Good morning!  We are now on day 7 of the 2016 Oregon Legislative Session - 28 days left.

MHCO has been monitoring several bills.  The most significant is HB 4143, now referred to as the renter protection bill".  This bill is the legislature's response to the Portland housing crisis that has been the focus of the media over the past 6 months.

For the most part this bill does not impact manufactured home communities.  MHCO has worked to include an amendment that would exempt RV's from the proposed legislation. We expect that the amendment will be accepted by the Legislature and RV's will be exempt from the new laws.  If the dash 7 amendment is adopted the only impact on manufactured home communities will be on landlords who own homes in their community.  If you own a home in a MHC and rent it out the "no cause" notice increases from 60 days to 90 days.

However

Question: Can you provide us with a "Check-List" of issues we need to be aware of when we learn that a resident living alone in the community dies.

Editor's Note:  Earlier this year MHCO passed significant changes to Oregon's abandonment law in the Oregon Legislature.  To assist MHCO Members with these changes, MHCO has developed three new forms as a result of the new abandonment law:  The new forms are: MHCO Form 31A "Declaration of Intent"; MHCO Form 31B "Declaration of Compliance"; and MHCO Form 31C "Declaration of Sale".  Attorneys Phil Querin and Mark Busch provided input as well as the Oregon Department of Revenue.  Below is Phil Querin's explanation of the changes to Oregon's abandonment law.  Further clarification will be provided in the 2016 MHCO Management Training Seminars and future "Question and Answer" sessions with Phil Querin.

Current Oregon Law. ORS 90.675(14) provides that following the public or private sale of an abandoned home, a landlord may deduct from the proceeds of the sale the reasonable or actual costs of notice, storage and sale and the unpaid rent. If any funds remain, the landlord is required to remit the excess proceeds to the county tax collector to the extent of any unpaid property taxes and assessments owed.1 

However, if one of the following circumstances apply, the county tax collector is required to cancel all unpaid property taxes and assessments: 

1. The landlord destroys or disposes of the home after a determination from the assessor that its current market value is $8,000 or less; 

2. The sale was held, but there was no buyer of the home; 

3. There is a buyer of the home; its current market value is $8,000 or less; but the 

   proceeds of sale are insufficient to satisfy the unpaid property taxes and assessments owed after distribution of the proceeds for the landlord's actual cost of notice, storage and sale and unpaid rent; or 

4. The landlord buys the home at the sale; its current market value is more than $8,000; the proceeds of sale are insufficient to satisfy the unpaid property taxes and assessments; and, the landlord disposes of the home. 

New Oregon Law. No. 4 above has been stricken,2 and the following rules (found at ORS 90.675(14)(d) and (e) and (15) of HB 3016,) will apply. On January 1, 2016, if the landlord follows these new laws, the tax collector and Department of Revenue (collectively tax collector") will be required to cancel unpaid taxes in the following additional circumstances: 

1. The landlord sells the home to a buyer who intends to occupy it in the community in which it is currently located

The short" session of the legislature begins this coming Monday

Question: Our rental agreement provides that rent is due on the first of the month, and late on the fifth. Rent may either be mailed to, or dropped off at, the manager's office. Occasionally, we have residents mailing their rent checks on or before the fourth (based upon the postmark), but they are not received until the fifth or later. In those where we receive the rent check on the fifth or thereafter, can we assess a late charge?

Related to this, after we issue a 72-hour notice, we have a separate (unrelated) company that takes over, preparing, filing, and serving the eviction complaint. Frequently, before the first appearance, the resident agrees to pay the rent. When that happens, what court costs and fees are we entitled to recover?

By Michael G. McClory

Attorney, Bullard Law. 

Mike can be reached at mmcclory@bullardlaw.com

While you were attending last weekend's record opening for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Congress approved and President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, which provides for $1.14 trillion in federal spending through the end of the fiscal year.  The 2016 Budget Act received bipartisan support (though it did not have universal support) and averts a government shutdown until at least October 2016 (just before the next presidential election).  

Rolled into the 2016 Budget Act's spending appropriations is the following spending prohibition:

SEC. 542.  None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used

Question: We have an RV park with quite a few long-term tenants. Our problem tenant ("Kris") has been here for for what seems like ages. This time every year around the holidays, Kris has a whole group of elves stay with him for a couple of months and they never register as guests. He claims he needs a "reasonable accommodation" for them because he has a bad back and they help him do a lot of lifting. He also brings in a herd of reindeer (Kris doesn't have a pet agreement), and he parks a red sleigh on the street (where parking isn't allowed). What can we do?