[buss]

> Is it the municipal regulations

The answer to these questions is almost always "it's the law." Most cities have habitability requirements that mandate minimum sizes and required rooms. What'll end up happening, as happens here in SF, is that the residents will throw up a temporary wall in the living room to split the rent further.

The answer lies somewhere in https://library.municode.com/tx/austin/codes/code_of_ordinan...