Residents and city strategize against over-occupied student housing

Renters housing extra roommates may need to rethink their living arrangements. The Athens Neighborhood Association (ANA) is drawing attention to the problem of over-occupancy in mainly student rental housing in Athens.

One problem with enforcing zoning regulations against over-occupancy, however, is that the Athens Code Enforcement Office cannot inspect a house without giving a 24-hour notice. In addition, Code Enforcement previously posted an Excel spreadsheet listing each rental residence's annual inspection date on the city Web site. That schedule will change this week, Code Enforcement Director John Paszke said.

The ANA, an umbrella group representing various neighborhood associations in Athens, sent an e-mail to public officials and Ohio University's Residence Life office last week seeking to start a dialogue about over-occupied housing.

"There is a concern within the neighborhood organization, and we're meeting to examine our options in regulating the code," said Beverly Flanigan, a member of the ANA executive board. "There are some out there who don't think this is happening. And then there are others who think it's a growing concern."

OU students living in one over-occupied house said they did not know about the 24-hour requirement. Their off-the-lease roommate, Jerry, doesn't exactly have his bed stashed in a corner covered by newspapers so as to avoid detection.

Jerry, who asked to remain anonymous in order to avoid getting his housemates in trouble, found himself without a place to live this year. But he had some friends with extra room in their house, even though the place is not zoned for more occupants.

"My room is very neat," Jerry said. "The place is designed for me to be here. We could fit another person or two here and still be comfortable."

With him in the house, Jerry's roommates each saved $940 annually on rent and $80 monthly per person on utility costs.

"We're helping a friend and we get to save some money," one of Jerry's roommates said. "There really is no drawback." The roommate also asked not to be identified.
At his weekly press conference Mayor Paul Wiehl said he is trying to get a feel for the issue.

"In many cases, it's not the landlords who are the problem, but the students trying to shave a little bit off the rent," Wiehl said. "The other thing I'm hearing anecdotally is that it's not as common as we think it is."

Enforcement is the biggest challenge because the required 24-hour notice keeps renters a step ahead, Wiehl said. Violators need to screw up in order to be caught.

"There have been occasions where someone has four or five names on a lease," Wiehl said. "That's usually a good giveaway. Or someone will call in and say, 'My five roommates are being a pain.' And the question is, why do you have five roommates?"

Code Enforcement has two tools to combat over-occupancy, Paszke said. Inspectors check each house annually instead of every other year as it was before this year. The second tool is the rental license agreement landlords must submit annually to Code Enforcement.

Three Bowling Green landlords were convicted for zoning violations last year, according to a BGViews.com article. All three landlords were put on probation and fined as much as $10,000 each. The violation was over-occupancy in all three cases.

Landlords can evict renters for violating lease terms, according to Ohio Landlord-Tenant laws. If the number of occupants is listed on a lease and the landlord becomes aware of an over-occupancy, he or she has the right to evict the household.

How do renters know if they are living up to code?

In the central part of town, renters living east of Court Street and South of Carpenter Street live in an R-3 zone. The number of occupants depends on the size of the house or apartment building and the number of household amenities like kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.

Renters living west of Court Street need to be wary of non-family member restrictions. Even if a house can fit five comfortably, an R-1 zone states that no more than three non-family members can occupy a residence.

The final residential zone in Athens is R-2, which permits the use of duplex housing. This is determined by how many kitchens a residence has, Paszke said.

Apartments on Court Street are in a B-2D. Residences must be on the second floor or above. Occupancy is determined like an R-3 zone, but five is the maximum number per unit unless the landlord petitions the state.

Zoning can become more difficult because of spot zoning such as at the top of West State Street where the mostly R-1 zone changes to an R-2.

"We've tried to eliminate a lot of that spot zoning," Paszke said. "I would assume that those zones are there because something might have warranted a different zoning status. Maybe there was an intersection that has a gas station or something to that affect."

Housing structure and parking are the two biggest concerns with occupancy, Paszke said.

In 1998 City Council adopted an ordinance requiring a minimum of two parking spots per unit plus an additional spot for each renter. If five renters live in an R-1 zoned house (two more than allowed by the zoning), and all five have cars, there is a problem, Paszke said, since the house legally only has to have four parking spots for the supposed three occupants.

Landlords who owned units prior to the ordinance and have renewed their licenses annually do not need to meet the requirements, Paszke said.

The Athens zoning map can be found on the city Web site here.You may also view a video of Mayor Wiehl answering further questions about over-occupancy of rental housing in our Video section, here.