CHAPTER 198

94-H 8662A am

Approved Jul. 8, 1994.

AN ACT RELATING TO MOBILE AND MANUFACTURED HOMES

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Sections 31-44-1 and 31-44-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 31-44 entitled "Mobile and Manufactured Homes" are hereby amended to read as follows:

{ADD 31-44-1. Definitions. -- ADD} As used in this chapter:

(a) "Mobile and manufactured home" means a detached residential unit designed:

(1) for a long term occupancy and containing sleeping accommodations, a flush toilet and a tub or shower bath and kitchen facilities, and having both permanent plumbing and electrical connections for attachment to outside systems;

(2) to be transported on its own wheels or on a flatbed or other trailer or detachable wheels; and

(3) to be placed on pads, piers or tied down, at the site where it is to be occupied as a residence complete and ready for occupancy, except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations and connection to utilities systems.

(b) "Mobile and manufactured home park" or "park" means a plot of ground upon which four (4) or more mobile and manufactured homes, occupied for residential purposes are located.

(c) "Mobile and manufactured home space or lot" means a plot of ground within a mobile and manufactured home park designed for the accommodation of one (1) mobile and manufactured home.

(d) "Licensee" means any person or agent licensed under section 31-44-1.6 thereof who is directly or indirectly engaged in the business of selling mobile and manufactured homes or who operates and maintains a mobile and manufactured home park under the provisions of this chapter.

(e) "Resident" means an owner or renter occupying a mobile and manufactured home in a mobile and manufactured home park with the consent of the owner as defined in subsection (g) of this section.

(f) "Owner" means a licensee or permittee or any person who owns, operates, or maintains a mobile and manufactured home park.

(g) "Fee schedule" means an itemized list of fees for goods or services sold or performed by a mobile and manufactured home park licensee including, but not limited to, the entrance fee, hook-up fee, and maintenance fee, if any.

(h) "Hook-up fee" means a reasonable fee for the services required to install a mobile and manufactured home on a mobile and manufactured home space or lot. Such charge shall include the cost of connecting water and sewer lines, electrical connections, tie-downs, removal of wheels or axles, steps, if necessary, and other necessary services, including but not limited to the creation of new pads or piers.

(i) "Reprisal" means any act taken against the resident(s) which is intended as a penalty for any protected lawful action taken by said resident(s).

(j) "Protected lawful action" means any report of a violation of this chapter, or of any applicable building or health code, or any other justified complaint to a governmental authority, or any other justified lawful act by the resident(s) or prospective resident(s).

(k) "Entry requirements" means any written, nondiscriminatory criteria for resident selection incorporated into the rules and regulations of a mobile and manufactured home park which are equally applied by the licensee to all purchasers and prospective residents.

(l) "Standards for mobile and manufactured homes" means any written, nondiscriminatory minimum specifications for structural soundness, safety, and habitability adopted by the commission or any other government agency.

(m) "Commission" means the mobile and manufactured home commission created and established as an advisory body pursuant to this chapter.

(n) "Security deposit" means a sum not to exceed the monthly rental which a licensee may require a resident of a rented mobile or manufactured home to deposit as security in case of damage caused by the resident in excess of ordinary wear and tear.

(o) "Prospective resident" means an applicant for admission to a mobile and manufactured home park who is ready, willing, and able to buy a mobile and manufactured home owned and offered for sale by a licensee or resident, who is able to meet the entrance requirements of the rules of said park.

(p) "Department" means the department of business regulation.

{ADD (q) "Household" means one (1) or more persons occupying a housing unit. ADD}

{ADD 31-44-3.1. Sale of mobile home parks -- Tenants association right of first refusal. -- ADD} In any instance in which a mobile home park owner has been sent a certified letter from an incorporated home owners' association indicating that such association has at least fifty-one (51%) per cent of the home owner {DEL s DEL} {ADD households ADD} residing within said park as members and has articles of incorporation specifying all rights and powers, including the power to negotiate for, acquire and operate the mobile home park on behalf of the member residents, then, before a mobile home park may be sold for any purpose and before it may be leased for any purpose that would result in a discontinuance, the owner shall notify said association by certified mail return receipt requested of any bona fide offer that the owner intends to accept, to buy the park or to lease it for a use that would result in a discontinuance. The park owner shall also give notice by certified mail return receipt requested to the incorporated home owners' association of any intention to sell or lease the park for a use which will result in a discontinuance within fourteen (14) days of any advertisement or other public notice by the owner or his agent that the park is for sale or the land upon which the park is located is for lease.

Said notice of pending bona fide sale from the owner must contain at a minimum the following if known and available and applicable to the sale:

(1) An affidavit from the buyer or lessee stating the offered purchase price or offered lease payment;

(2) the terms of seller financing, including the amount, the interest rate and the amortization rate thereof;

(3) the terms of assumable financing, if any, including the amount, the interest rate and the amortization rate thereof;

(4) the legal description and a statement of appraised or assessed value of property included in any land trade involved in the sale of the park;

(6) a statement that the owner will allow reasonable access to the property by parties involved in the potential purchase including but not limited to the tenants' association, consultants, and lenders;

(7) a statement that the owner will make available to the residents copies of any easements either on or off the property to which the owner is a party and copies of all permits or licenses in force within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents;

(8) a statement that the owner will make available to the residents a survey and legal description of the park, plus an itemized list of monthly operating expenses, utility consumption rates, taxes, insurance and capital expenditures for each of the past three (3) years within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents;

(9) a statement that the owner will make available to the tenants' association the most recent rent roll, a list of tenants, a list of vacant units and a statement of the vacancy rate at the park for the three (3) preceding calendar years within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents;

(10) a statement that the owner will make available to the tenants' association any available data relating to the past and present existence of hazardous waste either on the property or in close proximity within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents;

(11) a statement that the owner will make available to the tenants' association any available data relating to the water, sewer and electrical systems of the park within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents;

(12) a statement that the owner will make available to the tenants' association all income and operating expenses relating to the property to be purchased for the three (3) preceding calendar years within seven (7) days of a signed purchase and sale agreement with the residents and such other information as may be required by the lender; such additional information as required by the lender shall be kept strictly confidential. Any incorporated home owners' association entitled to notice under this section shall have the right to purchase, in the case of a third party bona fide offer to purchase, or to lease in the case of a third party bona fide offer to lease, the said park, provided it meets the same price and the same terms and conditions of any offer of which it is entitled to notice under this section by (1) executing a contract or purchase and sale or lease agreement with the owner within forty-five (45) days of notice of the offer and (2) obtaining any necessary financing or guarantees within an additional one hundred thirty-five (135) days. No owner shall unreasonably refuse to enter into, or unreasonably delay the execution of a purchase and sale or lease agreement with a home owners' association that has made a bona fide offer to meet the same price and the same terms and conditions of an offer for which notice is required to be given pursuant to this section. The deposit monies must be credited to the purchase price of the mobile home park. The incorporated home owners' association will use diligent efforts to obtain a commitment for financing from a lender by making immediate application for financing upon signing of the purchase and sale agreement. In the event that the incorporated home owners' association, with the exercise of reasonable efforts, is unable to obtain necessary financing or comply with other contingencies of the purchase and sale agreement, the incorporated home owners' association shall immediately notify the park owner and the deposit shall be returned to the incorporated home owners' association. If the incorporated home owners' association shall default in the performance of its obligations as a purchaser under the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, the park owner shall have, as sole and exclusive remedy for such default, the right to retain the deposit as liquidated damages in full settlement and discharge of all obligations of the incorporated home owners' association without further recourse in law or equity. Failure of the incorporated home owners' association to execute such a purchase and sale agreement or lease within the forty-five (45) day period or to obtain a binding commitment for financing within the one hundred thirty-five (135) day period shall serve to terminate the right of such association to purchase or lease the mobile park home. Residents shall have a total of one hundred eighty (180) days from the receipt of notice of a bona fide sale to complete a transaction under the right of first refusal legislation. Any delays by the seller in supplying requested information as stated in this legislation {ADD or any delay resulting from litigation involving the sale and/or litigation affecting the marketability of the title of the mobile home park ADD} shall result in the same number of days over the due date being added to the one hundred eighty (180) days available to the residents for a right of first refusal purchase {ADD unless such litigation is frivolous and prompted for the sole purpose of delay by the homeowners association ADD} . The time periods herein provided may be extended by agreement of the association and the owner. Nothing herein shall be construed to require an owner to provide financing to any association or to prohibit an owner from requiring an association which is offering to lease a park to have within its possession a sum equivalent to the capitalized value of the proposed rent of the park and requiring that a portion of such sum, of an amount necessary to pay the rent on said park for a period of no greater than two (2) years, be kept in escrow for such purpose during the term of the lease.

The right of first refusal created herein shall inure to a home owners' association for the time periods hereinbefore provided, beginning on the date of notice to the home owners' association. The effective period of such right of first refusal shall apply separately for each substantially different bona fide offer to purchase the park or to lease it for a purpose that would result in a discontinuance, and for each offer the same as an offer made more than three (3) months prior to the later offer; provided, however, that in the case of the same offer made by a prospective buyer who has previously made an offer for which notice to a home owners' association was required by this section, the right of first refusal shall apply only if such subsequent offer is made more than six (6) months after the earlier offer. The right of first refusal shall not apply with respect to any offer received by the owner for which notice to a home owners' association is not required pursuant to this section.

No right of first refusal shall apply to a government taking by eminent domain or negotiated purchase, a forced sale pursuant to a foreclosure, transfer by gift, devise or operation of law, or a sale to a person who would be included within the table of descent and distribution if there were to be a death intestate of a park owner.

In any instance in which the incorporated home owners' association of a mobile home park is not the successful purchaser or lessee of such mobile home park, the seller or lessor of such park shall prove compliance with this section by filing an affidavit of compliance in the official land evidence records of the city or town where the property is located within seven (7) days of the sale or lease of the park.

In any instance in which the incorporated homeowners' association of a mobile home park is the successful purchaser or lessee of such mobile home park, said association shall have the right to distinguish in terms of lease conditions and rent and fees as between members of said association and non-members of said association. For purposes of this chapter, members of a homeowners' association and non-members of a homeowners' association shall not be deemed residents of a similar class.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.


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