Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: New Bylaws, we are already here

There are actually two questions here. Before discussing whether the new bylaws apply to you, we should first consider whether you qualify under the old bylaws.

The standards you mention for number of occupants based on the square footage do not come from federal law. They may be an incorrect interpretation of the Uniform Housing Code, but that is adoped by local ordinance.

Under the federal Fair Housing Act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development initially determined that two persons per bedroom was a presumptively reasonable occupancy standard which would not discriminate against families with children. This was originally a 1991 internal administrative guideline (the "Keating memorandum"), but was later adopted as law by Congress in section 589 of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. Even if you have two bedrooms, you exceed the occupancy standard because you have five people.

There may be a factual question about whether the limit was waived, but since your youngest daughters are only 1 year old that may be hard to show. I suggest you have an attorney review the bylaws and discuss the situation in more depth.