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Actually my mom at one point was renting out my grandmother's house after her death. A 3 bed room house. A family of 9 wanted to move in and was denied for several reasons, one of which was the number of people.
The master bedroom was 10 x 12. The 2 smaller bedrooms were 10x8 each. Yup the family tried to sue. They lost in NYS. The reason for the lawsuit? The renters had planned to convert part of the basement into a spare room, play room and office space. No permits no permission. Just do it. Not legal in the town it was in. They told this to the Judge who actually laughed at the gall.....
Proving discrimination based on family size is very hard to do.
I do agree with othe posters that it is WAY past time you purchased a house and piece of land for your own. It's better for you and the kids. Less stress of possible moves every time a lease is up.
This sounds like discrimination. Saying that, I agree that it's time to shop for a mortgage. It sounds like a rural area might be best so you should try a USDA mortgage. Here the requirements is a 640 credit score and no outstanding debts. Habitat for Humanity is also another alternative if your income allows it. Hope you find something soon!
I didn't say we only had one income or couldn't afford appropriate housing. We can't get approved for a rental. I'm a business owner working from home. Our finances are in check. We didn't recklessly conceive hoping for the best.
I'd hire a realtor to find me something...probably going to be your best bet at this stage in the game.
Best of luck to you.
Koale
I had a tenant who had 4 children in a 3 bedroom house. All the kids were under 7 and they all slept in the same bedroom except the infant. Since the walkin closet in the master had a window, (it was about 8x10) they made it a nursery and used the 3rd bedroom for a toy room. It was very clever and it was sort of like this attached picture. I see absolutley nothing wrong with 3-4 kids sharing a room. When I was a kid my parents sent me to summer camp for 4-5 consecutive summers. Eight of us girls shared a "cabin" which was really just a single room with a bathroom. I was there for 8 weeks each summer and missed my bunkmates terribly when the dreaded end of the summer came.
Large families tend to get clever with tight living space. We met a large family temporarily living out of a garage while their home was being built. This was a little over a year. They had an addition added to the back of the garage with a kitchen and bathroom. Basic needs were kept in the garage with the rest in storage.
In our area 4 to a bedroom is allowed. Something I can't imagine in a modest home. While searching rentals I thought about Some of the previous comments of not getting any approvals. We aren't looking for any rental to jump on. If we apply for homes in the inner city areas that are run down sure we'd probably get approved. A perfect example, Youngstown. There's a landlord that's met with us and met our children on several occasions during viewings. He's a stand up guy. Keeps his places nice. Unfortunately the homes of his we viewed were sort of oddballs. His tenants rarely leave. He has one now up for grabs that's 4200ft. We have a viewing on Monday. He's mentioned this particular house would be perfect when viewing others but his past tenants were there for years. He'd make comments he didn't see them moving soon.
Maybe to expand your options for housing - see if you can find a side by side duplex and rent both sides.
I agree with someone that posted above - do NOT pay rent through the court with the current landlord. This goes on public record and future landlords might turn you down over this. They don't want issues with you and they might think you are a picky renter even though that's not true. Even more landlords would probably turn you down due to the court records, so that would make things worse.
My rule of thumb is maximum two people per bedroom, so you guys really need a 5 bedroom house at the very least. And with 8 kids, there is going to be a lot of wear and tear on the house. Don't get mad at the current LL for not taking care of repairs. He did you a favor letting you in. You've GOT to get your own house! We only have one rental unit that is suitable for such a large group - and only because it was an illegal three family that we converted back into a two family, so one unit has six bedrooms. It's rented to an extended family group, and even they have only 8 people in it, only a few are children. I would be reluctant to rent it to you, with so many little children, and I'm a really liberal, relaxed LL who allows pets.
Don't get mad at the LL. Just pay the rent, live with it, save like crazy, look for a big old house to buy, figure out how to get into it with something like an FHA loan, which requires only 3% down, and get out!
^Don't get mad at the landlord? Just because they have a large family and the landlord may have done them a favor by letting them live there does not mean he gets to completely neglect the property. He still has a duty to maintain a habitable unit in working condition.
However this is a moot point if their lease is not being renewed, and I think the OP has acknowledged this. The time to deal with the current landlord has come and gone. The main issue is getting themselves a new place to live. It's all well and good to say that they should buy a house, and maybe they really should, but it doesn't do them any good if they won't have a reasonable down payment saved up in the next month or so.
Interesting that the Chicago occupancy laws are by square footage rather than by number of rooms. It's one person per 125 sf for the first two; one person per 100 sf for the next 2, and one person per 75 sf after that. So legally, this family could occupy any unit larger than 900 square feet. That would be rather tight quarters, but I suppose it's possible.
So if I get this correctly, you are currently living in a home that suits your needs (except for the repair conditions) and your intention is to rent for another 1-2 years and then buy. And, that in looking for another place to rent, you are coming across difficulties in finding one, seemingly based on family size, though objectively speaking, the pool of units that would be suitable for your family (size wise) is probably small to begin with.
If I were you, I would stay in the current place for another two years while focusing on buying. I would list all the repairs that need to be done, with cost estimates, and go to the current landlords and work something out. Take a rent reduction and do the work yourselves, let them do the work, whatever, but they are your landlords and should be treating you like tenants not like some loser relatives they are doing a favor for.
At the end, even if the repairs cost you (money, time, effort), to me it would be worth it not to move (which, no matter how much you diy, always costs something anyway), and not have to uproot the kids especially since your major plan is to move into your own home within a few years.
^Don't get mad at the landlord? Just because they have a large family and the landlord may have done them a favor by letting them live there does not mean he gets to completely neglect the property. He still has a duty to maintain a habitable unit in working condition.
However this is a moot point if their lease is not being renewed, and I think the OP has acknowledged this. The time to deal with the current landlord has come and gone. The main issue is getting themselves a new place to live. It's all well and good to say that they should buy a house, and maybe they really should, but it doesn't do them any good if they won't have a reasonable down payment saved up in the next month or so.
Interesting that the Chicago occupancy laws are by square footage rather than by number of rooms. It's one person per 125 sf for the first two; one person per 100 sf for the next 2, and one person per 75 sf after that. So legally, this family could occupy any unit larger than 900 square feet. That would be rather tight quarters, but I suppose it's possible.
Those laws do not reflect laws with children involved.
They have their own set of "rules"
General occupancy guidelines only reflect fire and safety, the restriction on child occupancy are made for welfare reasonings.
While it may not affect a general homeowner who wants to fit more than the cited law arrangements, landlords have to take what the state dictates as the law in to consideration to avoid getting themsleves in to legal hot water....they are bound by those laws.
I didn't say we only had one income or couldn't afford appropriate housing. We can't get approved for a rental. I'm a business owner working from home. Our finances are in check. We didn't recklessly conceive hoping for the best.
Depending on what kind of business it is, I would decline for this reason. We don't allow most types of home based businesses, unless they are entirely digital. Most subdivisions also restrict this. Can't have customers coming and going, can't have constant pickups from UPS and FedEx, can't have manufacture of goods that could require additional insurance, like for a bakery. So this could be the "what else" you are getting denied for.
And I also use HUD's 2 per bedroom + 1 rule. I will stretch it and call a bonus room an additional bedroom on some larger houses. But I count heartbeats, so I hope you don't have any pets on top of your 10 people. Out of 170+ houses and duplexes we manage, we only have about 3 or 4 that are either 5 bedrooms or BIG 4 bedrooms that might work for 10 people, and they only come available rarely. So on any given day, odds are we wouldn't have anything that would work for that many people.
I have rented to one family that sounds similar to yours, big family, good income, well behaved children. They only had 6 kids, but 8 wouldn't have been different for them. They rented one of our largest houses, never were late on rent, never had a complaint from neighbors, and left the house immaculate. So I know there are good ones out there with big families. However, I will say that in 15 years of property management, I've never seen a 10+ person application that was even OK. ALL of the 10+ people applications I've gotten are of they "section 8 with no income, won't be able to afford the deposits to put utilities in their name, don't have the security deposit for the rental, no verifiable rental history, no credit, judgment proof" type applications. So when I see 10+ people, that is just what I expect to find. And I'm in Mormon country, where many people have large families, so I assume that most people with large families who are responsible types who are in my area have purchased a home.
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Here is what I would do...
