What are the Rules/Ordinances in Your College Town?

[Will Gaston]

All:

As an investor in the student rental market for over 13 years, I have increasingly seen new investors purchasing student rental property without finding out what is and what isn't allowed in a college town (full disclosure: I was one of these when I bought my first student rental property). I'm sure there are plenty of markets where there are no specific rules but am curious as to other markets out there.

Is there an unrelated persons ordinance in your market? If so, what is the maximum number of unrelated? Any other caveats?

My market of Columbia, South Carolina allows for a maximum of 3 unrelated persons.

Side note: The current Governor of SC, Henry McMaster, owns quite a bit of student rental property in Columbia and tried to get the 3 unrelated persons ordinance overturned in 2011. It was upheld by the SC State Supreme Court: McMaster v. Columbia Board of Zoning

[Joan Brown]

There is some verbiage about type of property, apparently it doesn't count for multi-family zoning.

From the city's website:

The majority of our neighborhoods in the City of Lubbock are zoned as single family neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods no more than two unrelated persons may live in a dwelling.

If you read the ordinance for the residential zone, you will find that use is limited to single family residences. In the definition section of the Code of Ordinances, the definition of family is as follows: “One or more persons related by blood, adoption, or marriage, or not more than two (2) unrelated persons living and cooking together as a single housekeeping unit.”

This means that the City Of Lubbock does not limit the number of related people who can live together in a residential structure in a residential zone; the federal courts have held that to be unconstitutional. However, if the people living together are not related, no more than two may live together in a single family zone.