DO Enforce Rules to Prevent Harassment, Maintain Safety - DON’T Ignore Accommodation Requests Related to Disruptive Conduct 

Take steps to enforce rules to prevent harassment or other misconduct by or against residents. If a resident complains about being harassed by other residents based on his race or other protected class, then you should take the complaints seriously. Fair housing experts advise that you should investigate the complaints and, if true, take action to stop the harassment.

If a resident with a disability is harassing or otherwise threatening his neighbors, then you may take action, but only after considering the ramifications of fair housing law.

DO Consider Accommodation Requests for Assistance Animals - DON’T Refuse to Make Any Exception to Pet Policies

It’s particularly challenging to handle requests for assistance animals by residents who’ve been caught violating your pet policies. The longer the resident has been breaking the rules, the more you may wonder whether he’s unfairly trying to pass off his pet as an assistance animal.

However reasonable your suspicions, it’s necessary to set them aside and handle the request as a request for a reasonable accommodation.

Mark Busch: Changing Rules in an RV Park

This article is informational only and is not intended as legal advice.  Always consult with a competent attorney before undertaking any legal action.

The question often arises whether and how RV park landlords can change and update their park rules.  For manufactured home parks, the answer is clear – landlords can issue a rule change notice that allows tenants to vote on the proposed new rules (MHCO Form 60 – Notice of Rule Change).  However, there are no similar procedures in an RV park.

 

Rule changes for RV parks and other non-manufactured home tenancies are governed by

DO Apply Community Rules Fairly and Consistently - DON’T Make Exceptions for Residents Simply Because You Like Them

 

Focus on fairness and consistency when dealing with residents who break the rules. It’s unlawful to treat residents differently because of their race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, disability—or any other characteristic protected under state or local fair housing law. That means you can’t single anyone out for breaking the rules because he—or his family members or guests—are members of a protected class.

Even when you have solid evidence that a resident has violated the lease or your community’s rules, he may try to turn the tables by questioning your motives. Unless you’ve applied the rules fairly and consistently, you could suddenly find yourself on the defense if it looks as though you’re acting in a discriminatory manner.

Phil Querin Q&A: Use of Storage Agreements

Question:  A contractor has been buying homes in the community, placing them on Storage Agreement and flipping after improvements.  Can a park owner deny a contractor a storage agreement based on a previous bad track-record in the community - shoddy improvements, bad dealings with new purchasers etc.  Are there any grounds to deny a contractor a storage agreement?  Can the park owner increase the storage fee during the contract and if so with how much notice?  If the property is not being maintained, how does the park owner terminate the storage agreement?

 

Answer: Storage agreements are not specifically defined under ORS 90.100 in the Landlord-Tenant Act. They are addressed in ORS 90.425 and 90.675, the abandonment statutes that pertain to the storage of a tenants personal or real property (respectively).

DO Be Prepared for Reasonable Accommodation Requests - DON’T Ignore Disability-Related Requests for Exceptions to the Rules

 

Be prepared to handle requests for reasonable accommodations when residents are caught breaking the rules. It may sound like an excuse, but it should alert you to your obligations under fair housing law to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. The FHA requires communities to make exceptions to rules and policies as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities when doing so is necessary to give them an equal opportunity to use and enjoy their dwelling.

And don’t be thrown off by what the resident says or when he says it. Whenever a resident raises a disability-related reason for violating the lease or community rules, you should treat it as a reasonable accommodation request.

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