Manufactured Home Owners Seek Help

Ed Green and his wife moved to Homosassa in 2002 to live out their retirement in a modest, but tidy, neighborhood under the Florida sun.

They picked Walden Woods, a manufactured home community for residents 55 and older off U.S. 19 just north of the Hernando/Citrus line. The six years since then have provided a disheartening education on the rights of manufactured homeowners who lease lots, Green said.

Green says he and his neighbors have watched the condition of the park "go downhill" while rents go up and amenities promised as part of the lease are being stripped away. Now president of the Walden Woods Homeowners Association, Green said the board has tried to arrange a meeting with the park owners, to no avail.

A representative from Century Realty Services Inc. did not return messages seeking comment.

Green started doing research and found the state law protecting residents in manufactured-home parks doesn't go far enough, and that there are likely thousands of residents in the same position.

"This is not just a Hernando or Citrus problem," Green said, "This is a statewide problem."

State Sen. Mike Fasano agrees.

At Green's invitation, the New Port Richey Republican came to Walden Woods last week and met with some 250 residents from that park and others in Citrus and Sumter counties. Fasano vowed to work on legislation to help bolster the rights of residents who own their homes but lease the land.

"They're no different than you or I, but they're not treated on the same level playing field, and we need to try to change that," Fasano said in an interview the next day.

Lawmakers have tried in the past to limit the rate of rent increases but courts have struck down those attempts, Fasano said. However, there should be a way to address one of the biggest rent-related issues, he said.

A loophole in state laws allows landlords to raise the lease rate on a given parcel when an owner moves, Fasano said. That has created disparities in rents for comparable property in the same neighborhood.

"That's unfair," Fasano said. "Leases should come due all at the same time so they are negotiated for the same rate."

At the very least, park owners should be required to inform potential buyers that they do have the right to assume the seller's lease, he said. Fasano said he would find out if there is a way to require park owners to invest at least some of their rent increases back into the neighborhood. He also said landlords should be held accountable for not providing amenities promised to residents.

The Federation of Manufactured Homes of Florida Inc. is also working on plans to address some of these issues, said President Charlie Gallagher.

The state's Division of Professional and Business Regulation oversees manufactured home communities and works to ensure park owners are following the law and meeting its end of the bargain set out in a lease prospectus.

"People don't feel (the division) is enforcing things the way they should," Gallagher said.

In many instances, though, residents don't complain, he said.

"Especially in senior communities, people are afraid they're going to be retaliated against," Gallagher said.

Green acknowledges that fear, but says the time to speak up has come.

"We have reached that point," he said. "We are asking for help and are going to continue to ask for help from the people elected to offices who can."