Deal Reached On Home Inspection Neighbors In New Britain Twp. Say It Is Run As A Boardinghouse. The Owners Deny Any Code Violations.

According to Bender, the township tried to inspect the property, but was prevented by its owners, Patricia Hopkins, a Chalfont councilwoman, and her husband, Richard Hopkins. They have owned the property since 1979.

Benner said his clients had three requests for any inspection: that they be told who the inspectors would be and when the inspection would take place, and that they be present. The township agreed.

``I feel like a very large mountain was made out of a molehill,'' Patricia Hopkins said. She said the property did not violate any code, fire-prevention or zoning regulations. She said she had hired an inspector who said the property was up to code in all respects.

Neighbors have filed several petitions complaining about the house, which they say is run as a boardinghouse. In 1981, neighbors signed a petition saying, ``We are concerned with an environment that is not family-oriented.''

Benner said that, according to the township ordinance, ``a family or group of people related by blood or marriage or five unrelated individuals'' can live in a single-family house. With four tenants in the house, he said it did not violate that ordinance.

``They rent it as the ordinance allows,'' Benner said.