![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Holiday-Mobile-Home-Park.jpeg?resize=447%2C213&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like leaving the family I built here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holiday Mobile Home Park is a 55+ retirement community. Most residents own their mobile homes but rent their lots from the park\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dicus said when she first moved in, her rent was $325 a month. Come January, it will be $767. Her social security check is $900 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to sell my place way under market value and when they hear the lot rent, they just go away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dicus said she will have to move in with family in Indiana and leave her mobile home behind, the only home she has ever owned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf push comes to shove, that\u2019s what I gotta do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese kinds of lot increases are too much, too soon, too fast,\u201d said Beverly Collins, president of the Holiday Mobile Home Park Homeowners\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About a dozen other homeowners told the media they\u2019re struggling with the sudden, unexpected increases in lot rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have people here that\u2019s been living for 30 years,\u201d Jenny Paez. \u201cThey haven\u2019t taken into consideration the people that live here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The residents say they never saw hefty lot rent increases until their park was bought by Tennessee-based MHM Communities in fall 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that company purchased the park last fall, rent was increased by $100 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rent increase letter for January 2024 shows a $162.15 per month increase for standard lots. It is more for corner lots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter does not include a reason for the increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It shows a $45.55 \u201cbase rent\u201d increase, an $80 \u201cmarket rent adjustment\u201d and a $36 increase in \u201creal estate tax recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collins said that has to do with home insurance premium increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter states MHM Communities is working to appeal that tax increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MHM Communities did not respond to media requests for comment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not an affluent park. We have people who strictly rely on their social security in this park and this is devastating,\u201d said Collins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collins is collecting signatures to assemble a Lot Rent Increase Committee to negotiate with the park\u2019s owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said she wants a rate increase freeze for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGive them time to sell their homes so that they can make a planned exit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deborah Dicus has lived at Holiday Mobile Home Park since 2012. Her neighbors are considered family. She feels she has to leave after being hit with another lot rent increase… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[6267],"class_list":["post-37026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-seniors-frustrated-by-another-lot-rent-increase-at-a-lakeland-mobile-home-park"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}