Now that you know the foundations of a good occupancy policy, it’s time to understand how to enforce it without inciting a violation. The key first step: make sure you have all the information before proceeding with a lease violation. Once you can confirm that the resident is indeed breaking your property’s occupancy policy, there are a few follow-up steps to take. ENFORCING OCCUPANCY POLICIES: STEPS AND FAIR HOUSING CONSIDERATIONS 1. First off, have a discussion with the resident of the unit, being clear about the guidelines of why the violation was cited. 2. Second, follow up on disciplinary measures as laid out by your property’s policy. This may be the requirement for the resident to move to a larger unit or simply cite a violation in the lease agreement. Accommodation requests are inevitable. This includes requests from residents that break policy, including those on occupancy limits. While you want to do your best to ensure that your residents’ needs are met, there is one factor that needs to be considered. No reasonable accommodation can supersede local law or municipal codes. As an example, let’s say a resident submits an accommodation request stating that they need to break policy on a certain unit’s occupancy limit. If that policy is based on local laws stating how many individuals can be in that size unit, you will have to find a different solution for that accommodation. If the request does not break any local laws, then it is safe to follow your property’s procedures to accommodate that resident. HANDLING ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS WITHIN LEGAL LIMITS Remember, as a landlord, you are permitted to enforce your policy. However, there is one fair housing hurdle you and your team should be aware of.
NO REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION CAN SUPERSEDE LOCAL LAW OR MUNICIPAL CODES.
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