How many people can live in a rental? Occupancy limits explained
There is no single national number. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) treats two persons per bedroom as a reasonable general rule under the Fair Housing Act, while local housing codes set their own square-footage minimums. A landlord's limit has to satisfy both, and it cannot be used to keep out families with children.
HUD's position comes from a memo by its then general counsel, Frank Keating, which HUD later adopted as formal enforcement policy in a Federal Register notice required by Section 589 of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act. The memo says "an occupancy policy of two persons in a bedroom, as a general rule, is reasonable" under the Act. It then stresses that reasonableness is rebuttable, and that HUD will not judge compliance only by counting people per bedroom.
The memo walks through the factors with examples. Bedroom and unit size matter: a family of five turned away from a two-bedroom apartment with large bedrooms and spacious living areas may have a case, while the same family seeking a small two-bedroom mobile home likely does not. Children's ages matter: two parents and an infant in a large one-bedroom differ from two parents and a teenager. Layout matters too, since a two-bedroom unit with a den is treated differently from one without. A policy that mirrors state or local occupancy law counts as a sign of reasonableness.
HUD also looks for pretext. Discriminatory statements, rules that restrict families' use of common areas, other steps to discourage families, or enforcing the limit only against families with children all point toward a violation. The memo adds that a limit on the number of children per unit is less likely to be reasonable than a limit on the number of people. The U.S. Department of Justice states the same idea from its side: the Fair Housing Act bars landlords from placing "an unreasonable restriction on the total number of persons who may reside in a dwelling."
How a local code sets the ceiling
The Fair Housing Act leaves room for government limits. The Act states that nothing in it limits "reasonable local, State or Federal restrictions regarding the maximum number of occupants permitted to occupy a dwelling." Many cities write those limits by adopting the International Property Maintenance Code, often with local changes. Baltimore, Maryland, publishes its version as Section 404 of the city's property maintenance code:
| Space | Baltimore City minimum |
|---|---|
| Bedroom with one occupant | 70 sq. ft. |
| Bedroom with more than one occupant | 50 sq. ft. for each occupant |
| Living room | None for 1 to 2 occupants; 120 sq. ft. for 3 to 5; 150 sq. ft. for 6 or more |
| Dining room | None for 1 to 2 occupants; 80 sq. ft. for 3 to 5; 100 sq. ft. for 6 or more |
| Kitchen | 50 sq. ft. for up to 5 occupants; 60 sq. ft. for 6 or more |
| Whole dwelling unit | 240 sq. ft., with at least one room of 120 sq. ft. |
The code also says the living and dining space required by the table cannot be counted as sleeping area. Apply it to a two-bedroom apartment with a 10 by 12 foot bedroom (120 square feet), a 9 by 10 foot bedroom (90 square feet), and a 150-square-foot living room. The larger bedroom fits two people, since two need 100 square feet and three need 150. The smaller one fits one, because two people would need 100. The code caps sleeping capacity at three, one fewer than the two-per-bedroom guide would suggest. Measure each room, too: Section 404.2 says a habitable room other than a kitchen cannot be less than 7 feet in any plane dimension, so a 6 by 12 foot room fails even though it has 72 square feet. HUD's memo makes a similar point about a mobile home sold as a two-bedroom where one bedroom is extremely small, saying a limit of two people there could be reasonable.
Now flip it. A unit with two 12 by 13 foot bedrooms (156 square feet each) fits three people per bedroom under the same code, and its 150-square-foot living room meets the six-occupant minimum. A flat cap of four on that unit is the kind of policy the memo's family-of-five example calls into question, since the government standard allows more and the rooms are large.
Writing the occupancy clause
The residential lease should name every occupant and set a total tied to the unit's measurements and the local code. Cap the number of people; a cap on children is far harder to defend. A sample clause: "Occupants. The Premises may be occupied only by Tenant and the persons listed below. Total occupants may not exceed [number], a limit Landlord has set based on the number and size of the bedrooms and the [city or county] housing code. Tenant must ask Landlord in writing before any other person moves in, and Landlord applies this standard to every household in the same way. A guest who stays more than [number] nights in any 30-day period counts as an occupant."
Keep a floor plan or room measurements with each listing and write down the reason behind the number. If a household grows during the lease, those records show whether the limit came from the code or from a preference, and the memo's example of parents with an infant in a large one-bedroom shows that a new baby will not always justify enforcing the cap.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Does HUD's two-per-bedroom guide control public housing?
Not by itself. The Keating memo says it does not override HUD's Public Housing Occupancy Handbook, which does not set how many people may live in each unit size but guides housing agencies on factors for their own policies.
Can septic or sewer capacity justify a lower occupancy limit?
It can. HUD's memo lists the capacity of septic, sewer, or other building systems as a limiting factor it will consider, along with bedroom size and unit layout, when deciding whether a lower limit is reasonable.
Can a landlord cap how many units go to families with children?
No. The memo gives the example of a landlord who refuses a family of four because 20 of 30 units already house families with children, even though four people per unit is reasonable, and says that warrants a reasonable cause recommendation.
Along with his duties at YourBillofSale, Paul Oak covers residential real estate, landlord-tenant law, and rental documentation. With a background in property management and legal compliance, he breaks down the fine print that most renters and landlords skip over. His goal is simple: help people understand what they're signing before it becomes a problem.
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