City sues landlord, students

When four IU students moved into a four-bedroom, two-story house they were renting off campus, they never imagined that they were violating city occupancy restrictions. Now, they face a lawsuit which resident Eric Spoonmore said could cost them as much as $170,000.\nThe city of Bloomington is suing Spoonmore, a graduate student, senior Christine Little, senior Stephanie Bullock, alumnus Chris White and their landlord, Haralovich Properties, for violating zoning restrictions at their house at 204 S. Clark St. \n"The house has four bedrooms with one closet in each room, two bathrooms with showers, phone jacks and internet connections in each room and the driveway can accommodate up to four cars," Spoonmore said. \nDespite this, the house is zoned by the city as a "single dwelling residence" -- meaning only three adults or one family are allowed by law to live there. \nBloomington City Planner Tom Micuda said zoning ordinances that set occupancy restrictions are very common.\n"Regardless of the number of bedrooms, only three adults are allowed to live in a house zoned as a single dwelling residence," he said.\nHe said the Clark St. property has had the same zoning restriction for more than 30 years. \nIn May 2004, an anonymous complaint claiming too many people were living in the house prompted the city to investigate the housing violation, according the property's rental record. A Bloomington housing inspector visited the house and interviewed Spoonmore March 3. According to the inspector's report, Spoonmore said there were four people living in the house. \n"Typically, we become notified of over-occupancy violations from a citizen complaint," said Susie Johnson, director of Housing and Neighborhood Development for Bloomington. "Once we receive the complaint, we open an investigation to try to determine whether or not the complaint is valid and if we have reason to believe that it's valid, then we send it up to the legal department for them to take over."\nShe said HAND processed 51 occupancy violations in 2004 and 17 thus far in 2005.\nJohnson would not comment on the particulars of the city's lawsuit or investigation involving 204 S. Clark St. because the city has legal action pending.\nSpoonmore said his lawyer stated the defendants face a maximum $2,500 fine for each day the property was occupied by more than the permitted number of persons -- not to exceed a collective fine of $170,000.\nSpoonmore, Bullock and White signed the lease in March 2004 for the house, which Spoonmore claimed his landlord deemed to have four bedrooms. Little, who was studying abroad in Australia at the time, did not sign the lease, though Spoonmore said the landlord approved of her living there. The rental agreement also had an available fourth "signature" line. \nSpoonmore said the landlord never provided a copy of the residential rental occupancy permit to him or his roommates, nor was the permit displayed "inside the main entrance of the rental unit," as required by the city of Bloomington. \nMicuda said both the landlord and the tenants are responsible for making sure the rental property is within the occupancy restrictions, although the primary responsibility often falls on the landlord or property owner.\nSpoonmore said this is a nasty all-around situation to be involved in for any student. \n"I know ignorance is no excuse, but we were left in the dark," he said. \nRoommate Bullock said the "great house" they lived in for the past year was advertised as having four bedrooms, hence the need for three other roommates.\n"The ad in the newspaper was for a four-bedroom house -- I am 95 percent sure," Bullock said.\nThe students have obtained legal representation from IU Student Legal Services, although both their lawyer and the SLS director were unavailable for comment at press time. Haralovich Properties did not return phone calls from the Indiana Daily Student seeking comment. \nProperty owner Peter Haralovich, who has obtained outside legal counsel, was also unavailable for comment at press time. \nSpoonmore recommends students and residents "know the law" pertaining to zoning ordinances as they relate to rental properties throughout town. He said would-be renters should investigate on their own the "real number" of people allowed to rent an apartment or a house and verify the number with their landlord. \n"You can't imagine the stress of having something like this on your back -- it is enough to make you go crazy. I think a lot of people need to be aware of this," Spoonmore said. "At this point I've accumulated about $30,000 in student loans and I'm about $50,000 in debt. All of us are in shock. $170,000 divided five ways adds an extra $30,000. How can you recover from that at age 22? It is unfathomable. Whatever lesson they're trying to teach us, we have already learned"