6 beds student housing in Philly?

[Forrest Hayashi]

Hi BP'ers,

Just want to ask everyone's opinion on this and know that i should have asked earlier.

Entered a contract to purchase a 6-bedroom SFH near University area and have been worrying about the following:

1. Is it Legal to rent six rooms with just regular rental license? It's zoned as RM1

2. Are students still looking for housing mid semester?

3. Anything i should be aware of doing such purchase?

Thanks!

[John Harvey]

Only by special exception.  

https://www.phila.gov/media/20...

[Cyrus Shaw]

If you are near UPenn you should have no problem finding groups of six that want to rent for the whole year.  Mid year not really.  Temple will be a lot more difficult to find groups of 6, however there will be a lot of students that will just want to rent for a semester and are open to living with people they didn’t know.

[Forrest Hayashi]

Originally posted by @John Harvey:

Only by special exception.  

https://www.phila.gov/media/20...

I have seen so many SFH houses renting to students by room around many Unis in Philly. Do they all have special exceptions?

Wondering if there are any good property managers in Philly that specialize in Student housing.

[Forrest Hayashi]

Originally posted by @Cyrus Shaw:

If you are near UPenn you should have no problem finding groups of six that want to rent for the whole year.  Mid year not really.  Temple will be a lot more difficult to find groups of 6, however there will be a lot of students that will just want to rent for a semester and are open to living with people they didn’t know.

Hi Cyrus!
Oh Thank you, that's a very reassuring comment! Do you know any good property managers in Philly that specialize/have a lot of experience in student housing?

[Dan Powers]

@Forrest Hayashi First off if you're able to find inventory in University City that does make sense price-wise certainly scoop it up. Yes, it is legal to rent 6 rooms under 1 lease as that's simply a 6-bed rental. You cannot rent the 6 rooms and have 6 different leases, that's renting my the room and is illegal. The zoning only comes into play if you wanted to convert the property to a duplex/triplex/quad. Students aren't typically looking for housing mid-semester, especially something of that size, but you never know its Ucity. Not sure if the purchase is as is, or inspection based, as long as there's no structural damage and the title will be clear that's the main things I look for.