Change Orem’s Harmful “Owner Must Live There” Rule for Accessory Apartments

Orem's "Owner Must Live There" rule is pointless and harmful!

What is the point of the rule that prevents property owners from renting out both a main floor dwelling and an accessory/basement apartment to non-owners? Two different families will be living in each dwelling regardless of whether the owner's family is living in one or not. This rule does nothing to change the amount of traffic, number of people, or any other reasonable measure of quality of life in a neighborhood.

Landlords keep renters in line through contractually obligating them to treat the property well or else lose security deposit funds and risk eviction. Accessory apartments are already required to have separate entrances and sufficient off-street parking. The only thing the rule accomplishes is to reduce income for our citizens and reduce available housing for young families—and the city government is doing this in one of the worst housing crises in modern history!

Government should not dictate what we do with our property when our actions will have no ill effect on anyone. Many people really need the rental income to pay the bills and try to save for retirement; we need to do away with this harmful restriction on renting out two separate dwellings in the same structure.

For those who worry that companies will take advantage of the situation to buy up houses as investment properties, the simple solution would be to restrict renting of standard residential-zone structures to private individuals, not companies. In that way the city
- Doesn't penalize the people who could drastically improve their incomes by renting out more than one dwelling (i.e., main floor and basement apartment) within one or even a few homes that have their individual names on the mortgages
- Increases the number of dwellings available to people who can't afford the (exorbitant) rent being charged for most decent dwellings, and
- Increases the income of private citizens
All without turning businesses loose to buy up houses as investments.

Sign the petition below to stop government overreach and free up much-needed housing!