Lawmakers to Hold Meeting for Manufactured Home Residents About Rent Justification Law
Reybold Group letter to Hunters Run residents presented confusing information
BEAR – In the wake of a new law protecting manufactured homeowners from rapidly and randomly escalating rent costs, House Majority Leader Rep. Valerie Longhurst and Sen. Nicole Poore are holding a meeting for manufactured homeowners next week to better explain the law and counter misconceptions floating around.
The scheduled July 24 meeting at Wilbur Elementary School was sparked by a letter that the Reybold Group sent earlier this month to residents of Hunters Run manufactured home community. The two-page letter urges residents in all-caps to sign long-term leases of three or five years in light of the new manufactured home rent justification law.
“Reybold is offering you alternatives regarding the length of your leases and how rent increases will be determined for a lease longer than one year,” the letter reads, going on to tell residents that they have three choices: a five-year lease with rent increases tied to 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U), a three-year lease with an annual rent increase of 3.5 percent each year or a one-year lease “with no determination as to what the rent increase will be at the end of the term.”
Under Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 33, which the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed last month, manufactured home park landowners may increase the rent more than CPI-U for the preceding 36 months if they can demonstrate that the proposed rent increase is “directly related to operating, maintaining or improving the manufactured home community.” If the proposed rent increase exceeds CPI-U, residents and the landowner would engage in meetings and nonbinding arbitration to resolve a dispute. The decision could be appealed to Superior Court.
Rep. Longhurst said Hunters Run residents contacted her office about the letter and were confused about whether they needed to sign a long-term lease while they could. “Any time you have a new system like this put into place, there’s going to be some confusion, but the letter Reybold sent to residents is just compounding it,” said Rep. Longhurst, D-Delaware City. “Sending a letter telling residents that they need to lock in three or five-year leases or else they will face unpredictable annual rent increases simply is a scare tactic. Manufactured home residents have faced unpredictable rent increases that have increased by 10, 20, even 30 percent in a year. The new rent justification law addresses that problem, and next week’s meeting will better explain the law and dispel some of the myths being spread.”
Sen. Poore represents Hunters Run and several other manufactured housing communities. “An immense amount of time and effort went into drafting this legislation, therefore it should be communicated effectively to manufactured home communities,” said Sen. Poore, D-Delaware City. “The information contained in the letter from Reybold to Hunters Run residents will be discussed at a meeting next week. It is important that residents understand the intent of the law and can make informed decisions regarding their leases.”
Although the Wednesday meeting stemmed from a letter sent to Hunters Run residents, Rep. Longhurst and Sen. Poore urged residents from nearby manufactured home communities to attend the information session as well. The meeting will take place on July 24 at 6 p.m. at Wilbur Elementary School on Route 72.
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