The College Park City Council does not support a landlord seeking to convert one single-family home at 4618 College Ave. into two rental units.

A week after the College Park City Council expressed reservations about a landlord’s request to legally house more students in his College Avenue rental home, council members unanimously voted Tuesday to write letters to the county opposing his plan.

Landlord Steven Behr rents the house at 4618 College Ave. to nine students — nearly twice the legal maximum of five the property is zoned for — but said he only learned about the restriction after already buying the house in 2006 and has since been seeking a special exception from the county to continue housing at least seven of those tenants.

“I’ve done everything legally. I’ve worked with the city. I’ve worked with the county,” Behr told the council. “I’m trying to make sure the students have a place to live and their lives are not impacted.”

The house’s previous owner had assured him the modifications that had formed it into three apartments were legal, he added.

But council members continued to resist the idea of recommending the county grant him an exception to rent a single family home to more than five tenants — especially after Behr’s attorney, Robb Longman, suggested the city offer amnesty to the landlords of all the city’s overcrowded homes.

“You’re saying those houses that are now overcrowded to an illegal capacity, that we should take and endorse rezoning in order to allow them to comply?” Mayor Steve Brayman asked Longman. “Don’t you see a fundamental problem with upsetting a zoning ordinance to say, ‘Hey, if you commit any illegal act, we’ll change your zoning to be legal’?”

Longman said by making it legal to house more than five unrelated tenants — as many houses in College Park do now illegally — the city would have better control of the residents’ safety.

Residents at the house called the council’s objection to their home “ridiculous,” saying they had more space than in many legal rental homes.

“I lived in a Knox Box and paid the same to share an apartment with three people instead of one person,” said senior cell biology and genetics major James Welch, who lives in the house’s basement unit. “There’s no way that just five people can live in this house — it’s way too big.”

Council members responded that high density tends to create noise and parking issues, and District 3 City Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said while the city often has trouble identifying overcrowded properties, the status of this particular house is now out in the open.

“I see you as a man of good intentions who has gotten himself into a difficult situation, but it’s also a difficult situation for the neighborhood,” Stullich said to Behr. “It sounds like you have a very strong case against the former owner, who clearly lied to many people, including to you and the city, and I wish you every success in that lawsuit.”

Reached at his Gaithersburg catering business, former owner David Model declined to comment.

The council voted to send letters opposing the special exception for Behr’s house to the county planning board and to the county Historic Preservation Commission, because the house is in a historic district.

The county agencies will have the final say on the property, as College Park does not have its own zoning authority.

Interviewed after the council meeting, Behr said he is hoping for better luck and “community support” when he goes before the county.