California MHP News

Wed, Aug 28, 2024 – District Attorney Dan Dow announced today that a civil settlement has been reached with a mobile home park management company that manages San Luis Obispo’s South Peak Mobile Park, and with its associated real estate brokerage firm. The settlement requires $61,000 payment for civil penalties and a contribution to a non-profit organization offering free legal assistance to tenants.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office Consumer Protection Unit has settled with the property management company, Harmony Communities, Inc., and its associated real estate brokerage company, Partners Real Estate, Inc. Harmony Communities, Inc. Harmony manages South Peak Mobile Home Park located on South Street in San Luis Obispo, along with more than 50 other mobile home parks in California.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office investigation was also joined by the District Attorney’s Offices in Fresno, San Joaquin and Marin Counties. The civil complaint was filed where the defendant’s principal place of business was located – San Joaquin County Superior Court.

The complaint alleged that for several years, Harmony Communities failed to reimburse background fees Harmony charged, which reimbursement is required by California’s Mobile Residency Law. The Complaint also alleged that Partner’s Real Estate, Inc. made misleading statements about housing units it listed on the multiple listing service (MLS) that were managed by Harmony Communities, Inc.

Thu, Aug 15, 2024 – Amid an ongoing fight with mobile home park owners who officially signaled their intent to close two parks where nearly 200 city residents live, the Petaluma City Council has added a fee to the city’s master fee schedule that would charge the owners for closing their parks.

The new ‘mobile home park conversion fee,’ passed unanimously at the council’s Aug. 5 meeting, is a means of recouping expenses by the city as it prepares necessary reports and gathers other information pursuant to its closure procedures – a months-long process begun after the owners of Youngstown Mobile Home Park and Little Woods Mobile Villa submitted a joint letter on June 21 stating their intent to close the parks, according to a staff report.

Council members voted 6-0 to add the fee, with Janice Cader Thompson absent. In May, the City Council approved updates to its fee structure which did not include any mobile home closure or conversion fees.

The item came hours after over 100 mobile home park residents crowded City Council chambers to speak during public comment, which in turn came after city leaders met to discuss pending litigation in closed session. In their comments, the Petaluma residents decried park owners’ actions and asked the city to enforce its mobile home rules.

Wed, Aug 7, 2024 – As the new owners of Capri Villa mobile home park in Petaluma sought to increase rents beyond allowable limits for some residents, the residents themselves – many of them Spanish speakers and seniors – say they’ve been subject to racist, manipulative and demeaning tactics by park management.

In late May, all of the residents of the 69-space mobile home park on North McDowell Boulevard received two rent increase letters in one day, adding up to an increase of $328 per space – or between 50% and 92% increases – according to Jodi Johnson.

The newly proposed rent hikes at Capri Villa came weeks after Harmony Communities – a Stockton-based company that also owns Little Woods Mobile Villa in Petaluma and manages over 30 parks across California and Oregon – purchased Capri Villa, one of seven mobile home parks in Petaluma.

Although the owners of Harmony Communities have stated repeatedly that city and state regulations make it impossible to turn a profit in Petaluma, they nonetheless purchased Capri Villa last April for an undisclosed sum.

On Monday, over 150 residents from Capri Villa, Little Woods Mobile Villa, Youngstown and other local mobile home parks gathered at the Petaluma City Council meeting to decry these and other actions by local park management, and to ask the city to enforce its mobile home park rules.

Mon, Aug 5, 2024 – If you are planning on purchasing a home in one of California’s 5,230 mobile/manufactured home and RV parks, here are your basic options in order of Best to Worst Case Scenarios.

1. Option 1 – Buy the Home, Buy the Land/Lot (HOA Fee), Resident Owned Community (ROC)
2. Option 2 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), Private
3. Option 3 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), RSO, Corporate
4. Option 4 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), No RSO, Private
5. Option 5 – Buy the Home, Lease the Land/Lot (Space Rent), No RSO, Corporate

Note: Labels: Private = Privately Owned, Corporate = Corporate Owned

Sat, Aug 3, 2024 – Owners of Santa Rosa’s Carriage Court mobile home park plan to petition the city to raise rents by 75% – more than $400 monthly – on the land beneath the residents’ homes.

Park owners across Sonoma County have increasingly turned to the tactic of raising rents above the legal limit to trigger an arbitration since a wave of updates to decades-old mobile home regulations tightened rent control and added other protections.

In arbitration, park owners and residents face off in front of a neutral party who ultimately decides whether ownership is entitled to all or some of the requested rent hike in order to achieve what is a right to a fair return.

‘When rent increases are suppressed below the cost of inflation, a business is put on a slow path to bankruptcy,’ said Nick Ubaldi, whose family owns Carriage Court. Ubaldi also works for Harmony Communities, the company that manages the park and more than 30 others in California and Oregon. ‘We are committed to annual arbitration in all jurisdictions that cap increases below CPI.’

The same ownership and management team recently initiated an arbitration at another park they operate, Little Woods Mobile Villa, in Petaluma, by requesting roughly 300% rent hikes. In June, an arbitrator denied the increase in full, but, in short order, owners issued another rent increase and notified the city of their intention to permanently close the park. The group currently has another arbitration scheduled later this month over increases initiated following its purchase in April of nearby Capri Villa.

Thu, Aug 1, 2024 – This table of Mobile Home Parks, RV Parks, and Manufactured Home Communities for Sale in California is a work in progress as of Wednesday, July 30, 2024. Data is being updated regularly.

This is a partial listing and covers the period 2021-01-01 to 2024-07-30. 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.