Tenant Rights and Duties
UNC Student Legal Services provides an excellent outline of the rights and duties that you have as a tenant.
http://www.unc.edu/student/orgs/sls/legal:landlord
Responsibilities
The Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro have adopted various codes (laws/ordinances) specifically designed to address blight, nuisances, and to maintain a clean environment for all citizens in our community. The town agencies help maintain and improve the quality of our community by administering a fair an unbiased enforcement program to correct violations of municipal codes and land use requirements. Wherever you reside, you need to be familiar with your community's ordinances and regulations. These are community specific laws to which you must adhere. These ordinances cover topics such as noise, occupancy, parking, and trash. Please familiarize yourself with your local ordinances and when the situation class for it, take action to resolve code enforcement violations on private property in your neighborhood.
Learn more about town codes here:
Chapel Hill Town Ordinances (please note the noise ordinance under Chapter 11)
Carrboro Town Ordinances and Codes (please note the noise ordinance under Chapter 5)
If you have a problem related to town code enforcement, you can contact your town's code enforcement agencies or police department and file a complaint. Some helpful contact information is below:
Chapel Hill Police Department Community Services Unit
Chapel Hill Code Enforcement Officer
Orange County Animal Control
Chapel Hill Planning Department (for questions about front yard parking)
Chapel Hill Parking Services (for residential parking permits)
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption is a major cause of issues such as community disruption, vandalism, and violence related to sexual or physical assault. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its neighbor communities are committed to enforcing the laws, ordinances, and policies regarding alcohol use. Make sure you know the local laws related to alcohol and your legal responsibilities as a citizen. Understand that you have a responsibility not only for the laws pertaining to your own consumption, but also for the laws that pertain to hosting social events where alcohol is present.
Gatherings and PartiesMany complaints against students are often the result of loud or overcrowded parties. It is the responsibility of the tenant to keep events under control. The following tips are useful guidelines when hosting an event:
- Inform your neighbors prior to the party that a party is going to take place.
- Draw up a guest list. Parties tend to get out of control if you have an open-door policy. You are responsible for the behavior of all guests on the premises. Never let people you don't know into your home. They will not respect your property, your other guests, your neighbors, or your rules.
- Avoid parking problems and consider the parking needs of your neighbors. Make sure guests park in legal and authorized spaces.
- Monitor the level of noise coming from your party so that you are not disruptive to your neighbors.
- Clean your place properly after the party. Remove all trash from the yard and street.
Gatherings and Alcohol
A few helpful guidelines for events where alcohol is present
- Don't break the law.
- Know your guests.
- Never provide the alcohol (BYOB only).
- Discourage drinking games...make the event about something other than alcohol.
Noise
- Loud parties may be cited for violating the local noise ordinance. Sometimes a warning will be given at a first visit by the police, but this is not always the case and a second visit will almost always result in a ciation.
- Apply with the Police Department for a permit for events that may exceed permitted sound levels.
- Don't opperate sound systems (including within vehicles) so that it can be heard more than 30 feet away.
Garbage
- Make sure all garbage at a gathering is placed in plastic bags and disposed of promptly in a trash container.
- Place all recycling in appropriate containers.
- Arrange to take all large trash items to the landfill.
- Do not leave trash in the yard or street.
Expectations
Living off campus can be a great experience. Increased independence, privacy, and picking your housemates are all benefits to living off campus. Moving away from campus also comes with new rights, responsibilities, and expectations. As a student, tenant, and community member you will have many opportunities to grow and develop as a citizen. At the same time, students must remember that they are no longer living in housing provided exclusively for students, but rather a diverse community that consists of a wide variety of residents. Off-campus communities are often home to families, young professionals, retired couples and other types of neighbors. UNC students need to keep these neighbors and their rights in mind while they are living off-campus.
Whether you live on campus or off, students at UNC represent the University and are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the expectations laid forward in the Honor Code. As such, students are held accountable to those expectations, even when their actions occur off campus.
The Philosophy of the Honor Code at UNC holds that:
The University has a special interest in assuring that students refrain from academic misconduct, respect the safety and welfare of members of the University community, and protect its institutional integrity and resources. The standards for student conduct and the means of enforcement set forth in the Instrument are adopted in furtherance of University interests and serve to supplement, rather than substitute, for the enforcement of the civil and criminal law applicable at large. Therefore it is not double jeopardy for the University to sanction conduct that is also sanctioned under local, state, or federal law.
As such, it is important that all students know the Code and are familiar with The Instrument, which contains all expectations of conduct, on and off campus, for UNC community members.
Code of Student Conduct: The Instrument of Student Governance
