subsequent DOD Inspector General whistleblower investigation found that NSA Naples didn’t execute timely testing for radon gas at some homes, offices, medical facilities and child care centers, as required by Navy policy.

Base and command officials also knew the installation had the service’s highest rating for potentially excessive levels of the gas but didn’t tell the nearly 4,000 military personnel living off base that their homes could be tested, the DOD IG found.

The failures could “create a potential risk to the health and safety of DoD personnel and their families stationed at NSA Naples,” the IG said in its August report.