Law re # of unrelated tenants

[theresa_99]

 Could anyone direct me to the current Somerville law regarding allowed number of unrelated tenants in an apartment? Thanks. 

Comments

[siderea]

Oh, hey, I was looking at something that seemed to suggest that those laws were obviated by a court challenge about four years ago, which is why landlords now can now openly rent out individual bedrooms. Let me see if I can find the link.

ETA: okay, I found a old link to an article in Google's cache about a decision in 2011 that found renting to 4+ unrelated people == roomming house, and thus subject to those laws:

A recent Massachusetts case clarifies that when an apartment is rented to four or more unrelated individuals, the law will treat that apartment building as a rooming house, thereby subjecting it to a different set of regulations.

In this case, the City of Worcester sued a landlord who was leasing his apartments to groups of students. Although the apartments were in fact large enough to accommodate the students under the state sanitary code, the city claimed that they constituted rooming houses and were therefore prohibited. A Housing Court judge sided with the city and ordered the landlord to discontinue renting to more than four unrelated individuals. On appeal, the Appeals Court upheld the Housing Court’s decision and found that a landlord who leases to four or more unrelated adults is in violation of the state’s lodging house statute.

Landlords should consequently beware that by subjecting themselves to the lodging house statute, they may be violating zoning regulations. This could, in turn, expose a landlord to additional liability in the event that a neighbor were to complain as a result of a loud party or other disturbance occurring on the premises.

The case is entitled City of Worcester v. College Hill Properties, LLC, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 757 (2011) and can be accessed through the following link: http://masscases.com/cases/app/80/80massappct757.html .

Still looking.

ETA2: Ah, here's a vague reference, in a blog post from Aug 2017:

In a tragic case involving the death of a college student, the Court concluded that the Massachusetts lodging house law did not apply in circumstances in which four unrelated adults, who were college students, occupied apartments leased from the defendant property owners, where the apartments as occupied were not "lodgings" so as to render the defendants' properties "lodging houses" under the act."

Still looking.

ETA3: Ah, here we are. May 2013, in the Worcester Telegram, "Court vacates Worcester apartment lodging rule":

The state’s highest court has vacated a lower court ruling that upheld cease-and-desist orders issued by the city in 2009 to landlords who leased rental units to groups of four unrelated college students.

The city contended those landlords were running unlicensed lodging houses because of that.

But in a ruling issued Wednesday, the state Supreme Judicial Court said the mere fact that four unrelated adults live in an apartment or home does not make rental properties lodging houses.

It pointed out that each unit in question had its own living and dining rooms, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms.

Because such rental properties do not constitute a lodging house under state law, the landlords did not need a lodging house license from the city to operate them, the court said.

Worth reading the whole article for more info.

Please note that Somerville's zoning ordinances, which is where there is a four-person limit (still looking) and the square footage limits in the MA sanitary code still are in force.

ETA4: Got it! Somerville Zoning Ordinance 2.2.19:

2.2.19. Boarding house. A residential use that provides four (4) or more rental boarding rooms for four (4) or more unrelated individuals, for occupancy longer than a 14-day period, and which is duly licensed by the Board of Aldermen. A boarding house shall include a lodging house, rooming house, and single room occupancy (SRO) dwelling.

I don't understand why this is not also overturned by the MA Superior Court decision about Worcester's law.

ETA5: Oh ho! Maybe it was obviated. Just found activism around a proposed new ban on 4+ unrelated individuals from March 2018. Don't know what happened to that.

[theresa_99]

Thanks, Sidrea!

[somerdream]

You know about this effort from a past zoning update round? http://www.zonesmartsomerville.org/

[theresa_99]

Yes, thanks, Somerdream. : ) Currently, the limit is four unrelated people in one dwelling.