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If you're a landlord, you may use consumer reports to evaluate rental applications - as long as you follow the provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA is designed to protect the privacy of consumer information report information and to guarantee that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies (CRA's) is as accurate as possible. The FCRA requires landlords who deny a lease based on information in the applicant's consumer report to provide the applicant with an adverse action notice."

What is a Consumer Report?

A consumer report contains information about a person's credit characteristics

(Editors Note: MHCO is fortunate to have over 25 association members who provide a variety of services to manufactured home communities. MHCO strives to maximize associate member's exposure to the broader community membership. All MHCO associate members are invited to provide articles for the MHCO web site. We welcome your involvement - just contact the MHCO office.)

By Todd Montgomery Simmons & Associates Insurance

There are many considerations taken into account by Insurance companies when looking into insuring a Mobile Home Park. The following are just some of the factors:

- Type of Park:
Are you family friendly, 55 & older, Seasonal, or possibly a combination?

- Management:
Is your park managed by a management company? Do you have an onsite manager? Does the owner visit the park often?

- Rental Units:
Does your park have rental units? Do you require renters to carry renters insurance? Are the rental units inspected inside and out at least annually?

- Utilities:
Is your park on city sewer and water? If on a well, how often is the water tested? Is it tested by an outside independent company? How often is trash disposed of?

- Recreational Facilities:
Playground? Horseshoe pits? Tennis courts? Basketball courts? Weight room or exercise equipment?

- Exposure to water:
Do you have a pool? Does it have a slide or diving board? Is the pool area completely fenced? Are the rules and regulations clearly posted? Are depths marked? Is there safety equipment available? Is there a Jacuzzi or hot tub?

Is there any other exposure to water? (lake, pond, river, etc.)

- Security
Is there a gate at the entrance to your park? Are there security patrols from an outside agency? Are any park activities open to the public?

- Streets:
Are the streets paved? Are there any pot holes, depressions, or major cracks? Do you have speed humps? Are they painted? Is a speed limit posted? Do you have street lights?

- Tree exposure:
Does your park have an exposure to large trees? Are they pruned regularly?

Finally, the two most important factors Insurance companies consider when insuring a Mobile Home Park...

How many spaces?
Gross annual revenue?

Feel free to contact me if anything you have read in this article creates a question for you.

Todd Montgomery
511 Center Street
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 768 - 9706
todd@simmons-ins.com
www.simmons-ins.com

Last month the manufactured housing landlord-tenant coalition met to continue discussing issues in preparation for the 2015 Oregon Legislative session. As mentioned earlier, the coalition is a group of manufactured housing community interests - tenant organizations, landlord associations, banking interests, builders - that meet once a month to discuss industry issues. Manufactured Housing Communities of Oregon has been participating in the coalition since the 1990s.

It's the Dog Days of Summer - As 2015 Legislative Issues Get Legs

There are four issues that the coalition is discussing: 1. Back taxes owed on abandoned MHs (ORS 90.675 (14) 2. Who collects the $6 assessment on manufactured homes to fund the Manufactured Communities Resource Center (MCRC) 3. Revising ORS 90.630 regarding the cure period for ongoing versus discrete violations 4. Manufactured home sales conflicts with owner sales versus tenant sales

1. Back taxes owed on abandoned MHs (ORS 90.675 (14)

The negotiations on this statute focus on the situation where the current market value of the abandoned home is more than $8,000 and the proceeds of the sale don't cover the landlord costs and the past due taxes that have accumulated. In these cases, the financial incentive for the landlord when there is no purchaser at the abandonment sale is to destroy the home. Most community owners are not willing to pay $12,000 in taxes for a $9,000 home.

MHCO's position is to reduce this tax burden on the community owner as much as possible either by completely eliminating the tax obligation or reducing it as far as possible. The county tax assessors proposed eliminating up to $8,000 of the tax liability. MHCO's position is that the amount waived needs to be higher so that the economics of keeping abandoned homes in the community pencils out. We will be back in August negotiating this issue further, but it remains MHCO's top legislative issue.

2. Who collects the $6 assessment on manufactured homes to fund the Manufactured Communities Resource Center (MCRC)

Currently, ORS 446.525 imposes an annual $6 assessment on all manufactured homes which are taxed as personal property, meaning that they are not real estate (on land with joint ownership of the MH and the land or in a co-op or with a 20 year lease). The county assessor is responsible for collecting the assessment and forwarding the revenue to OHCS for MCRC. The concept is to collect this special assessment with the annual property taxes owed. This applies regardless of whether the MH is in a park.

MCRC estimates that the special assessment plus the $25 registration fee for all parks generated $443,051 in FY 2013 and $422,627 in FY 2014.

There are an estimated 63,000 MHs in parks; at $6 apiece, that would be $378,000/year. But the assessment is paid by non-park MHs, too.

In the past couple of years Multnomah County and some other counties have expressed a desire to get out of the business of collecting the $6 assessment. Multnomah County is drafting a bill for the 2015 Legislative Session exempting it from having to collect the $6 assessment

County tax collectors feel that, as a matter of principle, they should only collect taxes for their costs and for other local governments. This is not a tax.

Some manufactured home residents don't pay property taxes, either because of the senior tax deferral program or because of the ORS 308.250 cancellation of taxes on low-value (currently $15,500) MHs. That means the county bills those residents only for the $6. And, with the early payment 3 percent discount, the actual amount owed is only $5.82. The counties' cost to collect this amount exceeds the amount collected.

The coalition discussed increasing the assessment to $10 per manufactured home and possibly use some of the extra money to compensate the counties or MCRC to cover the cost to collect. Another proposal would expand this fee to floating homes. MHCO's position is to avoid having the community owner collecting the assessed fee from the residents and then passing the accumulated fees on to the Oregon Department of Revenue. The issue remains open to further negotiation.

3. Revising ORS 90.630 regarding the cure period for ongoing versus discrete violations

Manufactured home community residents who own and occupy their MHs and rent the space under the home in a community can only have their tenancies terminated for cause. Those causes are defined, to some degree, in ORS 90.630. The statute allows the tenant to cure the cause, within the 30 day notice period, and thereby avoid the termination. In some cases, the result of this cure right means that a tenant may continue the conduct which is the cause up until the 30th day.

Over the years, many of you have contacted the MHCO office to discuss 30 day notices of eviction and in the process expressed frustration that residents who where disturbing the peaceful enjoyment of other residents or where violating the rules and regulations in the community could continue living in the community till the end of the 30 day period after the notice had been served. As many of you have said to me on the phone, So basically they can misbehave for 30 days and we can't do a thing...."

We continue to discuss what conduct should be stopped immediately and what conduct should be allowed the full 30 days to cure. Phil Querin has suggested using the distinction that anything that materially impacts other residents should require a shorter period to cure. Some feel this is too subjective - where do you draw the line: failure to mow grass; large campaign sign for Kitzhaber; loud music; foul odors coming out of a home etc.

We will continue to discuss this issue in the months ahead. MHCO recognizes this is an important issue to both community owners/managers and residents. It remains one of our top legislative priorities.

4. Manufactured home sales conflicts with owner sales versus tenant sales

There have been some alleged abuses in situations where residents are trying to sell their homes and the community owner has other homes in the community that he/she are selling. Some residents claim that this inherent conflict results in their homes either not selling or selling at a substantially reduced price.

The State of Oregon has been investigating this through the Department of Consumer and Business Services. It is not clear what action the State wants to take - or other legislators for that matter. One of the proposals considered by the state is to prohibit issuance of any type of Manufactured Structure Dealer license to any mobile home or manufactured dwelling park owner or onsite park management representative. Other less draconian measures would be to adopt a "best practices".

Needless to say this is an issue that MHCO that will be watched closely. MHCO opposes eliminating your ability sell homes in your community. This may be an issue we will have to fight in the 2015 Oregon Legislative Session.

The Manufactured Housing Landlord - Tenant Coalition (negotiations) convened again the end of last month (August 2014) to further discuss a number of issues that may potentially be adopted into legislation in 2015.  Here is a summary of the latest developments on several key issues.

The $6 Assessment.  The coalition spent a considerable amount of time discussing the $6.00 assessment that community residents pay to finance Oregon Housing & Community Services Manufactured Communities Resource Center.  Oregon counties are increasingly not collecting property taxes on homes in communities and hence the $6 assessment is not being collected.  Both the residents and the agency are concerned about continued funding.  MHCO is concerned that community owners will be given the responsibility of collecting the assessment from the residents and handing it over to the government.  MHCO is adamantly opposed to landlord's becoming tax/assessment collectors.

The tax assessor association floated the idea of the residents paying more - sort of a surcharge on the assessment in order to cover the cost of the counties in collecting the assessment.  No decision was made on this issue - we will see what the next meeting brings.

Abandoned Manufactured Homes and Unpaid Taxes.  The coalition continued to discuss ORS 90.675.  Currently, Oregon law causes a landlord to throw or give away a manufactured home worth more than $8,000 if the back taxes exceed the value of the home. The back taxes owed on some abandoned MHs may be significant, even exceeding the value of the manufactured home. In these cases, the financial incentive for the landlord, assuming there is no purchaser at the required abandoned property sale, is to destroy or give away the manufactured home. This creates a vacant space in the park.

MHCO would like to see all taxes on an abandoned manufactured home waived.  The tax assessor association proposed waiving the first $8,000 of taxes owed to be waived if the landlord buys the home.  At this time the MHCO is considering options to raise that amount or to completely waive the taxes owed.  Again, no final decision has been made and negotiations continue.

Cure Period for Discrete vs. Ongoing Violations.  As we have mentioned in earlier legislative updates, MHCO would like to see the 30-day cure" (ORS 90.630) period reviewed with some changes.  Allowing a resident to continue disruptive behavior for 29 days and then correct the behavior just before the 30 day "cure" period ends does not seem fair to the other residents in the community and management.  We continue to discuss options.  MHCO has proposed  that anything that impacts the resident's "peaceful enjoyment" should require a shorter "cure" period.  Again - no final decision was made and we will continue to discuss this at the next coalition meeting.

Manufactured Home Sales - Conflict Community Owner Sales vs. Resident Sales.  The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) has been investigating conflicts between community owner sales of homes and resident sales.  DCBS has met with the coalition on several occasions but no specific proposal has been put on the table.  This is the issue that MHCO is most concerned about as we head into the 2015 Legislative session.  There will be a more in depth discussion on this issue at the next meeting.  MHCO will keep you posted as this issue develops.

Fixes to Resident Purchase.   There are several issues that have been discovered regarding the resident purchase program (HB 4038) that was passed in the 2014 February session.  Below is a brief summary of the issue and the proposed solutions. 

A. The loophole is in favor of tenants

Elder Abuse in our society is hidden.  For every one case that is reported, 24 cases go unreported (National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Late Life).  There are several factors that contribute to this.  An older adult is reluctant to admit that abuse is happening.  Guilt and shame are silencers in Elder Abuse.  Some folks do not have the capacity to report that abuse is happening.  This could be a capacity issue but also is impacted by Generational Culture.  Does the older adult know that rape in a marriage is rape? Rape in a marriage was legal until 1976.  Is the older adult comfortable talking about his or her body? Another reason cases go unreported is because no one inquires how an older person is doing with changes in their lives.  For example, when an adult child moves back in with the older person the assumption is it's a positive change.  Does the older person get asked about the change in his or her living situation? Elder abuse can also be physically hidden.  When an older adult is hurt it can go unnoticed because of the belief that bruises and falls are part of the aging process.

While we know that anyone in a trusting relationship with the older person has the potential to be abusive, the dynamic is still predominantly intimate partner violence.  This can be a long term relationship that has had abuse occurring all throughout the history of the relationship.  Another form is a new relationship, possible post-divorce or widowed.  In this relationship an older person may have experienced abuse in the past or this may be his or her first experience with abuse.  Late Onset is a description of a relationship that has changed with an organic condition.  The abusive person could have been controlling and verbally abusive and now is physically abusive.  Or abuse may have not been present in the history of the relationship and now is, due to an organic condition such as dementia or capacity changes.  Another dynamic is a person who was abused in the past and is now abusing the abuser.  Believing, safety planning and collaboration are key in supporting the older survivor.

Take action by not letting the older folks in your lives be invisible.  Try to notice when your older neighbor isn't around or big changes occur in his or her lives.  An adult child moving in, mobility changing, caregivers that aren't consistent or anyone that appears to be controlling the older person's life.  Are the same support folks coming around or has something changed? Try to give that older adult some private space to have a safe conversation.  Often, if the abuser thinks the older adult might be asking for help or telling others about the controlling behaviors, the abuser will retaliate.  This could be punishing, physically and emotionally abusing or further isolation. Connecting with your local Adult Protective Services agency, Domestic Violence Agency and Social Service Senior agencies are a key way to help the older adult.  The collaboration of these agencies can provide protection and support by the way of Elderly/Disabled Persons Abuse Prevention Act, criminal charges, emotional and resource support.

Last week MHCO met with representatives of the Oregon county tax assessors and successfully negotiated the elimination of abandoned home back taxes.

For those you who have been following this issue - earlier this year MHCO set out to make significant changes to ORS 90.675 that requires community owners to pay the back taxes owed on an abandoned home if they want to purchase the home and keep it in their community.  After a lengthy series of meetings with MHCO, the counties agreed to cancel unpaid back taxes on abandoned manufactured homes.

There remain technical issues, but the main hurdle - eliminating the tax obligation - has been resolved.  Here are the details of the agreement -

• No cap on the amount of back taxes to be cancelled.

• The landlord will need to file an affidavit/form (MHCO will work with the county tax assessors on the form which ultimately will be posted on MHCO.ORG). 

• The affidavit/form will state:

• That the landlord has sold or will sell the MH to an unrelated buyer;
• The buyer will live in the MH in the park;
• The sale is an arms-length transaction;
• The amount of the sale price, along with the total of the landlord's claims or costs against the manufactured home, limited to unpaid back rent, sale costs (per ORS 90.675 (13) (a) consists of the reasonable or actual cost of notice, storage for a reasonable period, and sale; presumably this includes attorney fees, but only to do these tasks), and any improvements done by the landlord to the manufactured home as part of the sale.
• The landlord may deduct from any sale proceeds the cost of storage (typically space rent) only for a reasonable period, as necessary to complete the abandonment process, to make any repairs necessary to make the manufactured home saleable, and to sell it.
• The landlord will pay any county warrant fees required for the cancellation
• The landlord will pay any amount from the sale in excess of the landlord's costs (unpaid rent, sale costs, improvement, etc.) to the county for unpaid taxes.  The landlord will be allowed to keep any excess over the unpaid back tax amount.

Later this month there will be further discussions on the details regarding the affidavit and other potential legislative issues.  As with all previous landlord-tenant coalition bills the participants in the negotiations reserve the right not to make a final commitment until the final draft is on the table.  Depending on what is or is not in that final agreement will determine MHCO's final position.  A lot can happen between now and the final draft of a bill - but today we are very happy that we have made significant progress in changing a very onerous statute that impacts every community owner who ends up wanting to buy an abandoned home in their community.

Thanks to everyone from MHCO who worked on these negotiations.  We will keep you posted on legislative developments as move in to the post election/pre legislative world.  Stay tuned!

The Manufactured Housing Landlord Tenant Coalition met earlier this week to continue negotiations on a variety of issues.  Here is a summary of what is moving, what is not and what still needs to be discussed as we prepare for the 2015 Oregon Legislative Session.

Abandoned Manufactured Home and Back Taxes

The coalition further discussed the abandoned home back tax" issue that MHCO negotiated with the Oregon Tax Assessors earlier last month.  The Oregon Department of Revenue expressed concerns about the agreement specifically as it impacts tax revenue from the Oregon Senior Deferral program.  The Oregon Department of Revenue typically has liens on 40 abandoned homes a year.  Moving forward the coalition will need to identify back taxes that are owed to the State of Oregon and back taxes owed to Oregon Counties.  We hope to have proposed language addressing this issue ready next month. 

One additional concern expressed by a MHCO Board Member was clarification of when the community owner acquires the title of the abandoned home.  Community owners will be reluctant to make the necessary improvements in an abandoned home if there is any question regarding the transfer of title.  The general consensus is that this needs to happen early in the process and be defined in statute.

Overall we are pleased that all parties remain committed to eliminating the community owner's responsibility to pay back taxes on an abandoned home. 

Changes to Annual Special Assessment on Park Residents and Community Registration Fee

As we have mentioned in earlier Legislative Updates