Roommate and leasing rules

I'm considering buying in a new development. I would like to have the option of having a good friend as a roommate. The CC&Rs state the following:

Any Owner may lease such Owner's Unit subject to the following:
1) No Owner shall be permitted to lease such Owners Unit for transient or hotel purposes
2) No Owner may lease less than the entire Unit
3) Any lease agreement is required to provide that the terms of said lease shall be subject in all respects to the provisions of the Declaration and the Bylaws and that any failure by the lessee to comply with terms of such documents shall be a default under the lease.
4) All leases are required to be in writing.

Only #2 seems like it might cause a problem. Obviously they don't want multiple lessees in a non-owner occupied unit. Does this also apply if I (the owner) occupy and only rent a room?

You could think of it like this: you are renting out the entire unit to your roommate but with restrictions like they cannot go in your bedroom or use your bathroom.

I don't really see how this type of covenant is enforceable or any of their business.

If you submit no papers to the Association they won't know BUT if you have facilities like a pool, gym, rooms, etc it normally has a ID of some sort attached to it. So your roommate won't be able to use any of it because the roommate will not have an ID (not registered).

Ken

I suspect since it is a new development, and the developer will control the HOA for a while, that enforcement will be strict for a while.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought of leasing the whole unit ;-)

This is one of those things that involves "Intent" of the law/rule more than the rule itself. That is why I don't like to post law references on here. Laws written are written so for INTENT it is often the wording that messes everything up. This situation is one of my best examples of that.

The real "intent" of this rule is to prevent "Frat/Sorioty" houses from popping up in your HOA. That's how many of those type of housing is set up. Much of it in college oriented towns. Where owners often will rent out their homes to multiple college students. It doesn't look well to potential buyers to see multiple cars and residents coming in and out of a home all hours of the day and night. Plus the potential for roommate fights or parties.

So in this case, you are in violation of the rule technically on how it is written but not in it's intent. I don't think having a roommate to help with bills or expenses is a violation. However, NOT having a lease agreement even amongst friends or family is NOT a good idea at all. That can get very messy.

It's quite a pickle if you don't have something legal backing you up. Be it a lease or both names on the deed. You could see your best friend/roommate become your quickest enemy. Especially, if they find out that you can access all the HOA amenities and they can't. That they will always be considered a "guest" status.

If your comfortable and really trust your friend, then go for it. However recognize the risks and limitations you both will face if you go forward with this. Are you prepared and have you protected yourself?

What about the rest of the regulations? Ours explicitly permit occupancy by a single family. While it would be difficult to enforce anything that could be a domestic partnership, same sex of not, having a 3s Company situation would be an obvious violation.

Single family means there is one kitchen in the house, etc. If there was two separate kitchens and bathrooms separated by walls into a completely separate living space, and they have their own door, that is a multi family.

Single family does not refer to the people living there, it refers to the design of the building.

Single family is a type of dwelling. Like I said, this is the same argument that I ran into when I bought a house and wanted my friend to live with me. In this day and age, getting in the business of defining single family can be tricky. Is there a way you could ask the HOA in question about this before purchasing the property? It may not even be an issue once you ask about it, but I definitely wouldn't buy without having an answer. Although I do think if they pushed, you could push right back because you are entitled to let anyone you want live in your house. What if you did have a partner and wanted to shack up without being married. That's not technically single family either.

Reality is, they probably don't even know that's in their guidelines and it is probably there to prevent frat houses and transient housing situations. If they're smart, that's what they're thinking because they could be costing themselves a lot of property sales in their neighborhood if they're the bedroom police.