Seven Reasons for Terminating a Lease

Given the difficulty of moving manufactured homes, the Residency Law protects home owners from arbitrary termination of space leases.  Managers cannot terminate a lease to create space for a new manufactured home purchased from the park owner or a favored dealer. Home owners cannot be forced out of a park because managers dislike them.

Park managers may terminate space leases for only one of seven reasons. They also must provide notices and follow special procedures. Notices must include specific facts including dates, places, witnesses, and circumstances. Managers bear the burden of proof.

Park managers may try to terminate a home owner’s space lease for one of the following seven reasons:

1. Home owners fail to comply with a law or regulation regarding manufactured homes within a reasonable time after receiving a notice from a government agency.
2. Residents behave so badly on the park premises that they substantially annoy other residents.
3. Residents are convicted for prostitution, battery, assault or a felony drug offense if the crime occurred within the park. However, a home owner’s tenancy may not be terminated if the person convicted permanently moves out of the home.
4.  Home owners fail to comply with a rental agreement. Park managers must give home owners written notice of rule violations. Home owners have seven days to adhere to the rule after receiving the notice. If managers send three or more notices to a home owner, they do not need to send additional notices for violations of the same rule.
5. Home owners fail to pay rent, utility charges, or service charges. If the amount due is five days past due, managers may send the home owner a three-day written notice. The three-day notice includes a warning that the home owner must either pay the amount due or vacate the space. Home owners cure the default if they pay the amount due during the three-day period. If home owners fail to cure the default, managers may send a sixty-day written notice to remove the manufactured home from the park. Managers also send this sixty-day notice to other interested parties including lenders. Other interested parties may pay the amount due during the sixty-day notice period and cure the default. If a home owner receives a three-day notice three times or more in a year, managers can send the sixty day notice without first sending a three-day notice. Home owners remain liable for all payments due until the lease ends.
6. Governments use their power of eminent domain and purchase land in a park for a public purpose.
7. Owners decide to change the use of all or a portion of the park. The change of use could be converting the park from a residential to a non-residential use or subdividing and selling spaces to residents instead of leasing spaces. Managers must give home owners a notice that park representatives will appear before a local government board and request a change in use, if required. The notice must be provided at least fifteen days before the meeting. Notices should explain the type of change requested. If the local government approves the change in use, park managers must give home owners a six-month termination of tenancy notice. If local government approval is not required, managers have to provide home owners a twelve-month termination of tenancy notice.

^{Civil Code Sections 798.55, 798.56, 798.57 & 798.58.
Copyright - Carl Eric Leivo, Ph.D.}