Condo Media - March 2017 - 46

The Region

MASSACHUSETTS

Rental
Restrictions
Zoning Codes,
Constitutional and Fair
Housing Protections
[by Dean Lennon, Esq.]

Rental restrictions are quite common in condo docs. A case out of
South Carolina came out earlier this
year regarding a master deed restriction
prohibiting the rental of units to college
students (SPUR at Williams Brice Owners Association, Inc. v. Lalla). In that
case, Mr. and Mrs. Lalla owned a unit
that they were unable to sell during the
2008 financial crisis. Facing this reality, the Lallas decided to rent the unit
to local students as the association is
located next to the University of South
Carolina. The association sent general
notices to owners reminding them of
the rental restriction and requiring that
any owners violating the restriction had
to terminate their leases with students
immediately.
Ultimately the Lallas ignored these
notices, forcing the association to
file suit to enforce the restriction. In
defense of their violation of the clear
student rental prohibition in the original master deed, the Lallas attempted to
argue that the rule was void as violative
of the equal protection clause of the
Constitution. Ruling for the condominium association, the court enforced the
restriction and found no constitutional
violation as the rental restriction was
rationally related to protecting both the
comfort and investment of owners in
the association.
I have not found a Massachusetts condominium case dealing with the issue, but
a case against the city of Boston relative
to the Boston zoning code's prohibition
against five or more unrelated college
students living together is instructive.

46

CONDOMEDIA

LEGITIMATE INTEREST
In the case of Rosenberg v. City of
Boston, the city was forced to defend
the zoning code rental restriction in an
action brought by several landlords. The
landlords were of course interested in
renting to as many students as possible in
a single apartment in order to maximize
their rental income and tried to have the
restriction struck down.
The Land Court judge ruled in favor of
the city of Boston along similar lines to
Lalla. Firstly, college students do not constitute a "suspect class" entitled to special
protection under the law. Suspect classes
are those classes based upon sex, race,
color, creed, national origin, disability, or
familial status. Any type of prohibition or
restriction related to a suspect class will
be subject to "strict scrutiny" by a court.
Since a suspect class was not involved,
the court stated that the ordinance "will
be upheld as long as it is rationally related
to a legitimate government interest." The

city was found to have a legitimate interest
in protecting the "residential character"
of neighborhoods and protecting against
"unhealthy or unsafe" living conditions for
students. Therefore, since the prohibition
was rationally related to those legitimate
interests, the ordinance was upheld.
How is this relevant to condominiums?
The lesson from Rosenberg is that a
condominium rental restriction against
college students generally, or a certain
number of students, should survive
judicial scrutiny so long as the restriction
was based upon a legitimate association
interest. Such interests could include, but
are not limited to: the desire to provide
a quiet living environment, wanting to
preserve and protect common area, or
reducing overcrowding in the community.
SUSPECT CLASS AND
DISCRIMINATION
By contrast, a condominium document
restriction against a family larger than
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