Section
Rent Stabilization
152.01 Purpose
152.02 Definitions
152.03 Exemptions
152.04 Maximum permitted rent
152.05 Resident representatives
152.06 Mobile Home Rent Review Commission
152.07 Rent adjustments
152.08 Rent increase by application to the Commission
152.09 Hearings and procedures
152.10 Maximum increase in 12-month period
152.11 Registration, posting and fees
152.12 Rules and guidelines
152.13 Agreements
152.14 Remedies
152.15 Conflicting provisions
152.99 Penalty
Cross-reference:
Use of mobile homes as dwellings, see § 156.027
Required architectural features of single-family dwellings, see § 156.028
Statutory reference:
Mobile homes, see Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 18200 et seq.
RENT STABILIZATION
(A) The conditions which caused the city to adopt previous ordinances of the municipal code regulating rent increased for spaces in mobile home parks continue to exist. Mobile home owners, unlike apartment tenants or residents of other rental stock, are in the unique position of having made a substantial investment in a mobile home for which they must rent a space in a mobile home park. Many have also made investments in landscaping and exterior improvements to the mobile home and the rental space on which it is located. Alternative sites for the relocation of mobile homes are difficult to find due to the shortage of vacant spaces, the restriction on the age, size or style of mobile homes permitted in many parks and requirements related to the installa-tion of mobile homes, including permits, landscaping and site preparation. Thus, if mobile home owners are unable to pay the rent, or relocate for other reasons, they must sell their homes. Excessive rents or uncertainty as to the rent impairs the ability to sell a mobile home and recover the investment, as well as fair return on the homeowner's investment, in the mobile home. At the present time, the cost of moving a mobile home is $10,000 or more and the risk of damage in moving is significant. Typically, mobile homes may not be moved more than once in their lifetime. The creation of mobile home parks and mobile home park spaces require approvals and permits by local government. Neither the city nor any other local political entities in the county have approved the creation of any new mobile home parks or a substantial number of new spaces in many years. In fact, since 1985 a number of mobile home parks in the county have closed, resulting in a dwindling number of mobile home park spaces in the county available for rent. The result of these conditions is the creation of a captive market of mobile home owners and tenants. Consequently, the rental of spaces by mobile home park owners to mobile home residents is a noncompetitive business venture in which, in the absence of price regulation, price gouging is likely to and has occurred. Also, the immobility of mobile homes and the shortage of spaces, in turn, contributes to the imbalance in the bargaining relationship between park owners and mobile home park tenants. Because mobile homes are often owned by senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes, and persons of low and moderate income, exorbitant rent increases fall upon these individuals with particular harshness.
(B) It is the purpose of this subchapter to protect residents of mobile home parks from excessive rent increases, to regulate the size of an allowable space rent increase upon the vacation, either by sale or otherwise, of a resident from a mobile home space in a park, while at the same time providing a just and reasonable return to park owners.
(C) Previous ordinances enacted by the City Council have not been sufficiently protective in terms of the conditions described above. This has resulted in a lack of uniformity in terms of space rent increases as between mobile home parks, lack of a clear standard in determining fair return to the park owner, and price gouging on increasing rents when a resident vacates the space by sale or otherwise.
('81 Code, § 8.48.010)
For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS. The installation of new improvements and facilities and/or the replacement or reconstruction of existing improve-ments and facilities which consist of more than ordinary maintenance or repairs and have a useful life of at least five years. Keeping the streets and common areas in good repair and/or replacing them shall not be considered capital improvement.
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI). The CPI published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Los Angeles-Anaheim-Riverside Metropolitan Area, All Urban Consumers.
HOUSING SERVICES. Services connected with use or occupancy of a rental space in a mobile home park which are provided to residents for the rent charged for a space including, but not limited to, utilities, ordinary repairs, replacement and
maintenance, laundry facilities, recreational facilities, a resident manager, refuse removal, parking street cleaning and maintenance, and other benefits, privileges, facilities or terms and conditions of the tenancy.
MANUFACTURED HOME or MOBILE HOME. A structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width, or 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected on site is 320 or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this definition except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification and complies with the standards established herein. MANUFACTURED HOME includes a mobile home subject to National Manufactured Housing Construc-tion and Safety Act of 1974 (42 USC 5401 et seq.).
(Cal. Health & Safety Code § 18007)
MOBILE HOME PARK. Any area of land within the city where two or more spaces are rented, or held for rent, to accommodate mobile homes used for human habitation, but shall not include parks which rent spaces exclusively to recreational vehicles as that term is defined in Cal. Civ. Code § 799.29.
OWNER. A person or entity who receives or is entitled to receive rent for the use or occupancy of a mobile home park space or an agent or representative authorized to act on behalf of such person or entity.
RENT. The consideration paid for use or occupancy of a mobile home space and the provision or related housing services.
RENT ADMINISTRATOR. The person desig-nated by the City Manager to administer the pro-visions of this subchapter.
RESIDENCY. The right to entitlement of a mobile home owner to use, occupy and place a mobile home on a rental space in a mobile home park and to related housing services.
RESIDENT. An owner of a mobile home who has a residency.
VACANCY. A vacant space, or the sale by a resident of a mobile home in place in a mobile home park to a new owner.
('81 Code, § 8.48.020)
(A) Mobile home spaces in parks constructed after the effective date of the initiative codified in this subchapter;
(B) This subchapter shall not apply to the rent for a space while the space is subject to a lease which exempts that space from rent regulation pursuant to the California Mobile Home Residency Law, Cal. Civ. Code §§ 798 et seq.
('81 Code, § 8.48.030)
(A) An owner shall not charge, demand, accept or retain rent for a mobile home space exceeding the lawful rent in effect on December 31, 1991, except as hereinafter provided. Any rent increases, other than one authorized by state law, charged between the dates of January 1, 1992, and the effective date of the initiative codified in this subchapter shall be rolled back to rent existing on December 31, 1991. No notice of a rent increase may be given by a park owner to the residents until the rent increase has been approved pursuant to this subchapter and no rent increase approved pursuant to this subchapter shall be charged, demanded, accepted or retained until lawful notice of that increase has been given to the affected residents by the park owner.
(B) No owner shall reduce the housing services provided for the rent paid on the effective date of the initiative codified in this subchapter or under any previous ordinance. Any reduction in such housing services shall be deemed a rent increase in violation of this subchapter.
(C) A resident may refuse to pay rent in excess of a maximum rent permitted by this subchapter. The fact that such unpaid rent is in excess of the maximum rent permitted by this subchapter shall be a defense in any action brought to recover possession of a mobile home space and for nonpayment of rent to collect the illegal rent.
('81 Code, § 8.48.040) Penalty, see Ch. 13
The residents of each mobile home park in the city shall annually elect by majority vote, with one vote per space, a resident representative to receive all notices required by this subchapter. The residents shall advise the rent administrator of the name, address and telephone number of the elected resident representative, in writing, no later than January 31 of each year.
('81 Code, § 8.48.050)
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