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“Shared Houses Illegal?” by jefftk
As part of the general discourse around cost of living, Julia and I
were talking about families sharing housing. This turned into us each
writing a post (
mine,
hers),
but is it actually legal for a family to live with housemates? In the
places I've checked it seems like yes.
While zoning is complicated and I'm not a lawyer, it looks to me like
people commonly describe the situation as both more restrictive and
more clear cut than it really is. For example, Tufts
University claims:
The cities of Medford, Somerville and Boston (in addition to other
cities in the area) have local occupancy ordinances on
apartments/houses with non-related persons. Each city has its own
ordinance: in Medford, the limit is 3; in Somerville, it is 4; in
Boston, it is 4, etc.
As far as I can tell, all three of these are wrong:
Medford: it's common for people to cite a limit of three, but
as far as I can tell this is based on a misunderstanding of the definition
of a lodger. Medford:
---
First published:
December 27th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/edeZsjzM9B6d278GA/shared-houses-illegal
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
View all episodes
By LessWrongAs part of the general discourse around cost of living, Julia and I
were talking about families sharing housing. This turned into us each
writing a post (
mine,
hers),
but is it actually legal for a family to live with housemates? In the
places I've checked it seems like yes.
While zoning is complicated and I'm not a lawyer, it looks to me like
people commonly describe the situation as both more restrictive and
more clear cut than it really is. For example, Tufts
University claims:
The cities of Medford, Somerville and Boston (in addition to other
cities in the area) have local occupancy ordinances on
apartments/houses with non-related persons. Each city has its own
ordinance: in Medford, the limit is 3; in Somerville, it is 4; in
Boston, it is 4, etc.
As far as I can tell, all three of these are wrong:
Medford: it's common for people to cite a limit of three, but
as far as I can tell this is based on a misunderstanding of the definition
of a lodger. Medford:
---
First published:
December 27th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/edeZsjzM9B6d278GA/shared-houses-illegal
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.
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