Zoning › DC › Washington

Can you rent by the room in Washington, DC?

Generally allowed. The highest occupant cap of any major market - six unrelated people, written straight into the zoning regulations.

Occupancy cap

SIX. 11 DCMR Subtitle B, definition of "Household": "Not more than six (6) persons who are not so related, living together as a single house-keeping unit." This is the most generous explicit cap found in any market reviewed.

Is it a permitted use

Permitted. Up to six unrelated occupants living as a single housekeeping unit IS a household, by right, in residential zones. At seven or more you fall outside the household definition and need a different use approval.

Registration or licensing

A Basic Business License is required for ALL residential rentals in DC, and the Certificate of Occupancy must match the use. Rental registration and rent-control exemption filings also apply.

State pre-emption

None - DC is its own jurisdiction, no state above it. But DC's tenant protections (TOPA right of first refusal, rent control on pre-1976 buildings) are among the strongest in the country and cut the other way.

What a room rents for in Washington

A shared room in Washington runs about $230/week across the 277 ZIP codes we cover here. Private-room rates, per-ZIP figures and the local enforcement record are on the analyzer.

How to read this

Renting a house by the room is usually governed by three things: how many unrelated adults may share one dwelling, whether the arrangement is a permitted use or a boarding house, and whether the state has pre-empted the local rule. This page summarises the ordinance and cites it. It is research, not legal advice — a local land-use attorney decides whether a specific property complies.

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