| Summary |
The bill modifies the Mobile Home Park Act (act) as follows:
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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.
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