Help available to avoid occupancy disputes

Zoning and occupancy restrictions might be the last things on students' minds when they sign their first lease, but if the city finds that there are too many people living in a residence, it can mean big legal trouble for both the landlord and the renters.\nFortunately, as director of Housing and Neighborhood Development Susie Johnson explained, there are a number of things which students can do to make sure that they do not violate rental occupancy restrictions.\nHAND, which is located in Suite 130 of City Hall at 401 N Morton Street, keeps records for every rental property in Bloomington. Johnson encourages prospective renters to look at the records for their property before they sign their lease. Each property's file contains the housing occupancy permit which details the maximum number of adults allowed to live in the residence. The city requires landlords to also post copies of the permit in each rental property.\n"You can find out a lot of other information about a property just by coming in before you sign the lease and reviewing the rental occupancy file," she said he file also has when the city last inspected the property, whether there are any variances on the property and a record of any complaints about the property which previous tenants filed with the city, Johnson said.\nBut, most over-occupancy complaints which the city receives are a result of tenants being "just bad neighbors," she said.\n"Typically I would say that the complaints start because the offenders have loud parties, they let their trash pile up, they leave litter in the their front yard or they park on their yard," Johnson said. "I don't ever remember receiving an over-occupancy complaint when the yard was neat as a pin and everybody was a considerate, caring neighbor"