An Introductory Guide to Manufactured Housing Park Cooperatives

Introduction

As a tenant in a manufactured housing park, you know that even though you own your own home, you have no control over your lot rents and no say in your park rules. You can never be sure that your park won't be closed down permanently.

Under state law, you can be evicted because of "change in land use," and must move your home off the lot you are renting within eighteen months. Where will you move?

"Mobile" homes are in fact, not very mobile. Is there a piece of land available where you can move your home? Is it affordable? Will zoning regulations allow your manufactured housing? Is there another park that will accommodate you and your home? Can your home structurally withstand the move? Many people are faced with the unfortunate realization that it is impossible to move their homes for any or all of these reasons. The possibility of then losing their homes becomes a terrifying and costly reality if they are faced with an eviction notice.

With no rent control in the state of New Hampshire, your lot rents can rise without any limit or regulation. Additionally, each time your park is sold to a new owner, you can be assured that your rent will increase to pay the higher mortgage and to give the new owner a profit.

Most park owners do not live in the parks that they own, but they still decide the rules of the park. Tenants do not have a say about the guidelines for living in the park. Nor do tenants have control over the park’s condition–including roads, water, sewerage, electrical and other improvements.

This guide is designed for tenants in manufactured housing parks who have an interest in exploring the possibility of purchasing their park with other tenants in order to

permanently control lot rents
assure that the park is well maintained
design rules that make sense to the people living in the park, and,
remove the park from the market forever.

To purchase the park, tenants form a not-for-profit corporation called a Cooperative. In a cooperative, the corporate entity owns all the land, and the members of the cooperative own shares in the corporation. Only residents can be members. Individually, members continue to own their own homes.

You probably have questions and concerns about cooperative ownership such as:

Where do we begin? How do we do it?
I don't have enough money to possibly afford this.
I don't know my neighbors names, how can I buy this park with them?
Has anyone else done this? Who will run it?
Who will manage it? Who will collect the rent?

The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (NHCLF) offers assistance in answering these questions and with the actual process of changing from tenants to owners. We work with parks of many different sizes and with groups at many different stages of development. Each group has a unique situation with special circumstances. We will help you adapt the experiences of other cooperatives to meet the specific needs of your group.

This introductory guide will explain what cooperatives are and how they work. It also describes the purpose and role of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and the services that we provide during the conversion process and after you take ownership.

The guide ends with information on what you and your group can do next. You can decide to form a tenants association to improve your situation as tenants or to immediately form a cooperative to buy the park. Your right to be notified when the park is being sold is outlined.

As you move from being tenants to owners you will receive information on how to organize as a whole group and in committees, how and where to find financing, how to conduct effective meetings, how to create policies, and information you will be required to have and will want to know before you actually buy the park.

The Community Loan Fund staff will help you design your cooperative by giving you specific information on the various roles of individual cooperative members, the Board of Directors, and the committees. You will receive a Start-up Guide containing park management information such as policies and procedures from existing co-ops. These will assist you in forming policies and procedures that will work for your group and assure smooth management of your cooperative. Also included is information on setting up the financial record keeping system of your co-op and resources related to the infrastructure (roads, water, septic systems) of a manufactured housing park.

There are now manufactured housing park cooperatives spread throughout the state of New Hampshire where people just like you got together to buy their park and are now effectively self-managing it. We asked them what 'words of wisdom' they could give to people just starting out in this process. Here is what they said:

"The Co-op belongs to everyone. Make sure people know that!"
"Take the ‘buyer beware’ approach. Check out everything about the park and the owner."
"You have to walk before you run. Take it (the co-op) one step at a time."
"Don't rely too heavily on any one individual."
"Treat each other well."
"Forming a co-op is like planting a seed. Then you have to cultivate it."
"Go for it!"
"Good luck! Don't be afraid to ask for help..."


Manufactured Housing : Home Owners