Is this legal in Massachusetts?

[Nicholas Nelson]

I own a condo in Boston that is in a 3-unit building. My unit is currently rented. Another unit in the building was just sold and the new owner appears to be closing off walls to add "bedrooms" and rent the rooms individually. In essence, turning his 3-bedroom apartment into a 4- or 5-bedroom lodging house that he rents to college kids. 

Is this legal in the City of Boston?

[Deborah Drexler]

Unfortunately for your situation, the Boston housing ordinance prohibits only 5 or more unrelated persons from living in one apartment.   I'm not sure if I can post the link here -- message me and I can send you an article about this.  or just search "number of unrelated persons in an apartment in Boston." 

Even more significantly:  note the 2013 case of City of Worcester v. College Hill Properties, where the highest Massachusetts court held that renting to 4 or more students in one apartment unit of a two and three family home does not turn it into a“lodging house” requiring a special license under the Massachusetts lodging housing law, provided that the apartment meets all other sanitary and building code square footage occupancy thresholds. The state code requires 150 s.f. of living space for the first occupancy and 100 s.f. for each additional person (3 occupants = 350 s.f. of living space), and 70 s.f. of bedroom space for the 1st person, plus 50 s.f. for additional person (120 s.f. for 2 persons in one bedroom).   

Some people believe that the College Hill Properties case will cause the Boston roommate-limiting ordinance to be invalidated if it is challenged in court.  On the theory that as long as you meet the sanitary and building square footage requirements, you can have unlimited numbers of unrelated people living together. 

All that aside, if I were in your shoes I'd touch base with the fire department.  I believe that every sleeping room has to have at least 2 accessible means of egress (i.e., windows need to be a certain size), and if he's putting up a lot of walls, that may be hard to achieve. 

Deb Drexler