Anne Peterson • April 24, 2010
Dear Anne: I rent a little one-bedroom apartment to a young couple. They\’re pretty good tenants, and they\’ve been there two years. Last year they got married — they even invited me. Well, I knew it would happen, and it did. Now they have a new baby who cries all night and bothers everybody. I told them they have to move now because it\’s a little apartment and \”Junior\” cries too much, and he\’ll just get bigger and noisier. I like kids all right, but I don\’t want my other tenants bothered. The baby is 2 months old now, and his crib is in the den, which is heated but really little. Years ago it was a sun porch and somebody finished it into a room. They say they don\’t have to move, they\’re \”legal\” to stay there with a baby. What do they mean by \”legal\”?
— V. R.
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Answer: They probably mean that federal and state fair housing laws protect the presence of children in the apartment. As a landlord, absent an issue of overcrowding, you cannot require your tenant to move if they have a baby. You do not have an overcrowding situation. Even if the baby were sleeping in his parents\’ room, you wouldn\’t have an incident of overcrowding. The baby is an infant, and certainly the den is sufficient for his space needs.
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