Renting Out a Room in a Home Designated a "Single Family Dwelling"

[emco]

My question involves a condominium located in the State of: Indiana
I live in a neighborhood of homes that are designated to be "single family dwellings." In the absence of any language prohibiting it, am I within my rights to rent out a room to an individual to whom I am not related? My neighbors seem to feel that the term single family dwelling in and of itself prohibits renting any part of the home. I feel that I have not altered the building in any way to make it a multi-family dwelling and therefore whomever lives in it is no ones business but mine. My feeling is that if I can't have my renter then all the unrelated nannies and foster children and unmarried couples in the neighborhood need to find new homes, too. Thank you.

[LawResearcherMissy]

Your neighbors seem to misunderstand what "single family dwelling" means. It doesn't mean that only people who are related to each other may live there. Neither does it mean that you cannot take on a roomer. Rather, it means that it's a free-standing residence, rather than an apartment building.

Check your local rules to be sure, but generally, you're free to take on a housemate if you so desire.

[SChinFChin]

My question involves a condominium located in the State of: Indiana
I live in a neighborhood of homes that are designated to be "single family dwellings." In the absence of any language prohibiting it, am I within my rights to rent out a room to an individual to whom I am not related? My neighbors seem to feel that the term single family dwelling in and of itself prohibits renting any part of the home. I feel that I have not altered the building in any way to make it a multi-family dwelling and therefore whomever lives in it is no ones business but mine. My feeling is that if I can't have my renter then all the unrelated nannies and foster children and unmarried couples in the neighborhood need to find new homes, too. Thank you.

There are local regulations prohibiting so many unrelated people living in one house, and usually related to the number of bedrooms in the house. The usual ones states that there should be no more than 3 unrelated people. So, one roommate is fine, but if you have a total of 3 roommates, then it might not be fine. See:

http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2...west_la_1.html

I can't get my hands on it right now, but there had been constitutional challenges to ONLY allowing family units living together, and defining of the family unit. In fact, some HOA rules against unrelated people living together had been ruled unenforceable.