Worries of Eviction as a Mobile Home Owner

As a mobile home owner, are you familiar with the rules and regulations that you need to comply? The following are some important facts you need to know, taken from the pamphlet What Every Mobile Home Owner Should Know, published by the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Home Communities.

Eviction – As a homeowner, can I be evicted from the park?

Yes. The park management may evict you if:

  • You have received notice by a government agency that you are violating a local ordinance or state law and have not complied with the law within a reasonable period of time.
  • Your conduct in the park constitutes a substantial annoyance to other residents or homeowners.
  • You don’t pay the rent, utilities or reasonable charges within five days of the due date. IF you are late in paying the rent, you will be notified that you have three days to pay or vacate the tenancy. Full payment within three days puts you back in good standing, unless you are late in paying the rent, utilities, or reasonable charges three times within a 12-month period.
  • You are convicted of specified crimes, such as prostitution or drug offenses, committed in the park.
  • You don’t comply with ‘reasonable’ park rules and regulations (management must attach them to your rental agreement when you move into the park). The management must give you a written notice that a rule has been violated, after which you have seven days to adhere to the rule before the management can issue you a termination notice. If you have violated a rule three or more times within a 12-month period, the management may issue you a termination notice without waiting seven days for you to correct the rule violation.
  • Your mobilehome park is condemned or is closed for conversion to another use.

Unlike most apartment tenancies, however, the park management must give homeowners a 60-day notice of termination and can evict you only for these specified (just cause) reasons. Upon a termination notice, the park not only may terminate your tenancy but also require you to remove your home from the park by the end of the 60-day period. During this 60-day period, you also have the right to try to resell your home in place in the park.

In the termination notice, the management must specify why you are being evicted and include such facts as the date, place and circumstances concerning the reasons for the termination. If you stay in the park beyond the time allowed in the notice, the park management must file an action in court to evict you, known as an ‘unlawful detainer.’ In order to preserve your right to defend yourself in an unlawful detainer action, you must follow certain procedural requirements, including the filing of specified documents within a short time frame, usually five days. Most defendants in unlawful detainer actions are best advised to obtain legal representation so they can properly comply with these requirements. If you lose, the court may order your eviction carried out by a peace officer in a matter of weeks and you will probably lose your home if you cannot sell it or move it from the park. If you are actually evicted, the park management will file a warehouseman’s lien on the home, or through an abandonment proceeding, conduct an auction, and eventually gain title to it.

Resource: What Every Mobile Home Owner Should Know, published by the Senate Select Committee on Manufactured Home Communities