MHCO Legal Counsel

Question: Which form do I use to recover unpaid late fees after issuing a 72-hour notice for non-payment of rent?  Form 43 is for continuing violations. 

Question:  I have a resident who was given permission to build a permanent carport.  Most all of the carports in my park are free standing and permanent which is my preference. However, he constructed the permanent carport by boring holes in the ground and filling them with concrete and inserting metal mounts to which he fastened 4x4 uprights for the carport.  Building it this way, in my opinion, made it part of the real property.  I was there when construction started but was absent when it was completed. 

What now complicates matters is that he recently decided to sell the manufactured home, including the carport.  This would not have been an issue had the buyer is now planned on moving the home.  I believe that since the carport is now permanently affixed to the ground, it cannot be sold as personal property along with the home.  He also attached the carport to the manufactured home which may complicate things, as well.  What are my rights here?

Question:Our park is having plumbing issues. One resident says a sewage pipe may be collapsing that is obstructing sewage flow. Another resident complains that their tap water is discolored, and says they have to install an expensive filtration system.

My question is “Where is the line between resident responsibility and landlord responsibility for park systems – from well water, public water, septic, public sewer, and electrical systems, etc.”?

Question:  I am confused on the use of rules violation notices.  Do I use a 20-day notice or 30-day notice?  Does the “three strikes law” apply?

Question:  I have recently revised all of our lease agreements including Oregon, where I have made substantial updates and changes. I understand that by law I have to give renewal notices 60 days in advance of a lease expiration if I want the tenant to continue on the newly proffered lease.I understand that pursuant to ORS 90.545, I am supposed to identify what is different in the new lease from the old one. Due to the number of changes I’ve made, it would be very difficult to identify and list them all. 

I’m wondering if I can just inform the residents that the new lease has numerous updates and that they should read it as if it were a completely new edition. 

The only other real option is to offer a redline version which would be so marked up it would be difficult  to read and understand. Can you check to see what would meet the requirements of the notice?

Question:  A family moves into a manufactured housing community with a thirteen year old boy.  Five years later the parents vacate the home but leave the boy who is now eighteen. Even though the eighteen year old was never subject to a background check, never signed a rental agreement etc., is he now a considered a resident?

Question:  I am confused on the use of rules violation notices.  Do I use a 20-day notice or 30-day notice?  Does the “three strikes law” apply?

Portland Housing Code 30.01.085 (Portland Renter Additional Protections), here, became effective on November 1, 2019.  For manufactured housing parks located in the City of Portland, the ordinance DOES NOT apply to rental spaces in which the tenant owns their home; it only applies to rental spaces in which the tenant is renting a park-owned home or subleasing a home from the owner. For purposes of this article, only park-owned homes will be addressed. However, in the event a tenant wishes to sublease a home – and it is permitted by the rules or rental agreement – park owners may discuss with the tenant his or her legal obligations under the Portland ordinances – not because there is a legal obligation to educate the tenant, but because of the financial consequences that can flow from ignoring the law.   

Question:  We have a resident that we would like to not renew on a long-term lease.  Their renewal is coming up in several months.  Do we have to provide the notice of lease expiration and the new documents (rules and regulations)?  Can we simply not renew?

Question:  We have a resident in the park who recently got into a verbal shouting match with another neighbor.  The resident was extremely intoxicated at the time and made threats and gestures that were very inappropriate and provocative.  There are some residents who want us to immediately issue a 24-hour notice.  However, until this incident, the resident has been a good tenant and never caused a problem.  How should we handle this?  This incident seems entirely out of character for this individual.