California MHP News

Wed, Mar 27, 2019 – Did El Monte officials have a good reason to impose rent control on smaller mobile home parks? That’s the question at the center of a lawsuit that was jolted back to life by a state appeals court last week. At issue is a 2015 law approved by the City Council that restricts annual rent increases at all of the nearly three dozen mobile home parks in El Monte.

A lower court previously threw out the lawsuit brought by El Rovia Mobilehome Park, which has 76 lots near Peck and Lower Azusa roads, finding that the city law was constitutional because it still allowed landlords to collect a reasonable return on their investment.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned the ruling and sent it back to the lower court. The three-judge panel found that El Monte needed to have reasons for passing rent control in the first place – such as a demonstrated history of higher and higher rents – a question that’s still up for debate.

Wed, Mar 27, 2019 – Anaheim Mobile Home Park Owner Rescinds Rent Increases

The owner of the Rancho La Paz Mobile Home Park in north Anaheim will rescind a recently announced rent increase that would have significantly raised the below-market rents paid by the 400 or so residents of the venerable mobile home park.
Matthew Cunningham, Anaheim Blog

Note: Existing Rancho La Paz home owners have received a temporary reprieve from the space rent increase. New buyer space rent has increased by $450 and is now advertised at $1,100 per month, it was $650 per month prior to the recent purchase of the park by Saunders Property Company. If we use the industry rule of thumb that for every $10 per month space rent increase you lose approximately $1,000 in mobile home equity, existing home owners may have just lost $45,000 each.

Thu, Mar 21, 2019 – Rancho La Paz Residents Organize and Ask Elected Officials for Help

The seniors are organizing. Facing drastic rent increases of 45-60%, senior residents of Rancho La Paz mobile home park in Fullerton and Anaheim are asserting their voices and calling upon their elected officials to intercede for them.
Jesse La Tour, Fullerton Observer Local News

Thu, Mar 21, 2019 – Rent Hike May Force Many in OC Retirement Community From Their Homes

The owners of nearly 400 homes in a 55-and-over mobile home park in North Orange County find themselves stuck with no way out because of a rent increase that starts in June. The news caused distress among community members. Retirement plans were completely destroyed.
Jessica De Nova, KABC-TV Los Angeles

Thu, Mar 21, 2019 – Proposed $400 a Month Rent Increase has Seniors in Anaheim Nervous

‘I worry about a lot of the older people that can’t make this increase. It’s causing stress that could cause a stroke and a heart attack. You know they’re dealing with people’s lives,’ says Dianna Bedwell. She and other residents got letters from the new owner, Peace Ranch LLC, a month ago saying payments for spaces would go up between $300 to $400 per month beginning in June.
Michele Gile, CBS Los Angeles

Sun, Mar 10, 2019 – It’s a tragically familiar story for many Californians. You receive notice that the home you are renting has been sold and the new owners are dramatically increasing the rent, because there is no rent control and, under California law, there’s no limit on the amount rents may be increased. Property owners are protected by Prop 13. Renters have no such protection.

For most folks who cannot afford the new rent, they simply move. But what if you are a senior on a fixed income or social security? And what if you live in a mobile home park where you actually own your home, but must pay rent in the form of “lot fees”? If the new owner dramatically increases your lot fees, what are your options then?

These are the questions that hundreds of senior residents of the Rancho La Paz mobile home park in Fullerton and Anaheim are now facing. On February 28, over 380 residents of Rancho La Paz received word that the mobile home park had been sold, and the new owners were increasing rents by an average of $300 per month for residents who were paying around $680 per month – a 44 percent increase.
Editor, Fullerton Observer Local News

The Star Companies
Pacific Current Partners

• Address: 1400 East 4th Street, Santa Ana, California 92701
• County: Orange
• Phone: 1-714-480-6828
• Websites: http://StarManagement.com/, http://www.StarMHSales.com/, http://www.PCPEquity.com/
• President: Mike Cirillo, CPM
• PCP Communities

Sat, Mar 23, 2019 – The MHPHOA have been continually researching and developing a database of Resident Owned Communities (ROC) aka Resident Owned Parks (ROP) in the State of California. We have 174 communities listed to date. We welcome input from our audience regarding additions and/or corrections to the data currently available. If you'd like to contribute information to the database, please contact the MHPHOA.

All 174 Resident Owned Communities (ROC) have recently been reviewed and updated. We have removed entries that were originally incorrectly identified as ROCs. We've corrected park names, addresses, telephone numbers, added HOA Fees/Date columns and links to MH Village and HOA websites when available. We've also included a Google Map showing all 174 Resident Owned Communities in California.

The MHPHOA have researched 400+ for sale and recently sold listings (Nov 2018) to determine the current HOA Fees for 104 out of 174 ROCs listed. Those HOA Fees range from $35 to $1,030 with an average of $250.

From the data collected, we were able to determine that a mobile home park with 150 spaces cost an average of $250 per space per month to operate. That comes out to $37,500 per month or $450,000 per year.

Manufactured home values in most California ROCs range from $200,000 to $500,000+ depending on the area. We saw 1990s manufactured homes selling in that range which clearly shows us that it’s the “land beneath” that holds the value. We see similar 1990s manufactured homes selling for under $50,000 in Kort & Scott owned mobile home parks where the space rent is $1,700+ per month.

Industry Rule of Thumb: For every $10 per month space rent increase you lose approximately $1,000 in mobile home equity.

1990 Silvercrest Sells for $215,000 – HOA Fees: $75 Monthly

Here’s an example of a manufactured home sale that occurred on Thu, Nov 1, 2018 for a 1990 Silvercrest with 3 Bedrooms and 2 Baths in Kimberly Gardens located in Lake Forest, California. The home and the “land beneath” sold for $215,000 and the HOA Fees are $75 per month.

Mon, Mar 11, 2019 – On Thu, Feb 28, 2019, the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, State of California, reversed the lower court’s decision from Wed, Jul 6, 2016 awarding 10 households of the Terrace View Mobile Home Park $58,389,000 in compensatory and punitive damages against the park owners, Tom Tatum and Jeff Kaplan.

Disposition Type: Final – The portions of the judgment awarding plaintiffs compensatory and punitive damages are reversed. The portion of the judgment ruling that the catch-up provision in defendants’ leases violates Business and Professions Code section 17200 and ordering injunctive relief regarding the catch-up provision is reversed. The June 9, 2017 and July 24, 2017 orders awarding attorney fees and costs to plaintiffs and the portion of the judgment reflecting the June 9 order are reversed. The portions of the judgment ruling that "the lease provisions concerning the right of first refusal, release, and the arbitration provision violate the [MRL]" and that "paragraphs 56.1, 56.2 and 34 of the lease and paragraphs 5.1 and 9.1 of the lease amendment are unlawful" are affirmed. The February 21, 2017 order awarding punitive damages to plaintiffs is reversed. Defendants’ appeal from the June 9, 2017 order awarding attorney fees and costs and the July 24, 2017 order correcting the award of attorney fees, and plaintiffs’ appeal from the February 12, 2017 order reducing the jury’s award of punitive damages are dismissed as moot. Defendants are awarded their costs on appeal.
Unpublished Opinion: Bevis v. Terrace View Partners LP

Attorney Fees and Costs

• Attorney Fees: $2,385,773.70
• Costs: $56,417.72
• Total: $2,442,191.42

Sun, Mar 3, 2019 – Kort & Scott Financial Group (KSFG) purchased Sierra Mobile Home Park (18204 Soledad Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, California 91387) in Oct 2015 for $3.27MM. Over the past three (3) years, a multitude of issues and challenges have arisen with one being KSFG attempts at converting Sierra Mobile Home Park into an All Ages park.

Due to these ongoing attempts and mobile home owners voicing their concerns, the Santa Clarita City Council implemented a moratorium on the conversion of mobile home parks from 55+ to All Ages on Tue, Jan 26, 2016.

Mobile homes for sale are being listed as “All Ages” by Real Estate Brokers which appears to be in direct violation of the Santa Clarita Municipal Code 17.38.085 SMHP (Senior Mobilehome Park Overlay Zone).

Advertised Space Rents for new buyers have gone from $550 to $1,100 in three (3) years. Santa Clarita does have a “Manufactured Home Park Rent Adjustment Procedures” which provides limited protections for mobile home owners. There is an allowed 100% CPI adjustment each year with a 6.0% cap along with a few other questionable provisions.

The All Ages advertising of mobile home sales was reported in early Jan 2019 to the City of Santa Clarita Community Preservation Division which handles issues pertaining to the city’s mobile home parks. As of Fri, Mar 1, 2019, it appears the city has not taken action, mobile homes for sale continue to be advertised as All Ages.

Sat, Mar 2, 2019 – On Tue, Jan 16, 2018, the City of San Jose, Department of Housing, Rent Stabilization Program visited the San Jose Verde Mobile Home Park (149 Spaces) located at 555 Umbarger Road, San Jose, California 95111 (Santa Clara County) where residents invited staff to their respective home site to view the connection between the light posts and the resident’s electrical meter. Staff noticed that when residents turned off their circuit breakers, the light post on the street also powered off, suggesting that resident’s individual meters are also powering Park utilities. At least ten (10) homes throughout the Park demonstrated this trend. Program staff referred the residents to the State Ombudsman’s Office for additional assistance.

If you own a mobile home and there is a street light on or near your lot, you should perform the above circuit breaker test to see if your circuit is powering the park’s street light. While this may be uncommon, we have found a number of California mobile home parks where the resident’s circuit is powering the park’s street light(s). These residents would normally receive a credit on their monthly rent statement for the estimated electrical costs to power the street light(s).

Kort & Scott Financial Group purchased San Jose Verde Mobile Home Park in Dec 2010 for $14.3MM under the DBAs SJ Verde GP LLC and SJ Verde LP.

Fri, Mar 1, 2019 – The MHPHOA have received information from at least five (5) KSFG owned mobile home parks that residents are now being issued credits for electrical overbilling dating back to Feb 2017. These credits are labeled as a CPUC Adjustment on the Mar 2019 Rent Statements.

Example: CPUC Adjustment, SCE Credit: 2/17, 3/17, 4/17, 5/17, 6/17, 7/17, 8/17, 9/17, 10/17, 11/17, 12/17, 1/18, 2/18, 3/18, 4/18, 5/18, 6/18, 7/18, 8/18, 9/18, 10/18, 11/18, 12/18, 1/19

Many residents are receiving hundreds of dollars ($200 to $600+) in electrical credits dating back to Feb 2017. The residents have also stated that these credits do not compensate them for what they feel are the true electrical billing overcharges. They are also questioning why this wasn’t retroactive back to the time that KSFG purchased their mobile home park?

Prior to the issuance of these CPUC Adjustments on the Mar 2019 Rent Statements, residents received a letter dated Mon, Feb 25, 2019 from Trish Magnussen, Director of Operations for Sierra Corporate Management. That letter stated this...

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Although it is impossible to prevent human errors completely, we have taken measures to ensure that this does not happen again.
SCM Electrical Overbilling Letter Text