A Mobile Home Showdown

Saturday, June 20, 2009
Visalia Times-Delta

Relief from abrupt increases in rent for owners of mobile homes in Visalia's mobile home parks has been a perennial issue that has surfaced again.

Once again the prospect of a rent control ordinance is being considered by the city of Visalia.

Mobile home rent is complicated because mobile home owners own their building but the mobile home park owns the land on which it sits. So the parks rent space to mobile home owners, who point out that, even though they are renters, it is not as easy for them to move as it is for most renters.

Mobile home park owners generally offer medium- to long-term leases to their renters.

For many years, thanks to a series of agreements negotiated by the city of Visalia, most mobile home park owners offered tenants a standard lease, the "Visalia Master Long-Term Lease Model." This worked well for several years, allowing park owners to raise rents in moderation to recover their investment without putting a burden on homeowners. Leases were long enough to provide stability five years or more. Annual increases were limited to the rate of inflation. Key to the agreement was a provision that, when homes were sold or vacated, park owners could raise the rent to the market level.

Recently, however, home- owners say park owners have raised rents in excess of inflationary rates. They claim that park owners have raised rents 15 percent on renewal, sometimes more.

Park owners, however, have pushed for a change in the standard lease. They want more leeway in being able to set rents that will make their investment worthwhile. They point out that usually the only time they can raise rents is when a property has been vacated or sold. In this atmosphere, the notion of a rent-control ordinance is being considered. Few viable rent-control ordinances exist in California. One attempt is the so-called Modesto Plan, a hybrid of rent and lease control that is being considered by some cities. The columns on this page, written by advocates of opposing sides, examine the issue.

Meanwhile, the city of Visalia has formed a committee to examine rents at mobile home parks in Visalia. It has also contracted for independent studies by two consultants.

The committee is scheduled tentatively to release its results within a few weeks. The study, including the possibility of change in the city ordinance, is expected to be brought before the Visalia City Council in late summer.

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