St Louis Area Occupancy Ordinance?

[KatWrangler]

I swear I am not seeing it.  I know there is a restriction on how many people can live in a rental house/apartment/condo.  Does anyone know what it is?

I thought it was based on the number of bedrooms.  My husband thinks it is on square footage.

We are in St. Louis County.

[inkedmamajama]

it will vary according to the house-each house has an occupancy permit based on the inspection that was done. Landlords in this area like to be jerks regarding kids-it is unlawful for someone to refuse to rent to you based on familial status.

it is usually going to be factored on bedrooms and square footage, and will vary by the municipality, no matter what county it is in. It will also vary by the gender of your children-for example some will say that children of opposite gender cannot share a bedroom after age (x) etc.

[KatWrangler]

Unfortunately, they do it.  In fact two summer ago when we moved here we got to a point we lied and said we only had 2 kids.  Because as soon as we said 3, they said no.  We were told it is the law.  But I can't find any information.

[inkedmamajama]

you will need to contact the municipality that the house is in (webster, rock hill, affton, etc) and inquire about the occupancy info for that area directly-if you are being discriminated against solely on the number of children you have and the house is legally 'set' for the right amount of children (you want to rent house B and you have 3 kids, it has three bedrooms, and the landlord is telling you no) then you need to contact the equal opportunity housing commission  http://www.ehocstl.org/ and ask about filing a complaint.

some years ago when I was a single mom new to the area, I was refused rental of an apartment simply because I had children. I filed charges and the landlord was required to attend classes to learn what the laws are, and required to pay a settlement to both me and the state. It is so important to follow through on this, because there is no room for discrimination in our society-the people in 'power' *(property owners have a huge amount of influence in our economy/society) MUST adhere to the law and behave ethically-and it is up to us to report them when necesssary.

I know how hard it is to find a decent rental-are you open to mehlville school district? Our old landlord was amazing and has a couple of thre bedroom properties with laundry-feel free to PM me if you want the info.

[MommyDOK]

About 5 years ago, my dh owned  an apartment building in the city. Check w/ the city you are renting in.   It was DEFINITELY the CITY that was jerks about it.  My dh saw no problem w/ a mom little kids in a one bedroom.  Heck, most nights all our kids are in our bedroom!!  But the city would not let him do it.  In the city, it was based on the number of bedrooms, not sq footage.   They could even threaten to take away all his occupancy permits (basically bankrupt him) if he violated it.  Good luck.  I've heard it is hard to find a rental these days bc of all the foreclosures.