PARK MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS: A Universal Issue

The following article is republished, with permission, from the Coalition of Mobilehome Owners – California. This article was published in the December 2007 issue of CoMO-CAL’s newsletter, The Voice, which is distributed to all members.

We have not discussed the subject termed “park management problems” by the Senate Select Committee on Mobile and Manufactured Homes (Senator Joseph Dunn, Chairman) in quite some time. It continues to be a serious problem in many parks. In 1982, and again in 2004, the Senate Select Committee held hearings on “management problems.” The bottom line: nothing concrete has been done. Remember last year there was legislation introduced to train managers. It failed.

Actually the “problems” include actions park managers and owners take against residents. These include violations of the MRL, harassment, intimidation, and others. These are often the focus of residents’ complaints, yet we are still waiting for some assistance from state and local government. Those of us who have experienced such problems quickly realize that the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has little or no power to enforce the Civil Codes found in the Mobilehome Residency Law and continues to have budget problems. Don’t write to the Ombudsman for help with MRL issues.

A small portion of the public hearing of December 19, 2004 before Senator Dunn is published here. This testimony should only strengthen our feeling that these types of problems occur across the state, they are not isolated incidents as the park owners would have us believe, and they have occurred, without any real action, for over 25 years. Shouldn’t we TAKE A STAND NOW? Or are we willing to endure another 25 years under the oppression of those managers who feel they are above the law and park owners who are motivated to break the law for financial gain and greed. You and I, our friends and neighbors living in mobilehome parks need to UNITE TOGETHER!

On December 19, 2004 Senator Dunn heard testimony from about 22 witnesses, most of whom are mobilehome owners. CoMO-CAL feels this subject is very important to our members and provides excerpts from the hearing below. Copies of the full transcript of the hearing (Senate Publication #1306-S) may be purchased from Senate Publications, 1020 N Street, Room B-53, Sacramento, Ca. 95814 for $7.75 plus current California sales tax. Make checks payable to Senate Rules Committee.

SENATOR DUNN HEARING—DECEMBER 19, 2004: MOBILEHOME PARK MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS

Background (by Senator Dunn’s Staff)
There are approximately 4,850 mobilehome parks and manufactured housing communities in California providing spaces for an estimated 675,000 residents. A mobilehome park is an area or tract of land where two or more mobilehome sites are rented, or held out for rent, to accommodate mobilehomes used for human habitation.

Mobilehome park owners hire managers to perform various functions in the operation of the park, such as collecting the rent, reading utility meters, providing security in the park, arranging for the use of the clubhouse or recreational facilities, if any, enforcing the park rules, providing various notices required by law to the residents, maintaining or overseeing the maintenance of the park, managing the office and books, and dealing with homeowner/resident complaints, among other duties.

Some parks are operated by professional property management companies that select and train site managers. The Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association (WMA) has their own management training program available to member parks. Other parks, usually smaller older parks, hire whomever they can find, sometimes even a long-term resident, to collect the rent, oversee maintenance, and run the office. Sometimes these individuals may be more akin to caretakers than managers. The Health and Safety Code requires a responsible person to be available in emergencies who has knowledge of the common area facilities and the utility systems, and in parks of 50 or more spaces that person must reside in the park. The person must be reachable by phone, cell phone, answering service, or pager to respond in case of emergencies. This person is not specifically required by law to be the site manager, but any person so designated by the park to fulfill that responsibility.

Manager Problems (by Sen. Dunn’s Staff)
The number of complaints to the Committee about manager problems has increased in the last few years. Testimony that the Committee will hear will illustrate the management problems, which some residents contend necessitate reform. In summary, these often involve disputes between the manager and a resident or residents regarding enforcement of the park rules, unwillingness of the management to approve the resale of a mobilehome in the park, utility billing and meter reading or a number of other issues.

Sometimes this tension between the residents and the site manager is the result of a lack of communication on both sides or it may involve the attitude of the resident or the manager. Not infrequently residents perceive that the manager is harassing or otherwise mistreating them, particularly if the manager threatens them. In other cases it is simply a matter of alleged neglect or incompetence on the part of the manager.

Residents contend that the lack of information or knowledge on the part of managers, particularly of the Mobilehome Residency Law, leads to the management’s refusal to recognize certain resident rights. This in turn leads to confrontation and bitterness between the park resident(s) and the manager. A common complaint to the Select Committee is that some parks deal with residents in a heavy-handed fashion, intimidating them through threats of reprisal or eviction if they complain about park health and safety violations or the enforcement or lack of enforcement of park rules. On the other hand, the park industry argues that in many cases a dispute is just as much the fault of the homeowner as the manager. Moreover, they point out that the major state park association already has a training program and that the costs of administering and enforcing legislatively mandated manager licensing and training program will drive up the cost of housing in mobilehome parks without guaranteeing that manager-homeowner disputes will or can be resolved, notwithstanding such licensing.

CoMO-CAL Editor’s Comments: This is one of the most widespread, serious issues in mobilehome parks and there is no relief in sight. I believe that until there are serious sanctions against managers and owners, it will continue. Let’s face it, the motivation of most park owners is their bottom line. If they can pressure a resident to walk away from his/her mobilehome or convince them they must remove it from the park (both tactics are illegal), the park owner wins (profits by placing a new home on the site, can charge market rent for the space, and increases his bottom line which translates into a higher value for his park). The park owner has NO downside - if he is sued for a violation of the MRL, there is only a $2,000 penalty. His upside is hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional profit - a no-brainer!

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