People living in manufactured homes across Florida will soon have a new tool to fight rising rent. It’s part of a new law taking effect next month regulating manufactured home communities.
More than 400,000 people live in manufactured homes across the Sunshine State, making up just over 8% of housing.
State Rep. Paula Stark, (R) St. Cloud, said the rent for the lot where those homes are put is on the rise, sometimes by hundreds of dollars.
“Most of the time seniors are retired, or you’re talking about your most vulnerable citizens who just can’t afford those kinds of increases,” Rep. Paula said.
Rep. Stark passed a new law in the legislature to help manufactured homeowners. The new law, taking effect July 1, changes how property rent increases are notified and shortens the time for mediation between the community owner and homeowner.
“They wouldn’t get a mediation set up then their rate increases took place before they could do anything about it, so this has shortened the timeline,” Rep. Stark said.
This new law is seen as a win-win for community owners and homeowners across the state.
“It’s really important to us to see if we can resolve issues and provide really good value to people who move into our communities,” Florida Manufactured Housing Association CEO Jim Ayotte said.
Ayotte said until now, the state controlled any mediation which could take several months.
“Everyone knows what’s going on at the same time and if the parties agree to it, they can elect to expedite the mediation process,” Ayotte said.
Park owners can raise rates if they match the Consumer Price Index. The Florida Manufactured Housing Association says the average lot rent went up about seven percent last year.
Another section of the law allows for people living in manufactured home parks to have live-in health aids without any extra fees.