A Lauderhill house on the 2000 block of Northwest 44th Terrace is back in the spotlight after a TV investigation raised fresh questions about whether it is housing more unrelated residents than city rules allow. The property, which was linked to a stabbing last October, already has a history of overcrowding violations and tenant complaints. City code staff say they will re‑inspect the home in the coming weeks to determine whether the owner has brought the property back into compliance.
According to CBS News Miami, the owner reduced the number of residents to four in January after an October inspection found seven people living at the house. When reporters checked back last week, tenants said five or six people are now sharing the property. Tenants told CBS some pay as little as $750 a month and one resident said he pays $1,000 for his room. The owner declined to answer questions when approached at a business address on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
According to the City of Lauderhill’s rental application, property owners must obtain a Certificate of Use and schedule minimum‑housing inspections before operating a rental. The form explicitly asks how many non‑related adults occupy a unit and warns that rooming houses are not permitted, which means a single‑family rental that hosts five or more unrelated people would be outside the approved use.
What the code says
Lauderhill’s Land Development Regulations, as codified on Municode, define a family to include unrelated people but note, “For controlling of residential density, each such group of four (4) individuals shall constitute a family,” which effectively caps unrelated occupants at four in a single‑family dwelling. That definition is the legal basis for the city’s conclusion that five or more unrelated tenants would violate the home’s Certificate of Use.
Tenants and neighbors describe conditions
Residents who spoke with reporters described crowded rooms and said police once kept them waiting outside while they investigated the stabbing last fall. In interviews with CBS News Miami, a tenant said, “You can’t afford your own place; you take what the system will give you,” a blunt summary of how tight budgets and low rents can funnel people into shared houses…