Mobile Home Owner News – September 2023
Resident curated mobile home owners news and information for residents of Mobile Home Parks owned by Kort & Scott (KS) companies. The MHPHOA also provides news coverage for Mobile Home Parks not owned by KS companies.
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RE: California
Thu, Sep 28, 2023 – This table of Mobile Home Parks, RV Parks, and Manufactured Home Communities for Sale in California is a work in progress as of Thursday, September 28, 2023. Data is being updated regularly.
This is a partial listing and covers the sold period 2021-01-01 to 2023-09-01. This is NOT a complete list of mobile home parks for sale in California. Many sales of mobile home parks are usually done via Pocket Listings (aka Off-Market Listings, Exclusive Listings), they are not marketed via public channels.
RE: Petaluma, California / Harmony Communities / Three Pillar Communities
Thu, Sep 28, 2023 – Mobile home park residents have been forthcoming, even when it is painful, about their delicate economic states. It’s time for the owners to do the same.
It was a despondent sight when residents of Youngstown Mobile Home Park gathered on the corner of North McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma this month, protest signs clutched in hand. A similar scene played out on Aug. 29 at Little Woods Mobile Villa on Lakeville Highway.
At both protests, there was an air of desperation – these aren’t people fighting for a principle, they are fighting for their homes.
The owner of the Youngstown Mobile Home Park called for its closure shortly after the city capped monthly rent increases at mobile home parks to 4% of current rates, or 70% of the Bay Area Consumer Price Index, whichever is less.
‘Some people have ended up in the hospital because of all the fear and anxiety,’ Mary Ruppenthal, a park resident since 1987, told the Petaluma Argus-Courier. ‘We tried to allay their fears and calm them down, but none of us know for sure what’s going to come of it all.’
In a reaction to widespread legislation across the state aimed at protecting mobile home park residents, owners like Three Pillar Communities, which operates Youngstown along with 60 other parks in 14 states, have begun to flex their muscles. Saying the rent caps have made the park financially unfeasible, the company hopes to negotiate with the city, with an arbitration hearing set for Oct. 10 and Oct. 11.
RE: Petaluma, California / Little Woods Mobile Villa / Youngstown Mobile Home Park / Three Pillar Communities
Tue, Sep 19, 2023 – In the phrase ‘mobile home park,’ the word ‘mobile’ usually applies to the homes. But earlier this month at Youngstown, a senior mobile home park in north Petaluma, it was the residents – 75-plus of them, many whom are 75-plus – who mobilized themselves.
It was a response to a spate of moves by the park’s owners, Los Altos-based Three Pillars Communities. That’s an investor-focused real estate company operating over 60 mobile home parks across 14 states, according to the company’s website.
At Youngstown in Petaluma, a proposed 40% rent increase was struck down by an arbitrator last year. Since, Three Pillars representatives have suggested plans to close the park, converting it to all ages, and increasing rents by over $900 a month.
Local mobile home park owners have cited Petaluma’s rent stabilization rules and renter protections as illegal government takings; an infringement on their right to a fair return on investment.
A representative for Youngstown ownership said in a statement emailed to KRCB News, ‘we may have to shut this community down because our costs are rising so much faster than the rent we bring in. We’re trying to keep the park open, including asking the city to grant us a rent increase, but… closure may be our only option.’
RE: Petaluma, California / Little Woods Mobile Villa / Youngstown Mobile Home Park / Three Pillar Communities
Wed, Aug 30, 2023 – Staring down eviction and homelessness, Sonoma County mobile home residents are speaking up.
A tight-knit crowd of more than 50 people gathered this week, filling up a quiet corner of Littlewoods Mobile Villa in southeast Petaluma.
The all-ages, 78-unit mobile home park is home to mostly low-income Latino families. Many are longtime residents, like Martín Contreras.
The park’s owners have threatened to close, citing the cost of maintenance, and Petaluma’s new mobile home rent stabilization rules.
In response, residents have joined together as Littlewoods Neighbors United; focused on keeping negotiations, and the park, open, Contreras said.
RE: Petaluma, California / Little Woods Mobile Villa / Youngstown Mobile Home Park / Three Pillar Communities
Thu, Aug 10, 2023 – Residents at a North Bay mobile home park say their landlord is retaliating against them for helping get new rent control ordinances passed in Petaluma. The tenants – all senior citizens – say they are terrified they could end up out on the streets.
The story begins in 2020 when the Youngstown Mobile Home Park was sold to new owners. Despite being a rent-controlled property, residents soon got a notice of rent increases of up to 40 percent.
They fought the rent hike in arbitration and won, and then resident Jodi Johnson began lobbying for new city ordinances that would strengthen the rules around rent control. To her amazement, they won again and the ordinances were passed.
But Johnson said shortly thereafter, the notices began coming. First there was an advisory that the park might change its seniors-only status. Then residents got a letter saying the park could close altogether, with a consultant going door to door to inquire about the real estate value of each home. Finally, the real bombshell hit.
On Wednesday morning, in the mail, came a 200-page – 200 page! – notice of rent increase. Depending where your ground rent was, anywhere from 109% to 159%," said Johnson
Maglenty got his packet saying his rent would be raised from $1,300 to nearly $2,300 per month. The 81-year-old just moved in two years ago and said he has received a constant stream of threatening letters.
KPIX contacted the property owners’ lawyer late Monday afternoon. Larissa Branes said the park is a private business, not receiving any government funds and the owners consider the rent control law to be unconstitutional.
In a statement, Branes said: Petaluma’s mobile home rent control ordinance cannot act as an unconstitutional taking of private property, because all property owners in the U.S. are constitutionally entitled to earn a fair and reasonable return on the capital they invested to buy their property.
RE: Petaluma, California / Little Woods Mobile Villa / Youngstown Mobile Home Park / Three Pillar Communities
Wed, Jul 19, 2023 – Attempts by city leaders to bring Petaluma’s mobile home tenant protections in line with other Sonoma County cities has led to an extreme side effect, as two of the city’s largest mobile home parks are now threatening to shut down completely, potentially resulting in hundreds of local residents without homes.
Owners of both Little Woods Mobile Villa, a 78-unit all-ages mobile home park at 1821 Lakeville Hwy., and Youngstown, a 102-unit all-seniors mobile home park at 911 N. McDowell Blvd., have notified residents of their potential plans to close the parks and convert them to other uses.
Little Woods Mobile Villa is managed by Harmony Communities and owned by Little Woods Mobile Villa LLC, which according to state business records lists Nick Ubaldi as the LLC’s agent as of December 2022. The principal address for the owner is listed as Harmony Communities’ Stockton address.
Meanwhile, residents of Youngstown received a similar letter dated July 7 from WGP Property Management that announced the owners were also considering closing the park, and had retained a firm to assist in the process.
Both notices of potential closure came after the city vowed to update its cap on annual rent increases for mobile home parks. Council members already have approved amendments to the city’s Mobile Home Park Space Rent Stabilization program, which was originally established in 1993 and capped annual rent increases at 6% or 100% of the Consumer Price Index, whichever was lower – but which now caps annual rent increases 4% or 70% of the CPI, whichever is lower.
RE: Petaluma, California / CA MHP Rent Stabilization Ordinances
Wed, Jun 7, 2023 – Petaluma leaders had not revisited the city’s mobile home rent stabilization ordinance since it was first established in 1994. But on Monday night, City Council members agreed that changes to the ordinance were needed to ease financial burdens on those living in mobile home parks.
Under the current ordinance, annual rent increases may not exceed either 6% of the base rent or 100% of the local consumer price index, whichever is less. But the majority of council members on Monday agreed to lower those numbers, so that increases may not exceed 4% of the base rent or 70% of the CPI, whichever is less. The change aligns with the ordinance that Santa Rosa has in place.
In May 2022, the City Council vowed to amend the city’s mobile home rent regulations as part of its top 10 citywide priorities for this year, and council members are now expected to cast an official vote on such amendments at their June 19 meeting. The changes could go into effect as early as August.
RE: Novato, California / Marin Valley Mobile Country Club / HCA Management Company LLC
Wed, Sep 27, 2023 – A month after the Novato City Council declined a $30 million offer to sell a city-owned mobile home park to a private operator last month, the council opened the door this week to a new option – to sell the park to its residents.
On Tuesday, the City Council voted unanimously to authorize City Manager Adam McGill to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club’s operating group should it express a desire to purchase the park. The park is owned by the city but operated by the Park Acquisition Company, or PAC, which is led by park residents.
McGill stressed that the agreement is only meant to open discussions on this proposal should the council and PAC wish to consider it.
Previous News Story
- 2023-08-23 – Novato Rejects $30M Offer to Sell Mobile Home Park
RE: ELS / Hometown America / Lakeshore Communities / Sun Communities / RHP Properties / YES! Communities / Inspire Communities / Kingsley Management Corporation / Cal-Am Properties Inc
Mon, Sep 25, 2023 – Lowey Dannenberg, P.C. is investigating claims that owners of manufactured (mobile) homes were overcharged on lot rent between August 31, 2019 and the present. Specifically, a recent class action lawsuit alleges that nine large owners of manufactured home communities improperly coordinated with each other to increase manufactured home lot rents, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The case claims that manufactured (mobile) home community owners shared non-public, competitively sensitive information about manufactured home lot rental prices and occupancy throughout the United States using reports from Datacomp Appraisal Systems, Inc., a large provider of mobile home data. This data exchange allowed them to unlawfully increase rents on manufactured home lots.
The nine manufactured (mobile) home community owners are:
Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc.
Hometown America Management LLC
Lakeshore Communities, Inc.
Sun Communities, Inc.
RHP Properties, Inc.
YES! Communities, Inc.
Inspire Communities, LLC
Kingsley Management, Corp.
Cal-Am Properties, Inc.
If you own a manufactured (Mobile) home in a community owned by one of these companies, and would like to learn more, please fill out the form for a FREE consultation, or contact Nicole Veno at Lowey Dannenberg.
Previous News Stories
RE: Investment Property Group (IPG)
Sun, Sep 24, 2023 – Like a lot of his neighbors, John Sullivan looks down his Apple Tree Park street and across the Colorado River toward the small Western Slope town of New Castle and wonders about the future. The 290-space mobile home park where he has lived for 25 years has one of the more picturesque settings among the 50 or so such parks, large and small, that dot the region from Aspen to Parachute.
It’s not quite paradise, but in a hot real estate market like the one that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, the 63 acres of riverfront property could be a developer’s dream.
What Sullivan and his neighbors worry about – corporate ownership takeover, creeping unaffordability, the potential for the park to be displaced by redevelopment – is happening at an accelerating rate, both in the Roaring Fork Valley and across Colorado, prompting stronger policy prescriptions from elected officials and community leaders.
In 2020, according to Garfield County property transaction records, Apple Tree Park sold for $22.7 million to the Park City, Utah-based Investment Property Group (IPG), when the Talbott family, which had owned the park since its inception, decided to sell.
That same year, IPG also purchased the 68-space Mountain Valley Mobile Home Park, on Highway 133 at the entrance to Carbondale, for $9.5 million – almost $4.3 million more than what the property sold for just two years earlier, records show.
RE: Thousand Oaks, California
Mon, Sep 18, 2023 – Residents in their 60s, 70s and 80s applauded from their seats, then walked out and let out a cheer after the Thousand Oaks City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday to keep five mobile home parks designated for seniors.
Before the vote, city staff and City Council members expressed support for the Senior Mobile Home Park Overlay Zone for the five historically senior mobile home parks — Ranch, Vallecito, Ventu Estates, Ventu Park Villa and Thunderbird Oaks.
The owners of four of those five parks already said they would remain designated for seniors even without the special ordinance.
Ranch’s owners previously announced plans to open up spaces for all ages, and a representative of the trade association representing mobile home parks called the ordinance unnecessary.
The ordinance requires that Ranch and the other four parks rent at least 80% of their spaces to one resident who’s 55 or older, Assistant City Attorney Patrick Hehir told the council. Roommates can be younger.
Note: Ranch Mobile Home Park (Ranch Thousand Oaks MHP LLC) is a Harmony Communities property.
RE: Fullerton, California / Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park / Nicholas Family Trust
Thu, Sep 14, 2023 – Is it an attainable outcome or a dream too far that the elderly Mr. and Mrs. Kim would be allowed to stay in the mobile home they bought and remodeled in the Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Estates on Valencia in Fullerton?
The Kims have hired a local attorney to object to the $12,800 in attorney fees the park lawyer is demanding from them. Hopefully, the judge in the hearing set for the end of September will see that Rancho Fullerton Mobile home park lawyer Gregory Beam, who makes his living representing Mobile home park owners in acquisitions, creating and enforcing rigid rules and regulations, and other matters, is gouging the elderly couple who live on their Social Security retirement income. After all, complaints were promptly handled by the Kims, who are still trying to stay in their home, where they have made many friends.
The park manager has continued to harass the couple and has refused to accept their monthly space rent. The Kims have never been late on their space rent and did not understand why park manager Ms. West would reject their rent until they were told that a landlord refusing rent is the first step in eviction proceedings. Even if the Kims, at this point, agree to sell their mobile home and move, they are in a tricky situation because mobile homes are notoriously non-mobile. Taking their home with them requires enormous moving costs and available vacant space to move to in another park. But, in a ‘Catch 22,’ selling their home requires park manager approval, which is not guaranteed.
RE: Fullerton, California / Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park / Nicholas Family Trust
Mon, Aug 7, 2023 – Will Rancho Fullerton Mobilehome Park manager Andrea West and park owner Susan James Denton rescind their 60-Day Termination Notice now that the Kims have completed a brand new list of violations?
As seen in the before and after photos, the Kims have removed the arbor over the front door because the endangered birds nesting there have flown off. That item was the only remaining item not remedied before the park took the couple to court on June 15 for alleged violations. Removal of the arbor was delayed at the court hearing by Judge Cramin due to a California Fish & Wildlife order to wait until the nesting birds had vacated the nest.
No one knows if the Kims’ time-stamped photos showing no other violations were ever seen by the judge, who relied instead on non-time-stamped photos taken during construction months before and submitted as recent by park attorney Gregory Beam.
Judge Cramin will have the chance to realize the park officials have misled him about the condition of the property, question the enormous attorney fees, and reverse his original order for the couple to fix violations that had already been remedied – at the next hearing coming up at the end of August.
Rancho Fullerton management’s harassment of elderly homeowners is not new. For example, Cathy Borowiec, who sold the Kims their home in May 2022, took the park to court for wrongful eviction and harassment and won her case in October 2021. She said the park had tried unsuccessfully to pressure her to sell the mobile home to them. This is not a new tactic as those in Rancho La Paz can attest.
RE: Fullerton, California / Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park / Nicholas Family Trust
Mon, Jul 24, 2023 – Attorney Gregory Beam of Gregory Beam & Associates sent park homeowners Sam and Wha Kim a bill for over $12,000 (twelve thousand) related to work he says he did in preparing materials to sue the elderly couple on behalf of Rancho Fullerton Mobilehome Estates located on Valencia in Fullerton. In addition, the couple also received a 60-Day Notice to Terminate. The couple are weighing their options though the threatening letter asks the court for an additional $1,300 if they attempt to fight to stay.
The couple, who have never missed a monthly payment on their space, are well-liked by neighbors, and Mr. Kim serves as the community’s HOA vice president. They live on their combined Social Security retirement income and are now in a very difficult situation with 60 days to sell their mobile home and move, plus a $12,000 bill. Added to this is the problem that mobile homes are notoriously non-mobile and very expensive to move, presuming there was anywhere to move them. If the couple were to find a buyer on such short notice, the new homeowner would have to be pre-approved by the park management, who could say no – which would force the couple to sell directly to the park at a very low price.
The 20-page bill from Attorney Beam, dated July 14, 2023, comes a week after the couple received the 60-day notice and a month after Judge Corey Cramin granted an injunction demanding construction materials on the property be removed. It is apparent that the Kim’s time-stamped photos showing that those things had already been done were not seen by the Judge, who appears to have made his decision based on Attorney Beam’s submitted photos taken during the park-approved construction of an enclosed porch to their home.
RE: Fullerton, California / Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park / Nicholas Family Trust
Sat, Jul 15, 2023 – There has been nothing but trouble for a local elderly couple since they retired and bought a mobile home at Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park in May 2022, signing an over 36-page lease for the space in English (though their first language is Korean). The couple have been good citizens, have always paid their space rent on time, and have made friends at the park where Mr. Kim serves as the Vice President of the Homeowners Association.
In June 2022, Mr. Kim, wanting to give his wife a lovely enclosed sunroom, applied for a building permit that the park manager also signed. Due to a fixed income and because he had extensive construction experience, Mr. Kim, even at age 78, set upon building it himself. He set up his tools and brought in the necessary construction materials. Two months into the project, park manager Andrea West was frequently heard shouting that Mr. Kim was in violation as she took pictures of the construction site.
Feeling rushed to get the job done and stop the harassment, Mr. Kim accidentally severed a finger which caused the completion of the addition to be delayed. But, not even a doctor’s note prohibiting Mr. Kim from continuing the project for several months in order for him to heal paused the harassment of the elderly couple, who received a 7-day Notice of Violation in early September from Park attorney Gregory Beam. The notice demanded the construction materials stored on the side of the property be removed immediately. A second 7-day Notice sent two months later specified that all construction materials be removed and that construction details be completed within the seven days.
Multiple park residents, contacted by the Observer, speculated that the park management and a local realtor have conspired to force homeowners to sell their mobile homes to the park at low prices. For example, Kathy Borowich, the previous lessee of the space where Kim currently leases, stated that management had tried to evict her and had relentlessly harassed her in hopes that she would sell her mobile home to them. Borowich instead went to court, winning her wrongful eviction and harassment case against the park in October 2021. She subsequently moved out and sold the home to the Kims and said Park Manager Ms. West was unhappy.
Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park is owned by the Nicholas Family Trust, whose beneficiary is Susan (James) Denton.
RE: Fullerton, California / Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park / Nicholas Family Trust
Mon, Jun 26, 2023 – Rancho Fullerton Mobile Home Park, owned by the Nicholas Family, has sued an elderly couple. The senior couple, the Kims, will have to pay the lawyer fees and also have been threatened with eviction. So how did this happen, and what could have been done differently?
The Kims moved to Fullerton on May 26, 2022, to escape the Texas heat. They retired to the 55+ community of Rancho Fullerton (no, not the infamous Rancho La Paz with its predatory owner John Saunders – this is a different senior mobile home park on the southwest side of town). The Kims purchased their mobile home and never failed to pay the park’s $950 monthly space rent. The couple are American citizens, but their first language is Korean.
Mr. Kim applied on June 7, 2022, for a building permit to expand his home’s California Room (also known as an enclosed porch) and add stairs front and back. He obtained the permit from the Department of Housing and Community Development (the State agency that oversees mobile home regulations). Rancho Fullerton park operator Andrea West signed the application on June 9, 2022. The permit showed an expiration date of December 6, 2022. It was a big project, but having the required skills, Mr. Kim, at 76 years old and living on a fixed income, proceeded with the construction plans, cutting costs by doing the work himself. As you can imagine, progress was slow, but he was meeting his inspection deadlines.
As with all construction projects, equipment, supplies, and demolition debris waiting to be removed were stored in the yard. Unfortunately, the park operator apparently expected that the construction would be faster and less messy and, in September 2022, enlisted the park’s lawyer to send the Kims notification that they had seven days to clear the yard of all the construction debris, including saw horses, plywood, wooden beams, shingles, paint, building supplies, etc.
RE: Valley Center, California / Resident Owned Communities
Wed, Sep 13, 2023 – The residents of 222 mobile homes at Skyline Ranch are in negotiations with the longtime owners, the Sahm family, to buy the park and become masters of their fate.
Cherrybea Smith, president of the seven-member Skyline HOA spoke to The Roadrunner Monday afternoon about this development – a development which she had a key role in bringing about.
It all came about in April, when a manager on site mentioned to her that Mr. Sahm had said he was interested in selling the park, which his family developed in the 1960s. Around the same time Smith found a document that was a ‘right of first offer’ between the residents and the owners. She registered the document to show the residents’ interest. ‘It brought to the attention of Mr. Sahm that maybe it was time to sell,’ she said.
Smith called an emergency meeting with the whole community and asked if they were interested. ‘The word had floated around that it would be many millions of dollars,’ she recalled. ‘But we thought, ‘why not look into it?’ I got together with management and his attorney and talked about what it would take.’
They found several loan companies, but one stood out: Cali ROC USA (CaliROC.org) an organization that, according to its website, helps owners to sell their mobile home parks to the residents and helps residents of mobile home parks buy from their owners. ROC stands for Resident Owned Community. Cali ROC USA is a non-profit that lends out money at low interest.
Negotiations are being handled for the Skyline residents by ROC. ‘They are putting it together and submitting it to us piece by piece,’ said Smith. ‘We have formed an interim board that makes the decisions.’ She is on that board too, along with three HOA board members. The make-up of that interim board was decided by a vote of the Skyline community from volunteers who had submitted their biographies.
RE: California Mobile/Manufactured Home Parks
Wed, Sep 13, 2023 – If you are planning on purchasing a home in one of California’s 5,231 mobile/manufactured home and RV parks, here are your basic options in order of Best to Worst Case Scenarios.
- Option 1 – Buy the Home, Buy the Land/Lot (HOA Fee), Resident Owned Community (ROC)
- Option 2 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), Private
- Option 3 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), RSO, Corporate
- Option 4 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), No RSO, Private
- Option 5 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), No RSO, Corporate
Note: Labels: Private = Privately Owned, Corporate = Corporate Owned
RE: Thermal, California / Oasis Mobile Home Park / Scott Lawson / Lopez to Lawson Inc
Sat, Sep 9, 2023 – In a sign of how dire the Coachella Valley’s affordable housing shortage is, new residents are continuing to stream into an east valley mobile home park with tainted drinking water and myriad other health and safety issues, and county officials have been unable to stop them from moving in.
County officials have spent the past few years working to relocate residents from Oasis Mobile Home Park in Thermal, utilizing a $30 million grant of state funding secured in the state budget by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia in 2021. But officials have struggled to quell the issue of new residents moving in, creating a cycle of new families moving into the mobile home park with arsenic-contaminated water as soon as previous residents are relocated.
Riverside County issued a cease-and-desist letter this week “demanding that the operators of Oasis Mobile Home Park and anyone working on their behalf immediately cease and desist accepting new tenants and occupants at Oasis Mobile Home Park,” according to Supervisor V. Manuel Perez’s office. Perez represents Riverside County’s Fourth District, which includes Thermal.
In the past three years, the county has helped relocate 74 families from the park, which had 241 occupied spaces when the county first became involved with the relocation process. A total of 62 mobile homes have been demolished, but 23 mobile homes have been brought into the vacated spaces.
Currently, about 202 of the park’s 346 total spaces are occupied, meaning about 35 new families have moved into the park.
The county’s goal is to ultimately close the park. Back in January, the county announced it would install physical barriers to prevent new tenants from moving in. But that never happened, according to Rodriguez.
RE: Thermal, California / Oasis Mobile Home Park / Scott Lawson / Lopez to Lawson Inc
Mon, Aug 14, 2023 – The Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California today against the operators of Oasis Mobile Home Park, located in the Eastern Coachella Valley in Southern California. The complaint alleges that the Administrator of the Estate of Scott Lawson and a corporation called Lopez to Lawson, Inc. failed to properly maintain and operate Oasis’ primary drinking water well, treatment and distribution systems and wastewater system, and failed to perform corrective measures to protect the health of those who consume the drinking water. Today’s legal action seeks a judicial order that will require Oasis Mobile Home Park to address the imminent and substantial endangerment conditions related to the drinking and wastewater systems, comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and pay a civil penalty.
In August 2019, EPA issued an emergency order to Scott Lawson, the owner and operator of the Park, for providing drinking water that contained impermissibly high levels of arsenic as provided by the Safe Drinking Water Act and its implementing regulations. In September 2020, EPA issued a second emergency order for failure to comply with arsenic levels after Oasis switched to a backup well that continued to provide water with prohibitively high arsenic levels. The 2020 Order required the respondents to provide consumers with alternative drinking water, fix its treatment system, reduce arsenic levels in the drinking water distribution system, and monitor the water for contamination. After the death of Scott Lawson in May 2021, EPA issued another emergency order against the defendants named in the complaint, largely mirroring the requirements of the 2020 emergency order. In April 2023, EPA conducted sampling of the drinking water system and found arsenic still present, thereby determining that the problems with arsenic and the drinking water system remain unabated. As a result, EPA issued an amended order that requires the defendants to address issues with the drinking water storage tanks.
In addition to the drinking water system compliance failures, Oasis has failed to properly operate and maintain a wastewater system that complies with the Safe Drinking Water Act and its implementing regulations. The chronic issues related to the design and operation of Oasis’s wastewater system have created an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health and the environment because contaminants, such as E. Coli and other disease-causing organisms, are likely to threaten groundwater sources and enter the drinking water system.
EPA’s February 2021 and May 2022 wastewater inspections found the Park lacked a dedicated wastewater operator and a septic maintenance and pumping program for approximately 90 septic tanks located there. EPA also observed evidence of sewage overflows and wastewater line breaks. EPA visited Oasis in May 2023 and observed that the wastewater system issues remain unabated.
RE: Sebastopol, California / CA MHP Rent Stabilization Ordinances
Wed, Sep 6, 2023 – Windsor, Petaluma… a growing number of local jurisdictions are bolstering resident rights. That’s despite a unique landscape for regulating mobile homes, said Sebastopol’s city manager, Larry McLaughlin.
The people living in their mobile homes are both homeowners who own a significant asset, as well as they are tenants as to the space under their home, McLaughlin said. They have the vulnerabilities and issues of being a tenant. They also need the protection of a homeowner.
Sebastopol is an early adopter of mobile home protections. The city has now updated rent stabilization rules; capping annual rent increases on mobile home lots to three percent, or 75% of the consumer price index, whichever is less.
Also in the updated rules: vacancy decontrol. Despite strong opposition from the Fircrest mobile home park resident association, council members voted to allow park owners to raise lot rents after a vacancy by up to 10% in Sebastopol.
A second reading of the updated mobile home rent stabilization rules is expected at the September 19th Sebastopol council meeting, with the new rules going into effect 30 days thereafter.
RE: Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc / ELS / Hometown America / Lakeshore Communities / Sun Communities / RHP Properties / YES! Communities / Inspire Communities / Kingsley Management Corporation / Cal-Am Properties Inc
Fri, Sep 1, 2023 – DiCello Levitt, Hausfeld, and Myron M. Cherry & Associates today filed an antitrust class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, on behalf of mobile home owners impacted nationwide.
In a case of nationwide significance against nine manufactured home community management companies and one manufactured home market data provider, the plaintiffs allege that they suffered substantial financial losses due to their landlords’ conspiracy to fix, raise, and systematically inflate manufactured home (also referred to as mobile home) lot rental prices at more than 150 locations across the United States.
With nearly one-third of the 10.3 million adults living in manufactured homes being over the age of 60, the corporate greed of these manufactured home community management companies targeted some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens, DiCello Levitt Partner and Chair of the Firm’s Antitrust and Competition Litigation Group Gregory S. Asciolla said. In the face of these significant manufactured home lot rent increases, some manufactured home residents were not only facing severe financial pressures, but even the threat of eviction.
These individuals – whose median annual household income is approximately $35,000 – were overcharged for what was meant to be affordable housing, DiCello Levitt Co-Founding Partner Adam J. Levitt added. Manufactured home lot rental prices were blatantly inflated at a staggering rate of 9.1% per year between 2019 and 2021.
Manufactured home parks now comprise one of the largest sources of low-income housing in the country. Many residents are senior citizens, veterans, and people with disabilities, said Hausfeld LLP Partner Reena Gambhir. These communities should not be the targets of anticompetitive and coordinated excessive rent hikes.
The complaint details how the large corporate manufactured home community management companies have bought up these communities across the United States and used competitively sensitive market data provided by Michigan-based Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc. to exchange pricing information and conspire to systematically devise manufactured home lot rent increases.
The case is Ronald Kazmirzak and Carla Hajek v. Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc., et al. Case No. 23-cv-6715 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. A copy of the complaint is available upon request.
RE: Sun Communities / ELS / YES! Communities / Inspire Communities / Lakeshore Communities
Fri, Sep 1, 2023 – A group of the country’s largest corporate managers of mobile home communities and a market data provider were sued in U.S. court on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to inflate rental prices for older and low-income residents.
Two Illinois residents who rented lots for their manufactured homes filed the prospective class action in Chicago federal court against Datacomp Appraisal Systems and nine other companies that own or have controlling interests in more than 150 housing communities across the country.
The lawsuit alleges that the corporate owners shared competitively sensitive information about lot rentals and occupancy via industry reports from Datacomp. That information, according to the lawsuit, allowed the defendants to coordinate their prices in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys at DiCello Levitt and Hausfeld, who said they filed the lawsuit based on their own investigation, estimated a class size of hundreds of thousands of members in the U.S.
The defendants include Chicago-based Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS.N), which bought Datacomp in 2021 for $43 million; Michigan-based RHP Properties, which bills itself as the country’s largest privately-held manufactured home community owner with assets of more than $6 billion; and Michigan’s Sun Communities (SUI.N), a real estate investment trust.
Other defendants include Lakeshore Communities in Illinois; YES! Communities in Denver, which the lawsuit said was partially owned by private equity firm Stockbridge Capital Group; and Inspire Communities in Phoenix, owned by private equity firm Apollo Global Management.