How many occupants do you allow per home?

How many occupants do you allow in home according to your agreement? Do you follow your local municipal code or do you have a maximum in your lease? We have more and more prospective tenants applying with 6-7 people on the application.     

It is impossible to track who is actually living in the homes.If it is a resident-owned home, then it’s really none of my business, and ‘anything goes’ - unless neighbors are complaining about cars blocking their driveways, or late-night partying, etc.  Then we’d send a warning, and evict if necessary.  We do however insist the additional occupants fill out an application.  For the safety of the other residents, we do not allow violent felons or child molesters to live in our communities.  We do always bill for water, so they are already reimbursing us for their additional utility usage.If it is a park-owned home, then we increase the rent $100/mo. to cover additional damage (roommate situations usually do more damage than regular families), and we of course insist on running a background check on the additional occupants.Good luck,-jl-

In many state there will be a max you can rent too, and your renting the lot. At least that is my read on the law. In college towns you might see rules that say- not more than 2 or 3 unrelated people per rental. Other states might say- 2 per bedroom plus one minor in the master- all related. Unrelated might be 1 per bedroom plus one minor in the master. You really must read the local laws to figure it all out. For us- everyone over 18 must fill out an application and be approved. If people choose not to fill out applications, we give them trespass notices, ban them from the property and have them arrested if they return. And yes- I have watched several people be removed in handcuffs from our parks. 

Any idea the max occupants allowed by law in Indiana? I have a 3 bedroom/2 bath with a family of 7 wanting to move in (2 adults/5 kids).

Here are some topics not discussed on this matter:

  1. In many states the boys and girls over a certain age cannot share the same bedroom. With a three bedroom home, this issue is not a problem, but theoretically could be on a two bedroom and definitely on a one bedroom.

  2. Be careful on Fair Housing regarding number of residents. If you appear to be discriminating against those with more occupants (which could be construed to mean families with kids) you might trigger a HUD investigation. Remember that this is 2016 America, and if you even make the appearance of doing something discriminatory (regardless of the actual intent) you would be judged guilty until proven innocent. Make sure you are an expert on the laws in your state, as well as the Federal law, before you make any rules regarding tenants. Your state MHA is a good starting point.

  3. If you are just renting the land, don’t worry about it. That’s why the sooner you can make every resident a homeowner, the better.

I am wondering how many park owners will evict a tenant who pays rent on time, does not cause problems but you find out from hanging around the park the tenant is a past violent felon.

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and further to this how many owners run background checks as a condition for lease renewal after taking over a park?

@tucker32 , as per your question:

  • “How many occupants do you allow in home according to your agreement?”

We are in full agreement with @frankrolfe:

  • “Be careful on Fair Housing regarding number of residents. If you appear to be discriminating against those with more occupants (which could be construed to mean families with kids) you might trigger a HUD investigation.”

We do not ‘limit’ our occupants per say because of Fair Housing.

Now I have seen other MH Rental Ads that say specifically how many occupants could live in the MH. I would be fearful that HUD might investigate concerning these limits.

We do require any ‘Prospective Tenant’ 18 Years Old & Older to fill out an Application with a $25 Non-Refundable Fee.

We had an Owner of a Mobile Home from another MHP call and ask if they could move their MH to our MHP.

My Husband called the Managers of the other MHP concerning their Tenant.

The Managers told my Husband that this Owner ran a “Flop House”.

Well…we had never heard this term before…but as per Urban Dictionary “Flop House” means:
“normally it is an apartment where many drug abusers stay to sleep and abuse drugs. Some of these people pay rent, while others are unemployed and do nothing with their lives except party and abuse drugs.”

When we first purchased our Turnaround MHP, we thought that 3 or 4 Bedroom Singlewide MHs would be great.

However, we do tend to get Prospective Tenants who want to stick everyone (their fiance & family and brother & family along with grandma or grandpa) in a 3 Bedroom MH.

We actually have embraced our 2 Bedrooms MHs, because Tenants do not seem as eager to stuff everyone in the MH.

We wish you the very best!

Unless things have changed, HUD standards are 2 kids per bedroom. I know that used to be the standard, I believe it still is.

Our community rules allow for a maximum of two adults per lot, no children allowed as ours is a adult only community. All homes are two bed and owner occupied. We have never been challenged and our policy is to enforce all rules until such time as a challenge is successful in changing the rules. We however have not had any challenge to our occupancy rules to date.
We have found that many inquiries looking for three bed homes are coming from very low income families or those on social assistance which we do not accept as residents. Two bed homes tend to attract better quality home owners.
Building codes determine the maximum permitted occupancy in all areas. This is based on number of rooms and square footage for the most part.
Check with your local building inspector.

In the USA occupancy is determined by bedrooms. You can have a 10,000 sf home with 7 bathrooms but only 3 bedrooms, occupancy is 6. This is for septic systems and all aspects of home design.

I love two bedrooms the best. I’m finishing up a single family home that has an older layout. It could be debated as to whether it’s a 3 bedroom or a 2 bedroom. Guess what. It’s a two bedroom.