Things Found in the NFPA but Not Found in the IRC for Single-Family Dwellings - Occupancy

[jar546]

Here is one example in the NFPA 101:
Sometimes I think the NFPA is willing to go where the ICC is not.

24.1.1.2*
One- and two-family dwellings shall be limited to buildings containing not more than two dwelling units in which each dwelling unit is occupied by members of a single family with not more than three outsiders, if any, accommodated in rented rooms.

 

[Paul Sweet]

I personally think that a limit on the number of non-family occupants in a dwelling is good, but I think I recall that the feds struck down such limits a decade or two ago.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

NFPA 101 not in IRC referenced standers. Must be a Florida thing.

 

[ICE]

not more than three outsiders

That would be difficult to enforce other than on a complaint basis. There is no room for that in any code.

 

[jar546]

NFPA 101 not in IRC referenced standers. Must be a Florida thing.

Currently used in every U.S. state and adopted statewide in 43 states, NFPA 101®:Life Safety Code® (NFPA 101), addresses minimum building design, construction, operation, and maintenance requirements necessary to protect building occupants from danger caused by fire, smoke, and toxic fumes. The Life Safety Code is truly the genesis of nearly all means‐ofegress and life safety criteria codes used in the United States.

 

[Mark K]

While NFPA 101 is widely used if it is not referenced in the IRC then it is not a requirement in the context of the IRC

 

[tmurray]

I'm always concerned with the use of the word "family". I'm not really sure how to define it.
Related by blood: does that include grandparents? Aunts, uncles and cousins? How far along the family tree are we going?
What about adopted kids? Foster kids? what about people who are looking after people with a cognitive impairment?
What about blended families?
If you move in with your girlfriend are you a family then or does it take tie to be considered a family?
What about if 4 college students want to rent a house together? Is the "family" just one of the people and the others are "outsiders"?

 

[bill1952]

I'm always concerned with the use of the word "family". I'm not really sure how to define it.
Related by blood: does that include grandparents? Aunts, uncles and cousins? How far along the family tree are we going?
What about adopted kids? Foster kids? what about people who are looking after people with a cognitive impairment?
What about blended families?
If you move in with your girlfriend are you a family then or does it take tie to be considered a family?
What about if 4 college students want to rent a house together? Is the "family" just one of the people and the others are "outsiders"?

I think the "rented rooms" gives a little guidance.

 

[mtlogcabin]

I think I recall that the feds struck down such limits a decade or two ago.

I believe you are correct and that is why you no longer find a definition for "Family" within the building codes. Family was defined within zoning codes and most of them when challenged on the definition have lost over the years.


1983 CABO definition

1979 UBC


Thus, the Supreme Court’s only two pronouncements on the subject of single-family zoning stake out two very different points on the constitutional continuum: On one side, unrelated people have no right to live together and no real redress against zoning laws that prohibit them from doing so. On the other side, people who are legally or biologically related, whether in a nuclear family or not, have a substantive due process right to live together and zoning laws that would interfere with this right are subject to strict scrutiny.


CONCLUSION
Ultimately, the message of this Article is a simple one: There is a right of intimate association within the home, and this right cannot be conditioned on any governmental actor’s subjective opinion about the value, motivation, or characteristics of the people who seek to invoke this right. For it is the very people who are least likely to win favor in the eyes of a judge or zoning board who are the most in need of protection. Just as those with unpopular messages may most powerfully invoke the right to free speech, people with nonmainstream living arrangements and lifestyles must be able to invoke their right of intimate association.310Thus, neither restrictive single-family zoning ordinances nor functional family reforms are constitutional exercises of the state’s authority.

https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1293&context=flr