Mobile Home Park Rent Strike
Last Resort Option: Rent Strike
Is your mobile home park in a situation where the majority of the residents are living month to month and having a difficult time keeping up with space rent increases well above the CPI (Consumer Price Index)? Do you feel as though you are one step away from homelessness each month when you receive your rent statement?
Have your repeated pleas to City Council for a Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) fallen on deaf ears? Do you feel that you've exhausted all of your options and are now faced with an emergency situation?
You may want to consider a Mobile Home Park Rent Strike – it has been done before – successfully.
Seek Legal Counsel – Minimize Collateral Damage
Important: It is imperative that you plan and execute this strategy carefully and that you have fully qualified legal counsel on board to assist the residents during this time. DO NOT attempt this until you have consulted with legal counsel and fully understand the potential outcomes.
You will be threatened or presented with "Pay or Quit" (3/60 Notices) and there is the possibility that your park owners/management may evict everyone involved in the rent strike.
No Free Rides
This is not something for the faint of heart and this is not a free ride for rent. During the mobile home park rent strike period, you will be liable to pay rent on time, usually deposited into an escrow account. The monies will remain in escrow until the matter(s) have been successfully resolved.
Ceres, CA: Mobile Home Residents on Rent Strike Against Hikes
Residents in Ceres, California launched their strike when Equity LifeStyles Properties increased rents by $85 a month. Residents first appealed to the city council to apply rent controls to the land - one of nearly 300 mobile home plots owned by ELSP - but they declined, leaving them no option but to take direct action.
libcom.com
El Monte, CA: Councilwoman Angered by Conditions, Rent Prices
Objecting to rent increases, some Brookside residents formed an association in 2008 and threatened a rent strike, according to the fact sheet provided by Mobile Community Management.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Modesto, CA: Mobile Homes Part 2, Laws and Court Cases
People in a handful of parks are being forced from their homes by rents that have risen as much as $300 a month in the past three years. Several committee members describe themselves as conservative and generally opposed to rent control. But in the case of mobile home parks, they see no other solution.
Affordable Housing Institute
Riverbank, CA: Council Considers Rent Control
Responding to pleas from Quail Meadows Mobile Home Park residents about skyrocketing rents, Riverbank City Council members hired an expert many months ago and on Monday voted 5-0 to introduce an ordinance to impose rent control on Quail Meadows and other such parks in the city.
The Riverbank News
Stop Predatory Park Owners
Kort & Scott Pay $57,000,000
Largest Mobile Home Park Settlement Ever
Fri, Nov 22, 2019 – Kabateck LLP attorneys representing hundreds of low-income mobile home residents in Long Beach, California secured a nearly $57 million settlement, which is the largest settlement ever involving a mobile home park.
California Tenant Rights to Withhold Rent or “Repair and Deduct”
California tenants are legally entitled to rental property that meets basic structural, health, and safety standards and is in good repair. If a landlord fails to take care of important maintenance tenants may have the legal rights to withold rent...
Court Decisions – In California, the Implied Warranty of Habitability is independent of any housing code. The standard is whether the premises are “fit and habitable” or “fit for human occupation.” While a substantial housing code violation is usually a Breach of the Implied Warranty of Habitability, courts can require more of a landlord when it comes to providing “fit and habitable” conditions.
Nolo.com
Mobile Home Parks and Recreational Vehicle Parks
Special rules in the Mobilehome Residency Law or the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, and not the rules discussed in this booklet, cover most landlord-tenant relationships in mobilehome parks and recreational vehicle parks. However, normal eviction procedures must be used to evict certain mobilehome residents.
California Department of Consumer Affairs
Breach of Warranty of Habitability
Mobile home park residents with repair and management issues can sue for breach of the implied warranty of habitability, nuisance, injunctive relief and breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, among others. The Mobile Home Residency Law allows mobile home park residents to file suit against a park owner who fails to maintain a park. The prevailing party is entitled to attorney fees, plus penalties for punitive violations of statutes protecting mobile home residents.
Tobener Law Center
Discussion References
- Rent Withholding – Green v. Superior Court, 10 Cal.3d 616 (1974)
- Repair and Deduct – California Civil Code §1942
- Landlord Retaliation – California Civil Code §1942.5
- California Tenant Law – Uninhabitable Condition
- California Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL) – HTML Format
- California Tenants – A Guide to Residential Tenants’ and Landlords’ Rights and Responsibilities
Law and Motion Rulings Discussion
RE: Friendly Village Mobile Home Park
- ACOSTA v. CITY OF LONG BEACH
- Case Number: BC591412
- Hearing Date: Thu, Dec 1, 2016
Moreover, in the unlawful detainer defense, tenants in "untenantable" units may choose not to pay rent (or withhold part of their rent) and raise breach of the warranty of habitability as an affirmative defense to an unlawful detainer for nonpayment of rent. See California Practice Guide, Landlord-Tenant, 3:80 (The Rutter Group 2016) (referencing Green v. Superior Court (Sumski) (1974) 10 Cal.3d 616, 635;).
