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Where I live, there are eight people and two dogs in a one bedroom. The six kids range in age from elementary to high school, and the family has been living there for at least 15 years. I was having problems with the two 13 year old girls, but I put a stop to it, and haven't had any problems since then.
The problem is once you start making exceptions to safety guidelines, everyone suffers. There are reasons why occupancy limits exist and I'm sorry if some people can't afford rent in certain places but that's too bad. Illness spreads quickly in overcrowded conditions, something we should be increasingly concerned about with the crazy 'anti-vaxers' running around...
Why do unrelated occupancy limits exist?
How is it a safety guideline? One-too-many in a dwelling (overoccupancy) is less safe than homelessness?
Yes. They have less reason outside of thier own moral compass to care about any one of those things. They are also more likely to come and go and do as they please.
It's the same laws that are used in university towns to help prevent the problems that follow large group rentals
Maybe rental occupancy restrictions exist in order to prevent a negative impact on traffic, parking, & community resources (public schools included) in certain areas.
The state I live in has it's own codes - basic HUD occupancy standards. The city my rentals are in go even farther with the municipal code - the size of the living room (or common space in a rental unit or house) and kitchen/dining area are also taken in to account despite the size of the bedrooms. I've never read anything in the city codes that distinguish between an infant/child and an adult. But I only rent to students so I may have skipped over this:
Quote:
The Division of Youth and Family Services has also promulgated regulations concerning children. Generally, children of opposite sex cannot share a bedroom with each other or an adult. Therefore, families with children will very often need to rent apartments with more bedrooms, even in cases when a single bedroom would have been large enough to accommodate the size of the family.
Hi - I am a long-time renter in the same place. It's a decent enough place, and close to all of the major highways in NJ. I am about 10 mins from EWR, which is great.
I live in a 1-BR apartment. The BR is about 180 sq. ft.
There is a family of 5 that has moved into the 1-BR below me. The occupants include: mom; dad; grandma; boy @ 8; and girl @ 5-6. They are very loud and obnoxious, and most would prefer that they moved into an apartment with more BRs. All of the 1-BRs in this building are occupied by single people -- they usually put the families together and the single people together, which seems to make sense.
Here is a simple summary of some of the deviations from typical apartment behavior: 1. "dad" was selling gasoline out of the apartment during Hurricane Sandy -- the FD evacuated the entire complex one night; 2. "dad" has been arrested for receiving and driving a stolen car; 3. "dad" has overdosed on drugs and was in the hospital for a few weeks; 4. "dad" has been arrested thrice for driving without a license.
It's a very sad situation. The kids are typical sweet kids, but they are never seen. They are not allowed out of the apartment, not even when all of the other kids are out in the snow, etc. The yelling and slamming in general is scary, which is mostly "dad."
I tried contacting the borough inspector, but he has little interest in enforcing the code. (I expected that a few fines levied on the building owners and the renters would alter behavior, but again, the inspector doesn't seem to care too much.) I tried contacting the borough legal counsel, a family friend, but received no answers. The PD can't do anything. The FD can't do anything.
Within the last year, the building manager actually offered these folks a 2-BR. The BRs are a little smaller in the 2-BRs, but the tenants refused the offer anyway.
What's a decent approach to getting this all sorted out?
Thanks for your ideas.
Last edited by NJAptRenter; 02-18-2015 at 06:58 AM..
Reason: Edit: added info
If "dad" is using drugs and getting arrested all the time, Child Protective Services needs to become involved. Call them. This is obviously a very dangerous and unhealthy environment for the children in many ways. As for escaping that kind of behavior in general, the only real solution is to move into a nicer, higher-income area. Laws that govern people's behavior like that are rarely enforced and you'll have to live with it as long as you're there. It sounds like they are creating an unsafe situation for everyone. Do you want to be around when that guys drug dealers come looking for him?
To sic CPS on a family is a horrible suggestion unless there is proof or an extremely strong suspicion of abuse!
And if the OP is going to be honest, how many kids are there, or their welfare, is not even her concern....it's just the noise, which could be the same if only two kids were there.
Social service call isn't only for abuse. It is also to report possible unsafe or unsanitary living conditions or to get help for the parents when they have exhausted their means. They are living in cramped conditions. It is possible social service would be able to move them to public housing where they would have more breathing space.
How is it a safety guideline? One-too-many in a dwelling (overoccupancy) is less safe than homelessness?
I was wondering the same thing.
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Seeking adivce in NJ
