TEL-LAW tape number 7303:
Reasonable Rules in Mobile Home Parks and Floating Home Facilities

brought to you by the Oregon State Bar and your local bar association.
This is Tel-Law tape number 7303, Reasonable Rules in Mobile Home Parks and Floating Home Facilities, brought to you by the Oregon State Bar and your local bar association. The material presented is intended to alert you to possible legal problems and solutions.

A landlord of a mobile home park (also called a manufactured dwelling facility) or floating home facility must provide rules and regulations concerning the tenants' use and occupancy of the rented space and the facilities held out for the use of tenants. These rules and regulations need not be identical for all tenants at all times. A rule or regulation is enforceable against the tenant only if it does at least one of the following three things: promotes the convenience, safety, or welfare of the tenants; preserves the landlord's property from abusive use; or makes a fair distribution of services and facilities for general use of the tenants. The rule or regulation must also meet all of the following three criteria:

These criteria allow a facility landlord some leeway in making and enforcing rules differently for different tenants. For example, a landlord might allow one tenant to keep a woodpile on a carport, when that tenant has always kept her woodpile in an orderly manner; the landlord might prohibit a different tenant in the same facility from maintaining any wood pile, where that tenant has had a history of messy, unsightly wood piles in her yard.

Manufactured dwelling and floating home facility landlords may also adopt reasonable occupancy guidelines. If the landlord chooses to adopt such a rule, the rule must be based on reasonable factors. Reasonable factors may include the size of the dwelling, the size of the rented space, any discriminatory impact on groups protected against discrimination in the civil rights laws based on race, color, sex, marital status, familial status, religion, and national origin, and limitations placed on utility services governed by a water or sewage permit.

If a facility landlord changes the rules to prohibit pets, a tenant may keep a pet already legally living with the tenant at the time the landlord provides notice of the rule change. Further, the tenant can replace the pet with a pet similar to the one living with the tenant at the time the landlord provided notice of the proposed change. However, new rules about the activities of pets apply to all pets in the facility, including those who were living in the facility prior to the adoption of the new rule.

A manufactured dwelling or floating home facility landlord may propose changes in rules, including changes that make a substantial modification of the bargain with the tenant by giving notice of the proposed rule or regulation change to all tenants in the facility. Unless tenants of 51% of the rented spaces object in writing within 30 days of the date the notice was served, the change becomes effective for all tenants on a date not less than 60 days after the date the notice was served by the landlord. One tenant of record per rented space may object to the proposed rule change, either by an individual written objection to the landlord or by signing a petition with other tenants.

This is a complex and changing area of the law. It is important that you realize that some of the information on this tape may be out of date by the time you hear it. This tape is not intended to be legal advice regarding your particular problem, and is not intended to replace the work of an attorney. If you do not have an attorney, the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can assist you. The number to call is 684-3763 or toll-free in Oregon, 1-800-452-7636. They will help you contact a lawyer who can advise you.

The foregoing text is a transcription of a Tel-Law transcript that you can hear by calling 503-620-3000 or toll free (in oregon only) at 1-800-452-4776. OLA brings this transcription to you with the cooperation of the Oregon State Bar. this script is based on Oregon law, produced by volunteer lawyers as a public service. The law of other states may be different. Also, the information may be out of date. OLA encourages you to seek an attorney before relying upon this information.

(10/18/95)