Q: We own a four-bedroom, single-family home in a university town, which we rent to students. Our neighbors have been complaining about noise and traffic. There's a movement now afoot to change the zoning laws to provide that a "family" be defined as prohibiting more than two unrelated occupants from living together in a single-family neighborhood. This will make it very hard for us to keep the property (we'll have to drop the rent if we can't rent to more than two unrelated students). Any suggestions? --Sharon and Matt D.  more...

Question: We believe that there are illegal occupants living in an apartment that we own and manage. These occupants are not on the lease and we believe they are members of the tenant's family or friends. When we have asked about these people, we have been told that these people are visitors only. However, other tenants in the building also report seeing them at all hours and they are also quite disruptive to their neighbors. Our utility costs are out of control, particularly the water, which we unfortunately pay.  more...