So a year is almost up here in our Hampton Rental home! Time just flies by...wish I had a pause button for life! We love our rental home....problem is it is 45 minutes to our new church....with no traffic!
We are separated from our church by bridges and an underwater tunnel! The dreaded tunnel traffic can be a beast! There is no emergency lane in the tunnel and so one little car breakdown will have you sitting in your car with the engine off for 30 minutes! Then at night after evening services sometimes there is road work ......so it takes us up to 1:15 to get home! To make matters worse my husband mainly works on the other side of the tunnel and we have one car so on Wednesdays he is doing a whole lot of driving! Also our rent is a little higher than what we wanted to pay.....we wanted to pay about $1,000/month. There are plenty of rentals out there for that price but...........we are not qualified to live there. Why are we not qualified you ask? My husband has a 770 credit score, we have deposit $ and an excellent rental history. We are unqualified because of God's blessing of 6 children! Last year when we arrived in Hampton with 5 kids we found a house similar to our home in Missouri and we applied for it and were denied! The reason being not enough square feet per person in the home! We tried to reason with the realtors that we had just sold a house that was 1200sqft in Mo. and we all fit perfectly, our children are all small (under 60 lbs) and we are very organized......they were not hearing it! I was upset because this would mean we have to spend more than necessary on rent each month! They brought out a measuring tape to the next few houses we looked at to measure the bedrooms! I couldn't believe it! The government has way too many regulations! We found a home that "fit" our family and it was $1400 a month.....it has been a blessing to live in such a nice townhome but we really wanted to find a place a little cheaper and a little closer by to the church! Chris went and looked at a 4 bedroom alittle closer to church and on the other side of the tunnel for only $1250 which is a good deal so prayerfully everything will work out there if not God is definitely teaching us to wait on Him!
This is copied from a Va government website telling the details of how many people can live in one house and the bedroom square foot required......I think it is ridiculous because you could have 3 sloppy hoarders living together in a 2,000 sqft house and still have health risks and fire concerns.....
How many people can live in a house?
The
zoning ordinance (Article 2, Part 5) limits how many people can live in a single residence. In general:
- No more than one family, plus two renters, may live in one house.
- Or, no more than four unrelated people may live in one house.
However, the rules define that more than one person can live in a residence:
1. One family, which may consist of one person or two or more persons related by blood or marriage with any number of natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children and with not to exceed two roomers or boarders.
2. Two single parents or guardians with not more than a total of six of their dependent children, including natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children, functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
3. A group of not more than four persons not necessarily related by blood or marriage functioning as a single housekeeping unit.
4. A group residential facility.
5. Any group housekeeping unit which may consist of not more than 10 persons as may be approved by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
6. One person or two persons one of whom shall be elderly and/or disabled, and one or both of whom own the dwelling unit, plus one family, which may consist of one person or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, and with any number of natural children, foster children, step children or adopted children.
7. A bed and breakfast, as may be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
How much space is required in a home?
The county’s building code says bedrooms must be:
- 70 square feet for one person
- 100 square feet for two people
- 150 square feet for three people
