Four Landlords Plus One Student Make Five -- And File Suit Against the City

The Boston Herald reports that four landlords and one student have filed a lawsuit against the city's new zoning amendment restricting rental properties to four or fewer undergraduate students per unit:

Battling City Hall are four landlords, Mark Rosenberg, Anthony Dimeo, Lazarus Pavlidis and Lloyd Rosenthal, who all bought homes in Allston and Brighton over the past two decades with plans to rent them out to students...

Jessica Luccio, who lives with eight other students in a rental in the city, also has joined in the suit. She argues that, under the new rules, she faces an unfair restriction on who she can rent an apartment with in the city.

And... why didn't the other seven students join the suit?


Earlier: Amateur legal analysis of some legal arguments opposing the zoning amendment. Boston Zoning Commission passes the amendment following a long, boisterous public hearing. BRA Board does the same, without so much boisterousness. Background on the zoning amendment.

Update: Adam Gaffin reports that the student who joined the lawsuit, Jessica Luccio, is a student at Boston College, based on her Facebook profile. She also has a webpage on the BC server. She is in the class of 2010, hence currently a sophomore -- and therefore in need of housing for the fall, since BC does not, in general, provide housing for juniors.

Another Update: More will be coming in the future about some of the landlords who are part of the lawsuit. Some of them are well-known -- if not notorious -- in Brighton.