Introduction and Background (Part 2 of 2)

As previously mentioned last week, SB 586 was developed by the Manufactured Housing Landlord/Tenant Coalition during 19 meetings (each of approximately 3 hours) from September 2017 through February, 2019. There are several pieces to SB 586; however, this Q&A focuses on the limited mandatory mediation policy together with the $100,000 annual grant the Legislature has authorized be allocated to the Oregon Law Center to assist manufactured and floating home tenants with understanding and enforcing the Oregon Residential and Landlord Tenant Act.

As was reported by Chuck Carpenter during the Legislative session, the goal from MHCO’s perspective, was to use the coalition to get the best possible result considering the political landscape in the Legislature. Bluntly, some of the original ideas proposed by the tenants in the coalition were quite onerous. The end result, however, is a true compromise that is favorable to MHCO landlords, all things considered.

If you would like to learn more about these issues and/or you have particular questions, please join me for my presentation at the 2019 Annual Conference in October. In the meantime here are 17 questions (10 questions were uploaded on 9/4/19.  The remaining 7 were uploaded 9/10/19) and answers that will get you started.

Introduction and Background

SB 586 was developed by the Manufactured Housing Landlord/Tenant Coalition during 19 meetings (each of approximately 3 hours) from September 2017 through February, 2019. There are several pieces to SB 586; however, this Q&A focuses on the limited mandatory mediation policy together with the $100,000 annual grant the Legislature has authorized be allocated to the Oregon Law Center to assist manufactured and floating home tenants with understanding and enforcing the Oregon Residential and Landlord Tenant Act.

As was reported by Chuck Carpenter during the Legislative session, the goal from MHCO’s perspective, was to use the coalition to get the best possible result considering the political landscape in the Legislature. Bluntly, some of the original ideas proposed by the tenants in the coalition were quite onerous. The end result, however, is a true compromise that is favorable to MHCO landlords, all things considered.

If you would like to learn more about these issues and/or you have particular questions, please join me for my presentation at the 2019 Annual Conference in October. In the meantime here are 17 questions (10 uploaded today and the remaining 7 to be uploaded next week) and answers that will get you started.

Question. A resident recently moved out of state.  The landlord wants to mail a non-payment of rent notice, and would like proof that the notice was received by the resident.  Can the landlord mail the notice as a "Certificate of Mailing"?

This month, the Coach’s lesson offers fair housing basic training for anyone newly hired to work at your community. It’s simple to say that fair housing law bans housing discrimination, but there are pitfalls that sometimes lead even seasoned professionals into fair housing trouble. This lesson reviews the basics so that everyone working at your community—regardless of his or her job—understands what’s okay—and not okay—to do or say when interacting with applicants, residents, and guests at your community.

For anyone new to the rental housing industry, fair housing basic training is a must. Fair housing experts warn against allowing new hires to interact with the public until they receive at least some fair housing instruction. “Any company or employer in this industry that doesn’t give fair housing training on Day 1 is at risk,” warns fair housing expert Anne Sadovsky. That applies to all new hires, not just those in your leasing office, says Sadovsky, who recommends mandatory fair housing training on the first day on the job for everyone—including service techs, maintenance workers, landscapers, and housekeeping staff.

No. 1 Question.Can you describe the step by step process of implementing water submetering with respect to the tenant notification and billing process?

Termination of Manager Occupying  A Park-Owned Home

Question: As our on-site community manager is living in a park-owned mobile home (POH), consistent with his job duties, rent free.  His employment paperwork is legal and minimal, and no rental agreement was included in his hire packet.  Each month, he receives a rent credit equal to the total rent & utility charges, so he pays no rent as part of his compensation package.  His pay stub does not include a housing allowance, and he does not pay the company rent for the home.

How do we proceed with termination and eviction?   For future reference what documentation should a community owner have in the employment packet? 

Answer:  Below is the relevant statute. Note it is NOT found in the landlord-tenant law (ORS Chapter 90), so many managers don’t see them; they are found in ORS Chapter 91.

91.120 Eviction of employee; notice required. An employee described in ORS 90.110 (7)[1]may only be evicted pursuant to ORS 105.105 to 105.168 after at least 24 hours’ written notice of the termination of employment or a notice period set forth in a written employment contract, whichever is longer. This section does not create the relationship of landlord and tenant between a landlord and such employee. (Emphasis added.)

So, check your manager’s employment contract to see if it addresses continued occupancy after termination. If it says nothing, then minimum amount of time you must give is 24-hours. The statute couldbe read to mean that the written 24-hour termination of employment is sufficient notice. However, I would suggest that when you terminate the manager you alsoissue a written notice of termination of their occupancy. 

The manager is not a “tenant” for purposes of ORS Chapter 90, so you don’t need to worry about adding three days for mailing etc. I would try to have the termination of employment and the termination of occupancy hand delivered. 

If you have questions about the termination of employment, you should contact an employment attorney. As for the termination of occupancy, all you need to say is the following:

DATE & TIME OF DELIVERY: _________________________

Pursuant to ORS 91.120, please regard this as notice of formal termination of your right of occupancy of [address]:_______________________________________ (“Premises”).  Please vacate the Premises no later than 5:00 PM on the ___ day of ________________, 2019 [Date and Time to be no less than24-hours from above date and time of delivery].  If you have any questions please contact your attorney.

[Signed]

______________________________

Make sure the notice gives a full 24-hours advance notice. Certainly, unless there is reason for not doing so, you can always insert a longer period of time to vacate.  Don’t agree to any extensions without it being in writing.

If the ex-manager refuses to vacate, you may append the notice to the standard court-issue summons and eviction form and have it served. The eviction process would be the same as if you were evicting a park tenant. The only thing different is that ORS Chapter 90 does not apply.

I think it’s important that your employment agreement makes clear that (a) the manager’s occupancy of the park-owned home is conditioned upon their continued employment, and (b) that upon termination of employment you have the right to terminate their occupancy under ORS 91.120 with not less than 24-hours’ notice.

Note that ORS 92.120 assumes the manager doesn’t own the home. If he or she does own the home, it’s a far different equation in my opinion. If that is the case, it would seem their continued right of occupancy should be addressed in the employment agreement, since otherwise, the ex-manager could morph into a “tenant” under ORS Chapter 90 if they started making payments monthly space rent. If you are thinking about hiring a current tenant as a manager, you should consult your attorney for directions as how to fashion the employment agreement.  

[1]Unless created to avoid the application of this chapter, the following arrangements are not governed by this chapter: *** (7) Occupancy by an employee of a landlord whose right to occupancy is conditional upon employment in and about the premises. However, the occupancy by an employee as described in this subsection may be terminated only pursuant to ORS 91.120 (Eviction of employee).

Termination of Manager Occupying  A Park-Owned Home

Question: As our on-site community manager is living in a park-owned mobile home (POH), consistent with his job duties, rent free.  His employment paperwork is legal and minimal, and no rental agreement was included in his hire packet.  Each month, he receives a rent credit equal to the total rent & utility charges, so he pays no rent as part of his compensation package.  His pay stub does not include a housing allowance, and he does not pay the company rent for the home.

How do we proceed with termination and eviction?   For future reference what documentation should a community owner have in the employment packet? 

Fair housing law generally prohibits discrimination based on familial status, but there’s a limited exception that applies to senior housing communities that qualify as “housing for older persons.” To qualify, senior housing communities must meet strict technical requirements. Unless they satisfy those requirements, communities may not enforce “adult only” policies or impose age restrictions to keep children from living there.

The focus of this article is on federal law, but it’s important to check the law in your state governing senior housing communities. The specifics may vary, but you could draw unwanted attention from state enforcement agencies if you exclude families with children without satisfying legal requirements to qualify for the senior housing exemption.

Example: In January 2019, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced a $10,000 settlement in a fair housing complaint alleging familial status discrimination against the owners of a six-unit rental community and a residential real estate brokerage firm that managed the property.

Fair housing advocates filed the complaint, alleging that the property was advertised online as an “adult complex” and included a restriction of “maximum 2 adults.” During a follow-up call, the property manager reportedly told a tester that children weren’t allowed. DFEH found that the complex wasn’t a senior citizen housing development and that there was cause to believe a violation of state fair housing law had occurred.

“In California, senior housing developments can, with some exceptions, exclude residents under 55 years of age if they have at least 35 units and meet other requirements,” DFEH Director Kevin Kish said in a statement. “All other rental properties violate the law if they categorically exclude families with minor children. By identifying such policies through testing, fair housing organizations such as Project Sentinel play an important role in ensuring that families with children have access to housing.”

In this month’s lesson, we’ll explain what the law requires to qualify for and maintain the senior housing exemption. Then we’ll offer seven rules to help avoid fair housing trouble in senior housing communities. Finally, you can take the Coach’s Quiz to see how much you’ve learned.

This week, the Coach shepherds in the dog days of summer with a lesson on disability-related requests for assistance animals focusing on the most common type—dogs. The law generally allows communities to set their own pet policies, but housing providers must grant reasonable accommodation requests to allow individuals with disabilities to keep assistance animals when necessary to allow them full use and enjoyment of their homes.

Assistance animals can go by many names—service dogs, therapy animals, emotional support animals—and there are different sets of rules on when, where, and what types of animals may be used by individuals with disabilities in various settings. For this lesson, we’ll focus on federal fair housing law—the primary law governing use of assistance animals in multifamily housing communities, and we’ll use the umbrella term—assistance animals—to cover all types of animals that provide assistance to individuals with disabilities.

In this lesson, the Coach explains who qualifies as an individual with a disability and when you must consider making exceptions to your pet policies as a reasonable accommodation so they may keep an assistance animal at the community. Then we’ll suggest eight rules to help you avoid the missteps that often lead to fair housing trouble. 

Question: We have an applicant who was pre-approved for residency, then purchased a home but did not show up to sign the rental agreement or moving into the home. We learned the reason for not showing up was that he had been recently arrested for multiple counts of identity theft and is also being investigated for drug activity.

Question: A community’s security camera taped one of the residents one night cutting the line and stealing the camera.   The landlord wants to give a 30 day notice.  Any issues the landlord should be aware of since it was video-taped?  If the accused resident does nothing wrong again in the community after the 30-day notice has been served - then he gets to stay correct?  Even though he does not return the camera or pay damages?