City law outlines residential occupancy rules
By Daniel Rubin | October 25, 1999Three is company, four is a crowd, and five is illegal. Students looking for off-Grounds housing should be aware of a Charlottesville ordinance that prohibits more than four unrelated people from living in a single housing unit. Charlottesville Planning Manager Ron Higgins said about half a dozen cases are brought up each year, but usually the landlord settles the complaint before court action is needed. City Councilman Blake Caravati said the landlord could choose to evict tenants to bring the total of unrelated people to four or less. Should a case go to court, fines for violating this zoning ordinance range from $100 to $1,000 and the property owner or landlord and not the tenant would be considered at fault, Higgins said. City Councilman David Toscano said the ordinance is designed to prevent certain neighborhoods from becoming too dense. University students violate the ordinance the most, Toscano said. "I don't know of a case where students weren't involved," he said. Higgins said almost every community is concerned about overcrowding, which is why Charlottesville adopted the law. But Charlottesville officials do not enforce the ordinance very often. Caravati said the enforcement is generally complaint-driven, but sometimes officials sweep through neighborhoods to find violators.
