2023 Mobilehome residency laws and important resident protection programs for SUNCREST RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION.
Mobilehome Assistance Center
California Department of Housing :: How to Submit a Complaint
Choose Complaint Type
Mobilehome Assistance Center (HCD MAC 418) CLICK HERE
The Mobilehome Assistance Center receives and processes complaints from the public and from public officials related to living in manufactured homes and mobilehomes, as well as employee housing facilities and factory-built housing. Staff provides information, coordination, referrals, and other assistance to help resolve these complaints.
Complaint Types
Mobilehome and Special Occupancy Park
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues regarding health and safety within mobilehome parks and special occupancy (RV) parks.
- Examples: Accumulation of garbage/debris, substandard mobilehome, sewage spills, additions or alterations without proper permits.
Employee Housing Facility
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues regarding health and safety violations within privately-owned and operated employee housing.
- Examples: Substandard condition of living quarters, lack of heat, maintenance issues.
Mobilehome Residency Law
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues within mobilehome parks that are violations of the California Civil Code.
- Examples: Illegal grounds for eviction, failure to provide proper notice of rent increase, no written rental agreement between the park and mobilehome owner.
Manufactured Home Sales and Warranty
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues regarding failure to honor warranty, improper installation, false advertising, illegal sales, escrow violations, non-receipt of title, contract disputes, fraud or misrepresentation, unlicensed sales activity, and other illegal activities by HCD licensees and non-HCD licensees.
- Examples: Failure to itemize cash price of accessories or services on the sales contract, failure to open escrow and deposit within five (5) days, failure to disclose known issues, selling noncompliant or illegally altered manufactured homes.
Factory-Built Housing Defect
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues regarding factory-built housing construction defects. Owner may request assistance where there is believed to be a failure to meet the required building and design requirements for factory-built housing systems or components.
- Examples: Violations regarding allegations of non-compliance with the California Building Standards Code, as it pertains to the factory construction or transportation.
Manufactured Home Construction Defect
- File a Request for Assistance / Complaint for issues regarding construction defects on manufactured homes.
- New manufactured home has a defective electrical system. Newly purchased manufactured home has plumbing leaks.
How to Submit a Complaint
You can submit a complaint by using any of the following options.
Online
Visit our online portal to submit your complaint online.
Print and Mail a Form
Download, print, and complete the appropriate complaint form below.
- Mobilehome Parks — Request for Assistance (PDF) / Instructions (PDF)
- Parques de Casasmóviles — Solicitud Para Ayuda (PDF) / Instrucciones (PDF)
- Manufactured Home Sales and Warranty — Request for Assistance (PDF) / Instructions (PDF)
- Ventas de Casas Prefabricadas — Solicitud Para Ayuda (PDF) / Instrucciones (PDF)
- Employee Housing — Request for Assistance (PDF) / Instructions (PDF)
- Viviendas de Empleados — Solicitud Para Ayuda (PDF) / Instrucciones (PDF)
- Mobilehome Residency Law — Request for Assistance / Complaint (PDF)
- La Ley de Residencia de Casas Móviles — Solicitud Para Ayuda / Queja (PDF)
- Factory-Built Housing Defect — No form available. To submit a factory-built housing defect complaint, please visit HCD’s online portal to submit your complaint online or send a written description of the complaint to MHAssistance@hcd.ca.gov or to the address below.
- Manufactured Home Construction Defect — No form available. To submit a manufactured housing defect complaint, please visit HCD’s online portal to submit your complaint online or send a written description of the complaint to MHAssistance@hcd.ca.gov or to the address below.
After completing the appropriate complaint form, return it to the Department by U.S. postal service to:
HCD — Mobilehome Assistance Center
P.O. Box 278690
Sacramento, CA 95827
Request a Printed Form
You may request a complaint form be mailed to you via U.S. postal service by contacting the Mobilehome Assistance Center in one of the following ways:
Call: 1.800.952.8356
Email: MHAssistance@hcd.ca.gov
Write:
HCD — Mobilehome Assistance Center
P.O. Box 278690
Sacramento, CA 95827
After completing the appropriate complaint form, return it to the Department by U.S. postal service at the address above.
What Happens After You Submit a Complaint
The Mobilehome Assistance Center reviews each complaint to determine if HCD has jurisdiction. If HCD has jurisdiction, the complaint will be referred for investigation. If HCD does not have jurisdiction, the Mobilehome Assistance Center will forward the complaint to the appropriate enforcement agency or refer the complainant to other assistance resources. In all cases, the complainant will be notified of the action taken.
The City of Palm Desert Mobile Home Rent Review Program
Mobile Home Rent Review Program
A. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter (e.g., a fixed-term rental agreement or a hardship rent adjustment), the maximum rent that a mobile home park owner may request, demand or receive for a mobile home space shall not exceed the monthly rent that was charged for that space on base date (as defined below) adjusted up or down for the change in the cost of living since the base date. In other words, the maximum rent chargeable will increase or decrease over time based on fluctuations (up or down) in the cost of living. As the cost of living goes up relative to the base date, the maximum chargeable rent will also go up; as the cost of living goes down, the maximum chargeable rent will also go down. If the cost of living remains constant, then the maximum chargeable rent also remains constant. In implementing this section, a mobile home park owner shall not increase — nor be obligated to decrease — the rent charged for any space more than once during any twelve-month period, unless an additional increase or decrease is expressly authorized or ordered by the rent review board.
B. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no rent increase in a given twelve-month period shall cause the previous rent charged for the space to increase more than six percent unless expressly permitted by the rent review board. If an increase of more than six percent would occur, then the excess increase may be carried forward for a period of up to eight years, until utilized to allow an automatic, annual increase up to six percent unless expressly permitted by the rent review board. If an increase of more than six percent would occur, then excess increase may be carried forward for a period of up to eight years, until utilized to allow an automatic, annual increase up to six percent in any future years in which the permitted increase in the rent would be less than six percent.
C. The “base date” shall be April 28, 1983, for any space that was rented on that date and not governed by a fixed-term rental agreement permitted by this chapter. For all other spaces, the base date shall be the first date after April 28, 1983, that the space was rented and not governed by a fixed-term rental agreement permitted by this chapter.
D. Changes in the cost of living shall always measure from the base date. For purposes of this section, the change in the cost of living shall be measured by three-quarters (seventy-five percent) of the net change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the base date until any subsequent date in the present. The CPI used for the subsequent date shall be the most recent CPI published before that date.
E. Raising rent during a twelve-month period in accordance with this section shall not prevent a park owner from subsequently filing a hardship rent petition during that same period. Nor shall the filing of a hardship rent petition preclude the subsequent imposition of an otherwise allowable rent increase while the petition is pending, provided any such increase is brought to the attention of the city official or board considering the petition. At all times during the hardship petition process, the most recent CPI date shall be used.
F. Nonimposition of a rent increase permitted by this section during a twelve-month period shall not affect the maximum rent that a park owner may charge in a later twelve-month period. But a park owner may never retroactively collect rent from tenants that could have been charged but was not. That is, rent increases allowed by this section shall only apply prospectively. (Ord. 800 § 3, 1996; Ord. 456 § 2, 1986)
California Laws
The City of Palm Desert implemented its Mobile Home Rent Review Program in 1986 and updated it in 2016 under Ordinance No. 1305A. The intent of the program is to help minimize the impact of high monthly rents for low to moderate-income families and seniors living in mobile home parks.
The City's Rent Review Board consists of three members and two alternates who meet on an as-needed basis to receive and review petitions submitted for consideration of a Hardship or Capital Improvement rent increase and other issues related to rent control. Prior to a Commission meeting, a Notice of Hearing is mailed to both park owners and the park HOA, as well as legal representatives on any issue to be considered by the Commission relating to the program and/or increases. The city currently has four mobile home parks under the rent control program: Silver Spur Mobile Manor, Palm Desert Mobile Estates, Indian Springs Mobile Home Park, and Suncrest Country Club.
All park owners desiring to increase park rents for either hardship or capital improvements must request, complete, and submit a petition prior to rent increase. Once staff has received the petition and associated fees, a public hearing will be held before the Commission to consider the requested rent increase. For more information on Palm Desert’s Mobile Home Rent Review Program, please call (760) 776-6412 or Email housing@cityofpalmdesert.org
City of Palm Desert MOBILE HOME PARK RENT REVIEW. Please Click on the links below:
Chapter 9.50 MOBILE HOME PARK RENT REVIEW
------------------------------------------------
Discrimination and retaliation prohibited.
It is unlawful for a mobile home park owner, or any agent or representative of the owner, to discriminate or retaliate against any person because of their exercise of any rights provided by this chapter. Such discrimination or retaliation shall be subject to suit for actual and punitive damages, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees. Such discrimination or retaliation shall also be an available defense in an unlawful detainer action. In any action in which such discrimination or retaliation is an issue, the burden shall be on the mobile home park owner to prove that the dominant motive for the act alleged to be discriminatory or retaliatory was in fact other than discriminatory or retaliatory. (Ord. 728 § 2, 1993; Ord. 456 § 2, 1986)
CLICK HERE : Palm Desert, California Municipal Code
For more information please call (760) 776-6412 or Email housing@cityofpalmdesert.org
Enforcement Jurisdiction:
Housing and Community Department ("HCD") has enforcement jurisdiction of mobile home parks and their uses.
*HCD is the primary agency for assistance on the status of the park and related questions. The toll free number and website link to HCD can be found at: California Department of Housing and Community Development.
or Call: (800) 952-8356
or Email CodesInquiries@hcd.ca.gov
or
Enforcement Jurisdiction:
The Fair Housing Council of Riverside County
*If you have any questions, would like more information about fair housing laws, or feel that you have been discriminated against, please contact the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc.
Phone: 1-951-682-6581
Email: fhcrc@fairhousing.net
www.https://fairhousing.net/contact-us/
For questions concerning property management operations, responsibilities and how to address them, the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County offers services to both landlords and tenants to help resolve disputes arising from tenancy.
GSMOL : Golden State Manufactured-home Owners League:
Why Get Organized?
The best thing that manufactured-home owners can do to help themselves is to get organized!
Many park residents will not be motivated to form any kind of organization unless the wolf is already at the door. However, in every park there are at least a few people who care – residents who are concerned about protection of homeowners’ rights, or who simply want to make the park a better place in which to live. In many cases, a residents’ organization has been successfully started by a small group such as this who meet together and work out ways to promote their group to the rest of the residents. So, the first thing to do: find the People Who Care!
What kind of group should your residents try to form – a Homeowners Association, or a GSMOL Chapter? See the chart below for the differences between these kinds of residents’ organizations. Each type of organization has its advantages over the other type. It is easiest to form a GSMOL Chapter because you will have the help of local GSMOL leaders. However, in order to be prepared to buy your park should the opportunity arise, forming a simple HOA (which can be registered now and set up as a nonprofit organization later) will save the trouble of trying to put it together quickly when the park goes up for sale. The two groups can have officers in common, but must have separate Bylaws and treasuries. It is good for the groups to work out a plan stating which group is going to do what, so that they don’t step on each others’ toes.
California Department of Housing and Community Development
HCD : Mobilehome Park Maintenance Inspections
DIVISION 13. HOUSING [17000 - 19997] ( Division 13 enacted by Stats. 1939, Ch. 60. )
PART 2.1. MOBILEHOME PARKS ACT [18200 - 18700] ( Part 2.1 added by Stats. 1967, Ch. 1056. )
18400.1. (a) In accordance with subdivision (b), the enforcement agency shall enter and inspect mobilehome parks, as required under this part, with a goal of inspecting at least 5 percent of the parks per year, to ensure enforcement of this part and the regulations adopted pursuant to this part. The enforcement agency’s inspection shall include an inspection of the exterior portions of individual manufactured homes and mobilehomes in each park inspected. Any notices of violation of this part shall be issued pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 18420).
(b) In developing its mobilehome park maintenance inspection program, the enforcement agency shall inspect the mobilehome parks that the enforcement agency determines have complaints that have been made to the enforcement agency regarding serious health and safety violations in the park. A single complaint of a serious health and safety violation shall not automatically trigger an inspection of the entire park unless upon investigation of that single complaint the enforcement agency determines that there is a violation and that an inspection of the entire park is necessary.
(c) This part does not allow the enforcement agency to issue a notice for a violation of existing laws or regulations that were not violations of the laws or regulations at the time the mobilehome park received its original permit to operate, or the standards governing any subsequent permit to construct, or at the time the manufactured home or mobilehome received its original installation permit, unless the enforcement agency determines that a condition of the park, manufactured home, or mobilehome endangers the life, limb, health, or safety of the public or occupants thereof.
(d) Not less than 30 days prior to the inspection of a mobilehome park under this section, the enforcement agency shall provide individual written notice of the inspection to the registered owners of the manufactured homes or mobilehomes, with a copy of the notice to the occupants thereof, if different than the registered owners, and to the owner or operator of the mobilehome park and the responsible person, as defined in Section 18603.
(e) At the sole discretion of the enforcement agency’s inspector, a representative of either the park operator or the mobilehome owners may accompany the inspector during the inspection if that request is made to the enforcement agency or the inspector requests a representative to accompany him or her. If either party requests permission to accompany the inspector or is requested by the inspector to accompany him or her, the other party shall also be given the opportunity, with reasonable notice, to accompany the inspector. Only one representative of the park owner and one representative of the mobilehome owners in the park may accompany the inspector at any one time during the inspection. If more than one representative of the mobilehome owners in the park requests permission to accompany the inspector, the enforcement agency may adopt procedures for choosing that representative.
(f) The enforcement agency shall coordinate a preinspection orientation for mobilehome owners and mobilehome park operators with the use of an audiovisual presentation furnished by the department to affected local enforcement agencies. Enforcement agencies shall furnish the audiovisual presentation to park operators and mobilehome owner representatives in each park subject to inspection not less than 30 days prior to the inspection. Additionally, it is the Legislature’s intent that the department shall, where practicable, conduct live presentations, forums, and outreach programs throughout the state to orient mobilehome owners and park operators on the mobilehome park maintenance inspection program and their rights and obligations under the program.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 835, Sec. 1. (SB 46) Effective January 1, 2019. Repealed as of January 1, 2024, by its own provisions.)
California Department of Housing and Community Development
HCD : Mobilehome Park Maintenance Inspections
HCD conducts Mobilehome Park Maintenance (MPM) inspections, California Health and Safety Code section 18400.1, to ensure compliance with health and safety laws. Inspections include the general areas, buildings, equipment, and utility systems of mobilehome parks, each individual lot, and the exterior portions of individual manufactured homes and mobilehomes in each park inspected.
When a "Notice of Planned Inspection" has been posted in a conspicuous location within the mobilehome park, the inspection will be conducted within 30 to 60 days of the "date posted" shown on the Notice of Planned Inspection. At least 30 days prior to the inspection of the mobilehome park, an individual written notice of the inspection will be provided to each resident.
The resources below provide additional, detailed information regarding inspections, violations, and code requirements. The booklets and video are designed to help park owners, operators, and residents living in a park that has been selected prepare for the MPM inspection.