More roommates and no inspections.

Those are the rights being sought by a coalition of landlords and tenants who have filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Lawrence because of ordinances governing rental properties in single-family zoned areas of the city.

“The ordinances deprive property owners and tenants of their federal constitutional rights, as well as violate Kansas law,” plaintiffs’ attorney Chris Miller wrote in the complaint.

City officials said Monday they could not comment on the suit.

“I haven’t seen it,” City Manager Mike Wildgen said. “I can’t talk about it.”

But Arly Allen, a Lawrence resident who led the battle in favor of the ordinances in 2000 and 2001, said he was confident the suit was without merit.

“They can do whatever they want if they want to spend their money,” he said of the plaintiffs. “I don’t think it’s serious.”

Two tenants and eight landlords — including Mark Lehmann, who ran a failed 2001 Lawrence City Commission campaign challenging the ordinances — are listed as plaintiffs.

The lawsuit challenges the two ordinances passed by the Lawrence City Commission in 2001:

¢ 6News video: Lawsuit filed against city over rental rules¢ Landlords, tenant decry home inspections (5-22-02)¢ Landlords serve city notice of lawsuit (5-8-02)

• The first capped the number of unrelated roommates in a single-family zoned rental house at three persons. The limit was formerly four persons.

Landlords said the cap denied them the full value of their property; tenants said it denied them the right “to freely associate with whom they choose.”

Here are the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit challenging the city’s rental registration ordinances:¢ Tenants: Mary Anton Jones and Aaron Kirby.¢ Landlords: John Bush, Jerry Carbrey, Al Haverty, Mark Lehmann, Robert Moody, Aron Olivera, Sophiana Olivera and Sandy Warner.

• The second ordinance created a registration and inspections requirement for landlords of rental properties in single-family zoned areas.

Landlords said the registration was costly and that the inspections were violations of their rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Tenants said their rights were being violated.

More than 1,800 houses have been registered under the requirements of the codes. Inspections began in February 2002; city officials have used “administrative search warrants” to enter homes when landlords or tenants refused the inspections.

The plaintiffs are asking that the city ordinances be struck down, as well as repayment of the registration fees and for damage payments in excess of $75,000.

Miller did not return calls for comment. Bob Ebey of the Citizens Rights Committee, which organized the plaintiffs, declined comment.

No hearing has been scheduled in the case, which was filed at the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.