MHCO Legal Counsel

Question: It has recently come to our attention that a tenant is in violation of our two-pet policy, as she has admitted that she has 4 small dogs living in her home. When we speak with her through her door, the smell of dog urine is overwhelming. We have mailed her a letter explaining that this is rules violation and asked that she remove two of the pets by a certain date. Our letter warned that if she failed to comply, she would be sent a 30-Day Notice to Vacate.

She stated she would keep the two extra dogs and claim them as service animal. This week she gave us a letter from her nurse practitioner stating she needed the pets for a medical condition. What are our options? We would like to serve her a 30 Day Notice to Vacate for Cause (violating our 2 pet policy). However, she has been speaking with advocacy groups that tell her we have no right to make her get rid of the two "service animals."

We feel that it is our responsibility as landlords to consistently enforce our community rules, but also don't want to get dragged into costly litigation just to lose in the end due to federal regulations of some kind.

Question: We have a tenant whose son (age 65) is her caregiver. They spend winters in Southern California. The son/caregiver used to work for us a few years ago, but was fired due to his terrible attitude and disrespect for management. The situation has continued to worsen, and he has filed false complaints against the park with the DEQ over our wastewater.

He submitted a Temporary Occupant Agreement (MHCO #25) dated March 13, 2013, containing an expiration date of November 2049. Obviously, we would not accept that request. We have spoken to the Oregon Fair Housing Council, and they advised us that a resident is entitled to have the caregiver of their choice, and if we resisted he could possibly take the case to BOLI and we would not prevail, with a very costly defense.

Since then we sent him a revised Temporary Occupant Agreement, identifying that it was a "reasonable accommodation compromise," setting forth specific conditions limiting his interactions with management and physical proximity to the wastewater plant. After no response, we again spoke with a Fair Housing Council representative again, and they stated they would contact the resident and her care provider to ask them to send the signed agreement back to us. So far, we have never received it back, so currently, he does not have any written agreement with us for his occupancy, temporary or otherwise.

We are concerned that when his elderly mother passes away, he will apply for occupancy. We do not believe that he could pass our income requirements for residency. He currently does "handy man" jobs for other residents, and likely cannot demonstrate sufficient income.

Two weeks ago he took his mother to Southern California for the winter and returned without her. It is unclear if he will stay through the winter, or return to California. Can we write him a letter saying that as a caregiver, he is not allowed to be here without her?

Question: An occupant lives in a home that is sub leased from her father. The father, who is the official tenant on the lease, does not live in the home. The occupant has been in the house since the beginning of January. The occupant was asked at the time to complete and submit a criminal background check, but refused. So the occupant is living there as an unauthorized person. The father has given the occupant (his daughter) an eviction notice. They went to court, and the judge told them to come back in two weeks. This morning the occupant gave the community owner a money order for February rent. What should the community owner do with the money order. Should it be returned? Should the community owner issue a 24 hour notice since the occupant is there without another person in the home having signed a rental agreement? Or should the community owner give a no cause eviction?

Question. In 2011 we passed through sewer directly to our residents. It was previously included in the base rent. The total monthly sewer bill is $2,174.00. We have 62 spaces and we divided the $2,174 by that number to get $35.00 per month per resident.

We gave a 30-day notice stating the gross monthly amount of the sewer bill and the amount we were passing thru to each resident. In our Statement of Policy it says that the sewer is paid by the landlord but that we could change that with a reasonable notice at any time. Is there anything wrong in the way we handled this?

Question: A resident whose business is a medical marijuana store in town has informed the manager that she plans on growing marijuana plants on the space. She has not indicated if this is for sale, medical, or her own use. The community has not updated their rules to implement a No Marijuana policy, but they do say that there are to be no businesses in the park. The rental agreement is several years old so it is mute on the issue of marijuana. What should the manager do? What are the landlord's rights?

Question: A community owner entered into a Storage Agreement on a home in early January 2014. The agreement provides that the home must be removed by November 30th if it does not sell. We are now approaching the end of November, and the community owner does not believe the home will be sold by the end of this month. What's next? Does the community owner take the homeowner to court? Doesn't the landlord have to give one year to the home owner? [1]

Question: We have a resident who has about 40 cottonwood trees in her yard. She planted them some time ago. The trees are all about 50 feet in height and very overgrown. I'm pretty sure they've never been trimmed or maintained. We have had complaints recently from a neighbor that they are concerned with the safety of those trees in a storm. We had an arborist inspect the trees and he deemed them a safety hazard and recommended taking them all out, as trimming would only escalate the growth speed of that species of trees.

How do we get the resident to remove all of her trees? My interpretation of the law is that because she is the person who planted them, she is responsible for the maintenance and/or removal of the trees. Is that correct? What if she sold her home and then we wanted the new resident to remove the trees? Could the new resident avoid having to incur the cost of removal because they did not plant them?

I spoke with my insurance agent and they assured me we're not liable to any damage done by a tree falling as that is an act of God. So I guess my follow-up question is, why would we need to demand someone to remove or trim a tree for safety issues if we're not liable for it?

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Question: Our community is having more and more residents who purchase pets as puppies, sign the MHCO Pet Agreement that CLEARLY STATES our maximum 25 pound weight limit, and then over time, and the animal becomes too large, they refuse to remove it from the community, and claim their pet is really a "service animal," "assistance animal," "emotional support animal" or some such other animal which they believe protects them from us enforcing the size limits they previously agreed to. What can be done? Do we, as landlords, have any recourse to require residents to get rid of their animals, as they are abusing the system to circumvent our size requirements?

Question: One of my tenants has approached me asking if I would pay relocate their home, as a portion of her space is falling away due to erosion from a nearby stream. As a park owner, what is my responsibility for undertaking this expense?