Borough Establishes License Fee For Owners of Student Homes

Owners of one and two-family rental properties in the borough will begin receiving letters in the mail today detailing a new ordinance regarding student homes, according to a news release.

The newly-initiated Student Licensing Fee will need to be paid by all owners of properties designated as “student homes.”

Such homes are defined by the borough as “any living arrangement within a one-family dwelling, one-family dwelling with an apartment or two-family dwelling with persons unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption who are undergraduate or graduate students.”

The Student Home License will cost an initial fee of $1,000, with a $10 annual renewal fee and a $25 change of ownership fee to transfer the license. The borough council passed the law at its March 2 meeting.

The pre-paid postcards sent to homes that could potentially meet the requirements to become student homes will need to be filled out and returned to the borough. 

Existing student homes will essentially be grandfathered into the new law, only having to pay the $10 renewal fee to obtain a license.

“When the ordinance was drafted, we took into consideration that existing homes wouldn’t have to pay the fee,” planning director Ed LeClear said at the March 2 meeting. 

LeClear estimates that there are 330 student homes in the borough and an additional 1,300 residences could qualify as student homes under the aforementioned definition.

“We routinely receive calls from the real estate community as far as housing statuses go,” he says. “We want to make sure it’s clear with property owners.”

The borough expects to begin accepting applications for Student Home Licenses by the beginning of summer.