To: Michael_Harkavy@PINCALA.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: results -- more than 3 in a house
Cc: er@cs.cmu.edu, bovik@cs.cmu.edu
In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 19 Jul 94 12:11:11 EDT."
             <7026.774634271@PINCALA.WARP.CS.CMU.EDU> 
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 16:34:41 -0400
Message-ID: <14856.775254881@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU>
From: Jennifer_Kay@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU


Well, I only got two responses, but here's what I did get:

My original message:

>Hi folks. We've all heard of the law about no more than 3 unrelated
>people living in the same dwelling. But does anyone know details? Does
>anyone know someone who got in trouble because of it? What happened?
>What about the details? Can three married couples share a place? What
>constitutes related? (I've heard that the law says something about
>sharing last names -- does that mean 25 unrelated people named Smith
>can share, but a biological family of 4 who happen to have different
>last names due to parental creativity need to kick one of the kids
>out?) Anybody actually have the text of the law?
>
>I'll forward the info to bovik.
>
>Disclamer -- No, I have no plans to move in with a zillion other
>people, I'm doing research for a friend.
>

The replies:

Return-Path: <bnoble@BACH.CODA.CS.CMU.EDU>
Received: from BACH.CODA.CS.CMU.EDU by IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa05788;
          19 Jul 94 14:26:34 EDT
To: jennie+@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU
Subject: Re: More than 3 in a house/apt
Newsgroups: cmu.cs.general
In-Reply-To: <Ct77GJ.GEI.1@cs.cmu.edu>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Cc:  
Bcc:  
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 94 14:26:12 EDT
From: bnoble@BACH.CODA.CS.CMU.EDU
Sender: bnoble@BACH.CODA.CS.CMU.EDU

Jennie,

I'm an advisor for a fraternity at Pitt, and they have found a few
ways of dealing with the limits set by the city.  I make no claims
about what the city might do someone under these circumstances, but
they seem to be within the limits of law; the neighbors have on
various occaisons tried to get them kicked out on the basis of the
unrelated occupants law, but never made it stick.  This hasn't
happened on my watch though, so I'm not sure why.

There are 12 of them that rent out a house from a single landlord.
The landlord has set up the house so that, in the eyes of the city, it
is 3 separate "units"; each floor is effectively a unit.  The rest of
the house (basement, living room, etc.) is considered
ground-in-common.  To do this, I believe that the landlord must ensure
that each "unit" can be locked separately from the others, and that
each "unit" contains some sort of kitchen and bath facilities.  (I'm
not sure what is required for a "unit", but I believe that this is
enough.)  Then, for each "unit", the landlord puts *only* three people
on the lease.  While there is a fourth person on each floor, they
aren't on the *lease*, which may or may not make a difference.  I
suspect that if it could be proven that there is actually a fourth
student on each floor, that the city could do something about them.

Hope this helps,
-brian

------------
To: Jennifer Kay <jennie+@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: More than 3 in a house/apt
From: Rick Busdiecker <rfb@CMU.EDU>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
X-Windows: Flakey and built to stay that way.
Reply-To: Rick Busdiecker <rfb@CMU.EDU>
In-reply-to: jennie+@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU's message of Tue, 19 Jul 1994 13:33:54 -0400
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 94 15:09:24 -0400
Sender: Rick_Busdiecker@SANDMAN.CIMDS.RI.CMU.EDU

    From: jennie+@IUS5.IUS.CS.CMU.EDU (Jennifer Kay)
    Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 13:33:54 -0400

    Hi folks. We've all heard of the law about no more than 3 unrelated
    people living in the same dwelling. But does anyone know details? Does
    anyone know someone who got in trouble because of it? What happened?

A former housemate of mine claimed to have been affected by this law.
In his case, he and four roommates rented a house.  All 5 signed the
lease.  Neighbors took action (?) which forced them to change the
situation.  Because all five had signed the lease, the owner was
viewed to be at fault.  Two people still had to move out, but the
total rent was reduced to three-fifths of the original amount for the
balance of the lease.

My former housemate's claim is the only information that I have on
this law.

			Rick