A RENTER was shocked to spot his monthly payment spike by $258, pushing him to gather a group of neighbors who were similarly targeted and petition against the increase.
The renters opted to stand their ground rather than move out, and they may be exempt from paying the monthly rent hikes under a little-known law.
Mobile home parks are hailed as an affordable housing option in the US, providing homeownership status to millions of residents at a fraction of the price of traditional housing.
These communities come with a catch however, as residents generally own the mobile home itself, but not the land that it sits on.
This legal distinction leaves residents vulnerable to drastic lot rent increases, as was the case for a group of people living at Portside at the Beaches, a manufactured home community near Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
The residents saw a major rent increase in June, sparking much pushback.
One such mobile home owner, Dylan Olson, was hit with a rent increase of 30%.
“I knew that it was gonna go up a little bit, but I thought it would be factored in, you know, three to five percent a year. I was definitely not expecting a $258 [monthly] increase,” Olson told a local outlet.
Residents were sent a notice saying the rent increase was due to “prevailing market rent” and the new amount was “determined by the community owner.”
Olson found the monthly increase to be absurd, leading him to join forces with his neighbors to protest the rent hike.
“I printed out 500 flyers and I went down the names of the list that the community gave me that got the same rent increases. And I handed out over 500 flyers and scheduled a meeting with the community,” he said.
Using state law, the Florida man determined that he could petition the soundness of the lot rent increase if he managed to gather around 300 signatures by July 27 from his neighbors.
“Once we have the petition filled out, we get assigned a mediator and they will arrange a meeting with the owner of the community,” said Olson.
“They’ll have to sit down and give us the reasons why the rent is going up when none of the conditions in the park have changed.”
Portside at the Beaches is owned by RHP Properties, the biggest private owner and operator of manufactured home communities in the US.
“It’s such a huge corporation and, if you do the math, they’re already making multiple millions of dollars a year. It just seems like they’re taking from people that can’t afford it,” said Olson.
The U.S. Sun reached out to Olson for an update on the petition.
It’s such a huge corporation and they’re already making multiple millions of dollars a year. It just seems like they’re taking from people that can’t afford it.”
Dylan Olson
KICKED OUT
Not only are mobile park residents vulnerable to lot rent increases, but also to being evicted.
Despite being homeowners, these residents can still be evicted under landlord-tenant law and have minimal legal protections.
In some cases, they can be kicked out of the mobile home park simply for falling just a few hundred dollars behind on rent.
If the rent issue is not quickly addressed, a landlord can file a court case in as few as five days in Florida.
Tenant's rights
According to InCharge Debt Solutions, tenants have several rights in the United States:
As a tenant, you have certain rights, and while they vary from state to state, there is a list of standard requirements virtually every landlord in the U.S. must provide:
- Heat (but not air conditioning)
- Running hot and cold water
- Locks and keys
- Smoke detector
- Clean and safe common areas
Landlords can keep security deposits for several reasons. These include:
- Unpaid Rent
- Damage to the Property
- Cleaning Costs
- Unpaid Utilities or Bills
- Breach of Lease Terms
- Abandoned Property
- Repairs Due to Tenant Negligence
If landlords don’t make any necessary repairs, tenants should:
- Review Your Lease or Rental Agreement
- Document the Problem
- Notify Your Landlord in Writing
- Contact Local Housing Authorities
- Repair and Deduct
- Mediation or Legal Action
- Protect Your Rent
On the other hand, foreclosure proceedings for traditional homeowners can take months.
“Speed is really a critical element here,” Jacob Haas, senior research specialist at the Eviction Lab, told Realtor.com.
As these parks are increasingly being purchased by real estate investors, evictions are climbing.
Eviction filings in Florida, for example, spike by 40% in the months following a mobile home park’s sale, per research from Princeton’s Eviction Lab.
These mobile home parks are frequently targeted for redevelopment because the land they sit on is worth a lot more than the money pulled in from modest lot rents.
However, displacing residents when these parks get sold can take a significant financial and emotional toll on the community members.
Many residents have lived in their homes for decades, spent a ton of time and money maintaining them, and built communities around them.
Other Americans have faced frustrating encounters with their landlords.
One couple, for example, took their landlord to court for $4,400 in back pay and won – they waited over a year for the cash.
Meanwhile, another woman sued her former landlord after he “refused” to return her $850 security deposit – and the renter was pushed out.
