Ask a Lawyer

By: Steven M. Williams

We are closing on a community soon where the current leases provide for a $150 discount on the rent if the tenant pays rent prior to the 5th of the month. Is this permissible?

There is nothing in the law that prohibits discounts for early payment. However, you must be sure that the language in the lease is clear that it is an early payment discount and cannot be interpreted as an excessive late fee. For example, if the lease states that the monthly rent is $650 but allows a $150 discount for early payment, you should be fine. However, if the lease reads as the rent is really $500, but becomes $650 as of the 6th of the month, that $150 could be deemed an excessive late fee.

I have been trying to get some direction about how much in late fees I can charge. Any thoughts?

Judges generally impose a “reasonableness” standard on the amount of late fees they will allow. Unfortunately, there is no clear direction beyond that. I generally advise clients to limit late fees to no more that 10-20% of the rental amount. If you impose a “rolling late fee,” such as $1.00 per day, the lease should contain a cap at 10-20% of the rent. This will avoid an argument that your late fee provision is excessive.

I just bought a property where the rents are very low. I want to increase all rents to market. Is there a cap on how much I can increase the rents at one time?

Unless the jurisdiction where the property is located has rent control, there is no cap on the amount of your increase. However, if the increase is too high, and/or appears to be “price gouging,” you may attract the attention of the Attorney General’s office – which, I suggest, you do not want to do.

I just sent out my rent increase notices. I have several tenants who are telling me that I have to have them sign new leases in order to increase their rents. I really do not want to go through the hassle of issuing new leases. Do I have to?

No. You can increase the rents by simply providing the appropriate notice required by the Manufactured Home Community Rights Act. Note, that if you want to have your tenants sign new leases, the notice period may be longer than if you are simply providing notices of the rent increase.

We have a resident who is disabled due to her inability to move her neck and shoulders from side to side. Because of her disability, she was having trouble backing out of her driveway because cars would frequently park along the curb across from the end of her driveway. In 2019, we put up “no parking” signs in the area so that nobody could park across from the end of her driveway. We received a complaint from her recently that people are now parking there regularly and that she is unable to leave her driveway because of it. Notwithstanding that she said that this is happening “regularly,” this is the first we are hearing of it. What should we be doing?

First, you cannot fix a problem of which you are not made aware. You should encourage your tenant to let you know immediately if anyone is parked in the restricted area so that you can investigate and handle it. Second, bear in mind, too, that an accommodation to a disability is not really an accommodation if it does not work. Up until now, the accommodation you provided (restricting parking across from the end of her driveway) apparently has worked to accommodate her disability. However, to the extent that people are parking there now, the accommodation is not working.

In order to truly accommodate the resident’s disability, you must be able to enforce the no-parking restriction you have imposed. You should check with the towing company you use and ensure that it will tow cars that are parked in that area. If the towing company requires any additional signage, you would need to put it up in order to truly accommodate the disability need that your resident has. And, you should be sure to have cars towed whenever they are parked in the restricted area.

I was told that I cannot prevent my residents from selling their homes. This does not seem fair to me. As the property owner, I should have some say in who lives here.

You are correct. As the owner of the property, you have the right to control who resides in your community. The law is clear that you cannot impose any restrictions that prohibit the sale of homes by your residents. However, you can certainly maintain “veto” power over the buyer if he intends to keep the home in the community. For example, if the buyer intends to use the home as an investment rental property and your community rules prohibit leasing by the owners, you can require that the buyer remove the home upon purchasing it. Also, you have every right to insist that a buyer who intends to live in the home apply for residency and sign your lease, if he is approved. If the buyer is not approved or he refuses to sign your lease, then you can require that he remove the home from your property upon purchasing it.