Jun
Recently in Abbotsford, British Columbia, there was a mobile home park where the owners were given notice to vacate the premises as the mobile home park was being re-developed and the headline read “BC Seniors devastated as homes face bulldozer” (see the full story on CBC here). This was particularly tragic as (according to the report) many owners had recently bought their homes for $80,000 and now were only being offered $11,000 as compensation.
Many mobile home owners own their home, however the lands that their home sits on is a “rented pad” and pad rent is paid monthly to the park landlord under a mobile home tenancy agreement. These agreements are administered by the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act.
A Landlord has the right under the Act to terminate a tenancy for “landlord’s use of the property” if:
- All permits and approvals are in place to develop the property;
- The Landlord intends to proceed in good faith with the re-development;
- The Landlord has given the tenant (Mobile Home Owner) at least 12 months notice in the form prescribed by the Act;
- With the notice, the Landlord has given the tenant (Mobile Home Owner) compensation equal to 12 months pad rent
If the tenant wishes to dispute the notice, they MUST FILE A DISPUTE WITHIN 15 DAYS of receiving the notice. The form for disputing the notice is (here) and can be filed online.
How do Mobile Home Buyers protect themselves? Without a lease, the mobile home owner only have assurance of possession of the pad for a period of 12 months. If Mobile Home Owners are looking for further assurances from Park Landlords, they should seek to negotiate a term lease (for example for a period of 3 years as opposed to month to month).