I am buying a home in West Philly. I have been looking all over for clear occpuancy/housing laws for this area but have been unsuccessful. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Essentially my question is how many people can live in my house. It is seven bedrooms, and I WILL be living there (as in, it is owner-occupied). I have heard horror stories about people being evicted for having more than 5 people living in one house - but does this apply to owner occupied homes? I would like to have all the rooms occupied (myself plus six tenants).

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I believe it depends on the Use & Occupancy license for each home. When I bought a house in West Philly 2 years ago, that came with the mortgage at settlement. It did not stipulate a maximum occupancy but it did come with a clause saying there may be no more than "3 last names" living in the house.

I don't know if that's standard or whatever. Just throwing in my two cents.

If the house is zoned for single-family occupancy, you cannot have more than 3 unrelated individuals living in the home.

Technically L&I can enforce this. The reality is that L&I has bigger problems on their plate, so rarely does it come up. However, if your neighbors log enough complaints against the property it is entirely possible that L&I will show up one day.

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I called up L&I today and they told me that the limit in Philadelphia is five unrelated adults.

But the also told me that L&I doesn't evict people, and made it sound like if I am in such a situation I do not have to let any inspectors in the property. That sounds weird to me.

Of course I don't know of a single large west philadelphia home that is not occupied by a family and has less than 6 or 7 people living in it. I have been told before that it is the case with L&I that they don't tend to enforce these things unless they get a lot of complaints from neighbors.

Hmm. I guess I'll just have to see how this one goes. If anyone has further information about how L&I is able to get access to your property to inspect it, and if I as the homeowner have a right to refuse, that would be great. Thanks!

You can't be evicted from a house you own. Five people might be evicted from a house they rent if the lease specifies that only four can live there or something. If you're buying a 7 bedroom house, then I can't imagine a world in which you wouldn't be allowed to have 7 people living in it. In general, of course, be nice to your neighbors, clean up in front of your house, and you won't have any problem.

You might also want to check if there are any covenants on the home that restrict the number of tenants. I know when we were house shopping last year, we looked at a house that Penn had rehabbed that specified only owner and family.

You are allowed to have as many people living there as want, as long as they all share the last name "Africa."

i agree that i don't think anyone would be able to evict me from a house i own, but like i said talking with L&I only raised more questions.

i should probably find a lawyer knowledgeable in this area to advice me on what exactly my rights are when it comes to these issues. can i deny an L&I inspection? Can they evict some (or all) of the people that live in the house if they decide there are too many people living there, even if it is owner-occupied?

thanks for all the insight so far.

What you are allowed and what you can "get away with" are two totally different things. I believe in PA a single family house is limited to 3 unrelated persons. If the property is classified as a boarding house or multifamily that is a different story. There may be other exemptions as well. You should check the zoning of this property before you go renting it out to half a dozen people though.

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I know it sounds crazy but the city zoning code only permits up to 3 unrelated people in any one unit. An exception is if the building is zoned as a rooming house. I have heard of cases where this was enforced. It is ugly and can be expensive. I have read the code and saw no exception for owner occupants. There are many municipalities that have similar codes and I read that they were upheld by the supreme court. They ruled that there is no fundamental right to live with who you wish.

The town of Black Jack outside of St. Louis has an Identical code and was recently sued by The American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a family that did not fit the definition and were denied a housing permit .
" The ACLU said Foundray Loving, Olivia Shelltrack and their school-age children are facing fines of up to $500 per week for living in their five -bedroom home in the suburb of 6,800 because Loving is not the biological father of Sheltrack's oldest child and they are not married." I don't know how the case ended up.

I do know that the Powelton Village Civic Association has been asking for stepped up enforcement in an attempt to reduce the number of student occupied houses and increase availability of on street parking.

I have not heard of any enforcement that was not associated with a complaint to L&I about the condition of the property or the behavior of it's occupants but there is nothing to say that as the neighborhood gentrifies and calls for more systematic enforcement it will simply not be possible to house share or live communally. I have lived in and know of many other houses that are shared. It is an established practice that goes far back in this neighborhoods history. I am all for strong enforcement against disruptive properties but not every shared house is a beer partying fraternity or crack house. Some people just like living in a group. For others it is the only affordable way to live in a neighborhood where prices , rents and the cost of heat have doubled or tripled recently.

I think it will be a sad day if and when L&I goes door to door checking the legal and biological status of those living there because we want to socially engineer who our neighbors are or have more parking spaces. If I wanted that kind of community I would be living in Hazelton Pa.