Students, landlords flouting a city limit

Tenant ordinance is hard to enforce

Landlords and college students are widely flouting a new Boston ordinance prohibiting more than four undergraduates from sharing an apartment, amid deep skepticism that city officials can practically enforce the measure.

Residents and college officials are counting on the measure to curb rowdiness in neighborhoods with high concentrations of college students. But as legions of students return to campuses, property owners, students, and real estate agents say, the law is having little success in deterring thousands of students from living together in large numbers in apartment houses neighbors liken to dormitories.

The start of the fall semester marks the first test of the housing regulation the city approved in March. The bylaw holds property owners, not students, responsible for violations, which carry penalties if not rectified.

Supporters say the occupancy limit has already steered some students to smaller apartments and discouraged landlords and speculators from converting one- and two-family homes into high-rent, multibedroom apartments. Yet the real estate community largely dismisses it as toothless.

"From the start, our concern has been that this just isn't enforceable," said Greg Vasil, chief executive officer of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. "Even if the city only responds to complaints, how can they determine who is a student and who isn't? It's not realistic."

While colleges sent out notification about the regulation, many students who live in the Mission Hill and Allston-Brighton neighborhoods said they were unaware of it. Others said they believe the effort will prove ineffective and that they know of students who are violating the ordinance.

The students declined to give their names, fearing repercussions from college and city officials.

City inspectors pledged to enforce the measure vigorously by responding to neighborhood complaints, but acknowledged that their ability to confirm whether occupants are college students is limited. Federal privacy laws prohibit colleges from telling inspectors whether apartment residents are students, officials added.

"We don't have the authority to do anything but ask," said Bill Good, commissioner of the city's Inspectional Services Department.

"When you start talking about getting the information we need, and verifying it, that's going to be difficult for us."

Boston City Council member Michael Ross, the chief proponent of the measure, said inspectors must find a way to enforce the law. "There's a fair and reasonable expectation among our residents that these laws be followed," he said.

The extent of enforcement is a critical question for the estimated 13,000 college students who live off-campus in Boston and often need to team up in sizable numbers to afford high city rents. It also has broad consequences for rental property owners and for residents who have complained that their neighborhoods feel like college campuses.

In the Fenway, Mission Hill, and Allston-Brighton, real estate agents and property owners say the law has had little impact on their leasing practices for the new school year. As a precaution, some have made sure that no more than four full-time undergraduates sign rental agreements, and some will encourage students to find roommates who are not in school. But many owners of large houses that cater to college students appear to have adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

"If their checks clear, that's good enough for me," said one Allston-Brighton broker who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid drawing the attention of city inspectors. "If I can't rent to college students, a lot of these big houses are going to stay empty."

Michael DiMella, owner of Charlesgate Realty Group in the Back Bay, said realtors are banking on inspectors being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the oversight, and assuming the measure is essentially a sop to neighbors weary of late-night parties.

"Everyone's saying the same thing, 'How can they possibly enforce this?' " he said. "A lot of people are complaining that it's mostly about political expediency."

A search of apartment listings on the Boston Craigslist website this week found more than 1,000 units with five bedrooms, mostly in Allston and Brighton, and hundreds more with six, seven, or eight bedrooms.

Many listings directly target college students.

A seven-bedroom apartment for $6,300 a month in Cleveland Circle, one listing read, is "perfect for BC students," and a six-bedroom apartment for $4,200 is billed as a "Super easy walk to class for Boston University students!!"

One huge single-family home in Brighton was billed as "Massive BU 12 Bed" that could "fit up to 20!!"

Valerie Brinker, senior leasing agent for Gateway Real Estate Group in Allston, said students are still teaming up in groups of more than four, sometimes with a pledge to keep things quiet.

"They knew about the law, but they wanted to live together and save some money, not party," she said. "The property owner said just to put four names on the lease."

Still, some landlords predict that neighbors who have grown increasingly frustrated over loud, disruptive students will provide their own oversight.

"It is a risk to break the law, because supporters have roused up the community to squeal on the violators," said Malena Schneeberger, a rental property owner. "There are people who walk the streets at night looking for problems."

Good said students who signed leases before March, when the bylaw was adopted, will be exempt from the law until their lease expires. Inspectors will continue to investigate complaints of overcrowding and unsafe living conditions, he said.

The housing ordinance has caused widespread resentment among undergraduates, who believe it unfairly singles them out and prices them out of the housing market. It has also angered landlords, who believe it represents a form of rent control and infringes on their property rights.

Stephen Greenbaum, a Boston lawyer who represents property owners in a lawsuit against the city, said owners are waiting for the city to clarify its enforcement policy.

"There is a great deal of confusion as to exactly what this law means, and what the enforcement will be," he said.