Rent per room? Is it possible?

[Account Closed]

If i have a house with 6 rooms and 5 bathrooms ( its not a multifamily) can i rent every room like if it was a multifamily?

(If not) why?

[Scott Mac]

HI Jack,

Check with you city and see if they allow rooming houses (or whatever name they call them locally).

In some areas they may have to have lockable bedroom doors, and in some areas they may prohibit lockable bedroom doors.

There will be codes for this, as well as zoning, and the all important parking.

Another concern is tenant type should match the neighborhood, and that's for your ability to keep tenants as well as the neighbors not filing endless complaints against you for everything they can think of.

What I mean is if you start a halfway house for recovering derelicts in the middle of Beverly Hills the neighbors will probably cause you endless legal trouble until you close it down, and you will not have a lot of prospective tenants wanting to rent there because a cup of coffee is $18 and there are no pawn shops or liquor stores around.

So even if you can do it, the question is should you do it there.

just my 2 cents on this.

Good Luck!

[Justin Tahilramani]

@Account Closed - the short answer is - it depends. Will you also be living in the house? If so, probably a higher likelihood that you can pull it off. Some areas have weird laws tho - so be careful. In Lubbock it was illegal for more that two unrelated people to live together. 

Find Information about More Than Two Unrelated Persons at Home

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.

This ordinance is enforced by complaint only. This means that we do not go out looking for this violation. Usually, complaints come in following a loud party or late-night disturbance. Sometimes a complaint will come in because too many cars are parked in the yard. It is not usually the actual cohabitation of too many people that prompts complaints, but rather the actions of these cohabiters. You, as a citizen, can help a great deal if you will write down the license numbers of the vehicles that are at the property on a regular basis – the vehicles belonging to the people who you believe actually live there. That way we can identify the involved persons, who will be sent a notice and expected to comply.