The illegal student house that was before the Lower Merion Zoning Hearing Board a few weeks back has been denied. This was the one located in Haverford Walk Condomiums at 415 W. Lancaster Avenue in Haverford.

As is the case with last week's hearing regarding an illegal student house on Holland Avenue in Ardmore, the neighbors and civic association was in accord that this just wasn't fair to the neighborhood and especially the condo dwellers at Haverford Walk.

Here is the opinion: BEFORE THE
ZONING HEARING BOARD OF
LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, MONTGOMERY COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
_______________________________

APPEAL NO. 4153
_______________________________
MEMORANDUM, OPINION & ORDER

And a funny note on the appeal being considered for Holland Avenue (Appeal No. 4158 201 Holland Avenue, Ardmore, PA 19003 ), was during the hearing, the landlord's attorney and the landlord kept stressing how the landlord loved the community and the improvements he had done to the house - of course restating the obvious would involve the simple truth the house probably NEEDED upgrades, but after the fact it occured to me that this landlord said he was (a) a CPA and (b) had lived in the house before he decided to rent it. So I wonder, did he only live in the house long enough to claim it as a primary residence, derive the tax benefit and then move on? And of course what others want to know is what were those two other student landlords in Lower Merion doing auditing that Holland Avenue hearing? Will they be starring in future hearings?

The final thing? Check out Cabrini's list on the web for off campus student housing. In particular this listing on 14 of 18, where you find this interesting description for a place in Haverford Township:

Legal for six, gas heat, parking
Directions: from rte.30, pass bryn mawr
movies,mature only apply.
Pass staples to right on penn street-
#891 house on left.

What is wrong with this listing before we get into the fact is this place legal or illegal? Simple: Haverford Township like Radnor Township like Lower Merion Township only allows up to 3 unrelated persons in a rental. There is no legal for six is there? So why the new math?

(For all those landlords out there who are decent people, it's stuff like this that makes you all look bad...just like there are some really great students out there in LEGAL student rentals who are really part of the communities in which they reside. It comes down to a simple need for a level playing field, doesn't it?)

Here is how Eastern does it:

Eastern - House Listings

Eastern - Room Listings

Eastern - Apartment Listings

Here's how St. Joe's does it:

Certificate of Rental Suitability- Bill #060010A
As of September 2006, landlords are required to supply tenants with a certificate which shows that he or she has the required rental license and that no major code violations are on record. For more information about this bill go to: http://www.phila.gov/li/faq/rental/rental.html.

And here is how St. Joe's is different in a GOOD way:

CHAPTER 92800.
UNIVERSITIES, PROPERTY OWNERS OR
MANAGERS AND STUDENTS

§92802.
Notification Requirements.
(1) Each student living, or intending to live, in an Educational Housing
District while attending school must:
(a) before signing a lease or becoming a tenant of a property located in an
Educational Housing District, notify his or her property owner or
manager that he or she is a student, provide the property owner or
manager with the name of the school he or she attends and advise the
property owner or manager whether the school is in an Educational
Housing District; and
(b) provide the college or university that he or she attends with his or her
local address no later than September 1 of each year or in accordance
with the adopted policy of the college or university for the provision of local
addresses in order to assist the college or university in its efforts to contact
students in the event that the college or university needs to notify them of
matters involving danger or threats to health, safety or the general welfare,
respond to local or national emergencies, or respond to any lawful
government inquiry. The student shall notify the college or university within
five (5) days of any change in that address.

....§92803.Information To Be Provided To Police Department By Colleges And Universities.
(1) Each college and university that has a substantial portion of its
facilities located within an Educational Housing District must, by
September 1 of each year, provide the Police Department with:
(a) a security plan for its students residing in and around the university or
college campus. Such plan shall include:
(.1) an explanation of the security measures to be provided at any
dormitory or any offcampus
housing leased by the college or university in
an Educational Housing District on behalf of students; and
(.2) an explanation of the security measures to be provided in any area in
the vicinity of the college or university located in an Educational Housing
District where a significant number of the college or university’s students
live.
(b) the university or college’s policy regarding student discipline and the
policy of the college or university regarding notification to the college or
university student disciplinary body for violations of the provisions
referenced in section 101802
of the code.
...§92804.Vehicle Identification Requirement.
(1) In order to assist the college or university in its efforts to: contact
students in order to notify them of matters involving danger or threats to
health, safety or the general welfare; respond to local or national
emergencies; or respond to any lawful government inquiry, each college or
university that has a substantial portion of its facilities located in whole or in
part in an Educational Housing District shall require that its students
either provide the college or university with the model, make, and license
number of any vehicles owned, operated or controlled by such student,
and a copy of a current registration and valid insurance certificate for each
such vehicle, or certify in writing that the student does not own, operate or
control a vehicle.

So, people in Merion can be critical of St. Joe's over other things, but with regard to student housing they have raised the bar: their students HAVE to tell the school where they are exactly living off campus.