Florida Residents Planning to buy a Mobile Home - Caveat Emptor:
Mobile homes are defined as those "trailers" made before 1976 when major Federal manufacturing standards were then published for making "manufactured homes". But owners of pre-1976 mobile homes and post-1976 manufactured homes can, in our opinion, risk major problems or lose their homes in FLORIDA mobile home parks where they pay lot rent.
The Florida Statute Chapter 723 loopholes are used by some abusive or bully park owners to abuse the elderly, take their homes, evict them, etc. Chapter 723 supersedes local government control which reduces the ability for local governments to take action. We have many links to TV news stories about such instances, plus a building library of video or audio recordings from affected mobile homeowners. Those links will be added to our Florida Mobile Home Buyers Guide which is linked at the bottom of this article.
One renter in a Clermont area park was evicted so the mobile park owner could replace his older home with a tiny home, and the renter lost his house and then committed suicide since he had no place to go.
One lot renter in Tampa bought a rehabbed home from the park owner for $30,000 and found the electrical wiring was substandard because Florida doesn't require building permits for rehabbing mobile homes. She had to pay to upgrade all the faulty wiring. She was told if she had used the hot tub, she might have been electrocuted since all the ground wires were not connected.
An owner in an Ocala area mobile home park was sold a home full of hidden mold, and could not get a refund. Another homeowner bought a used home relying on an inspection report indicating no mold problems. Later they found the seller had forged the report and added a more current date and it was found mold had been in the walls for 12 years, causing major health problems.
The Florida agency (Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares & Mobile Homes (DFCTMH) within the Florida Dept. of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)) that takes and investigates complaints about mobile home parks ( only has 2-3 investigators) may not ever conduct field visits to interview tenants or check for compliance with regulations. One tenant filed a complaint, the agency called the park owner and the owner verbally threatened to sue the tenant or hit them with an eviction notice. The agency did nothing.
If you rent an apartment and have an abusive landlord, you can always move and just lose deposits. But in the case of mobile homeowners paying lot rent, if evicted, they cannot move older homes or afford to move the home and have to give it up for FREE to the owner of the mobile park. Thus they lost investment in their home ranging from $3,000 for older homes to $10-30,000.
If an owner dies, some park owners may loot the home, then forge papers to rent or sell the home without notifying any possible heirs. One park owner in Lake County, FL took three vintage Corvettes left by a deceased homeowner, forged ownership papers, and sold them while also looting the house of a gun collection.
Some owners in a Tavares mobile home park have never received a bill of sale or titles for their older mobile homes that they paid for when buying the used home from a park owner. FL Statute 723 specifies homeowners get written, signed rental (or lease) "prospectuses" but not all homeowners get them or written park rules. Abusive park owners then "make up" verbal rules depending on whether they like a tenant. However, Chapter 723 specifies all tenants get the same rules and same treatment for the same rules "violation". For instance, they cannot evict one tenant for having dogs and not do the same to others with dogs.
One prior park owner would only take cash for purchased older homes and lot rent, indicating a possibility they never filed the cash as income on a tax return. We also understand his son would pocket some of the cash for rent collections from an elder tenant, then invoice the owner for the "missing" amount.
A blind lady in a Tavares mobile home was evicted for having two "seeing eye dogs" but other tenants could keep their dogs.
There are no limits to escalation or justification for rent increases. Some park owners raise lot rents twice a year and retirees on fixed income like social security end up choosing to pay for needed medicine or rent. NEVER sign a "market value" lease, but only one where rate increases are limited to standard CPI increase rates.
Residents in another Tavares, FL Mobile Home park complained to the state health department about an overflowing septic system and the park owner threatened to sue them and evict them. He then only made a half-ass repair (and I have pictures).
An elderly Marine rented a room in one trailer owned by another person in one park. He unexpectedly went into a hospital for several months, returned, and found the Park owner had demolished the trailer and his room with all his things. He had no insurance and the park owner ignored a notice posted on the door to contact the Marine's daughter if there were any problems. He lost everything he had, including tools used in his business of repairing vintage motorcycles.
Florida laws over mobile home parks (Chapter 723) supersede local government oversight and don't protect elders, veterans, and other mobile homeowners from abusive Mobile Home Park owners, so I am working to get stronger legislation to end all the blatant, abusive practices I have documented.
So far, two FL State Senators and a House Rep have ignored my requests for action. We need them to request the FL Legislative Audit Committee request a full-blown operational audit of the Chapter 723 compliance issues, a review of ALL complaints and followups, and field visits to problem mobile home parks (like four of them in Lake County, FL) to interview renters about issues. Then legislation is needed to amend Chapter 723 to reduce mobile home park tenant abuse.
If you live in a Mobile Home Park and own a mobile home, and pay lot rent, and have similar stories, let me know by email to [email protected]. If you have problems with a bully park owner, or have filed a complaint or contacted elected officials without action, let me know and send me a copy with an overview of what happened. Or send me a phone number and I will call you.
Right now, I assume 90% of mobile home park owners follow FL Statute 723 and treat lot renters well. But the other 10% are the problem.
Conclusion: NEVER buy a mobile home in Florida from a Mobile Home Park Owner without knowing the risks. A better way is to only buy a fully inspected home in a park where the RESIDENTS own the park (called a co-op).
You can read more tips at my FiscalRangers.com Watchdog Guide to buying used mobile homes in Florida at http://tinyurl.com/...//tinyurl.com/FLMobileHomeOwnerGuide.
A major update to the guide is coming in late October 2020.
This article is the personal opinion of this blog reporter, a retired Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Internal Auditor who has significant documentation to support the above statements.
PS: Some mobile homeowners have tried to find attorneys to represent them, but cannot get any at a reasonable cost, or are told the attorney ONLY works for park owners. We need a pro-bono attorney to help some of these mobile homeowners who are being bullied.
Vance Jochim
Oct. 11, 2020
A shorter version of this article was published earlier at our Facebook GROUP FiscalRangersLakeCounty.
Vance Jochim
FiscalRanger[email protected]
YouTube Channel "FiscalRangersFlorida"
