Mobile Homes in Mobile Home Parks

The bill modifies the "Mobile Home Park Act" (act) as follows:

• Specifies that a successor in interest of a mobile home park (park) has the same responsibilities as the management or landlord of a park (landlord);
• Specifies that a home owner of a mobile home includes a resident of a mobile home park (home owner) who is under a current rent-to-own contract;
• Specifies that a park does not have to be operated for the pecuniary benefit of the owner of the land on which the park is located;
• Clarifies that the landlord may terminate a tenancy for failure of the home owner to comply with all rules and regulations established by management that are enforceable pursuant to the act and that are necessary to prevent damage to real or personal property or to the health or safety of individuals;
• Specifies that if a park is condemned, the landlord is required to provide the same remedies to any displaced homeowner as when the landlord intends to change the use of the land comprising a park;
• Prohibits a landlord from issuing a notice of a rent increase under the same conditions in which a landlord is prohibited from increasing rent;
• Prohibits a landlord from increasing rent or issuing a notice of a rent increase if the landlord has not fully complied with any government order, has been ordered by a court not to increase rent pending the resolution of a lawsuit, or has been found by the division of housing in the department of local affairs (division) or by a court to have failed to comply with the act;
• Prohibits a landlord from charging rent to a resident in an amount that exceeds current rent amounts for comparable lots in the park;
• Requires a landlord to use a methodology, and to maintain records of the methodology used, to determine rent that is reasonable, equitable, and consistent for all residents for comparable lots;
• Requires a landlord to provide certain notices to home owners in 12-point font and pursuant to language access requirements specified in the bill;
• If a home owner is a defendant in a forcible entry and detainer complaint and the home owner has submitted a related administrative complaint through the "Mobile Home Park Act Dispute Resolution and Enforcement Program" (dispute resolution program), allows the home owner to take action to stay any hearing on the forcible entry and detainer complaint to allow for adjudication of the administrative complaint;
• Upon the timely request of a home owner, requires a landlord to provide an interpreter for certain meetings and to provide translated copies of meeting materials pursuant to language access requirements specified in the bill and requires the landlord to bear the cost of the interpreter and the cost of translating meeting materials;
• Prohibits a landlord from charging a home owner any fee or penalty for refusing to sign a new lease or for residing under a periodic tenancy;
• Requires a landlord to provide a home owner with reasonable amounts of water pressure at all times and sufficient potable water for all members of the household under certain circumstances;
• Requires a landlord to maintain sidewalks owned by the landlord and to establish a unique mailing address and mailbox for each lot;
• Specifies that in an action or administrative proceeding by or against a home owner, the landlord's action is presumed to be retaliatory if, within the 120 days preceding the landlord's action, the home owner requested that the landlord provide communications in a language other than English pursuant to the language access requirements specified in the bill;
• Requires a landlord to comply with language access requirements, including providing any communication that the landlord is required to provide pursuant to law in English and Spanish and in one additional language spoken by a resident upon request of the resident, providing written notice verbally in English upon request of a resident, providing notice in plain language, and providing an interpreter upon request;
• Requires a landlord to adequately disclose the terms and conditions of a tenancy in writing in a rental agreement in English, Spanish, or both English and Spanish to any prospective home owner;
• Requires a landlord to provide a home owner with a written copy of the adopted park rules and regulations in English, Spanish, or English and Spanish;
• Clarifies that a mobile home or any accessory building or structure that is owned by a person other than the landlord are each a separate unit of ownership and that the accessory building or structure are each presumed to be owned by the owner of the mobile home unless a written agreement establishes ownership by another person;
• Specifies that a rule or regulation that requires a home owner to incur a cost or imposes restrictions or requirements on the homeowner's right to control what happens in or to the homeowner's mobile home or any accessory building or structure is presumed unreasonable except under specified circumstances;
• Requires a notice to quit to include a statement that sets forth the basis for enforceability;
• The landlord is required to allow a buyer of a mobile home reasonable access to the mobile home during the time the buyer is required to bring the mobile home into compliance with park rules;
• Specifies the conditions under which the buyer of a mobile home satisfies the financial requirements to buy the mobile home, and under which the landlord is prohibited from interfering with the homeowner's right to sell the mobile home;
• Specifies that a landlord is not required to provide a new or subsequent notice of intent to sell for certain triggering events if the landlord is only considering an offer from a group or association of homeowners who reside in the park;
• Authorizes a court to order that a landlord cease from increasing rent on a park lot or issuing a notice of a rent increase if the landlord has been named as a defendant in a pending lawsuit or administrative complaint that alleges a violation of specified laws and requires a court to order a landlord to refund any unlawfully retained rent;
• Requires a landlord to retain a payment ledger that documents rent or other payments from a home owner and allows a homeowner to request a copy of the payment ledger during the homeowner's tenancy and for 12 months after the tenancy has ended;
• Requires a landlord to retain communications provided to a home owner in a language other than English and to retain the homeowner's request to provide the communications in a language other than English; and
• Specifies prior conditions of a sale or change of control of a park for a landlord if there is a pending complaint filed pursuant to the dispute resolution program before the division or prior to the landlord's compliance with all remedial actions ordered by the division in a complaint that was previously filed pursuant to the dispute resolution program.

In addition, the bill specifies the duties and rights of the purchaser and the seller of a mobile home in connection with an agreement in which the purchaser agrees to purchase a mobile home over a period of time that is mutually agreed upon by the seller of the mobile home (rent-to-own contract) and specifies the terms and conditions that must be included in a rent-to-own contract. However, these provisions of the bill apply only to a rent-to-own contract for a mobile home that is located in a mobile home park and only when the seller of the mobile home is the owner of the mobile home park or owns more than one mobile home within the mobile home park. Specifically, the bill:

• Requires a rent-to-own contract to be in writing, in either English or both English and Spanish as requested by the purchaser, and signed by the purchaser and the seller of the mobile home;
• Requires the seller to provide proof of ownership of and an appraisal of a mobile home to the purchaser before entering into a rent-to-own contract for the mobile home;
• Requires certain information to be included in a rent-to-own contract;
• Provides the purchaser of a mobile home in a rent-to-own contract with rights to pay the balance of the contract early without penalty or additional interest and to terminate the contract after providing written notice to the seller and, in the latter case, requires the seller to return to the purchaser all purchase payments made by the purchaser;
• Allows the seller of a mobile home to terminate a rent-to-own contract only if the purchaser fails to make a purchase and interest payment under the rent-to-own contract and does not cure the payment deficit or if the purchaser commits an action related to the purchaser's lot lease or mobile home lease that leads to a valid and executed writ of restitution;
• Specifies actions that the seller of a mobile home is required to take if the seller cannot comply with a rent-to-own contract because the mobile home becomes encumbered due to other legal action or because the park is condemned or changes use;
• Specifies the duties of the seller of a mobile home in connection with the habitability of the mobile home in a rent-to-own contract;
• Requires the seller to offer the purchaser a mobile home lease for a period equivalent to the period in which the purchaser has to complete the purchase of the mobile home;
• For a rent-to-own contract when the seller is the owner of more than one mobile home within the same park and is not the landlord of the park, prohibits the seller from entering into a rent-to-own contract unless the seller's rental agreement with the landlord specifically permits the seller to sublease and sell the mobile home;
• Specifies the conditions under which the seller of a mobile home must immediately return to the purchaser any purchase payments or other money that the seller has received from the purchaser;
• Requires the seller of a mobile home to maintain a segregated account into which all of the purchaser's purchase payments are deposited and to provide the purchaser with an annual accounting related to the rent-to-own contract;
• Binds a successor owner of a park to the terms of a rent-to-own contract entered into by the prior owner of the park;
• If the seller of a mobile home that is subject to a rent-to-own contract evicts or attempts to evict a purchaser for any wrongful or retaliatory reason or any reason that is unsupported by specified provisions of current law, allows the purchaser to recover treble damages and attorney fees;
• Specifies the requirements regarding the transfer of the title of the mobile home under a rent-to-own contract and requires the seller of the mobile home to pay any then-owed property taxes assessed on the mobile home prior to transferring the title; and
• If the seller of a mobile home failed to properly repair or maintain the mobile home at the time the purchaser of a mobile home makes the final payment under the rent-to-own contract, allows the purchaser to exercise the purchaser's right of private action pursuant to current law.

The bill authorizes the attorney general to independently initiate and bring civil and criminal action to enforce the provisions of the rent-to-own mobile home contract law.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)