LAKE COUNTY — A measure designed to protect mobile home park residents from exorbitant rent increases was sent back for revisions after an hour of discussion at a Tuesday Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The measure came in the form of a proposed new lease agreement that was drafted by the Mobile Home Task force during the past two and a half years. Homeowners who spoke to the board Tuesday said they still were not satisfied with the proposed lease, and park owners had mixed reactions. Supervisors Anthony Farrington and Rob Brown sat on the task force.
“A lot of times it was contentious. Neither side got what they wanted, but there has been a lot of compromise on both sides,” Brown said.
The lease would require mobile home park owners to get more than 50 percent approval for improvement projects from park residents, who would fund the improvements. It would also require owners to disclose “pass-throughs,” which are maintenance costs passed on to residents.
Park owner Karl Kohlruss said the proposed lease would raise rent, not lower it.
“If I have to justify every penny I spend, I have to use contractors to prove that I spent that money. That”s going to cost a whole lot more,” Kohlruss said.
Farrington said if the lease agreement was approved, park owners in the county”s unincorporated areas could voluntarily make it available to tenants, but would not be required to do so. He said the task force should monitor voluntary compliance, and the alternative would be a rent control ordinance if owners won”t participate.
Mobile home park owner Maryanne McQueen called the proposed lease agreement “better than what we would have if we had a rent control ordinance.”
Senior citizens who lived in mobile home parks protested what they said was a lack of progress toward rent control in May 2007. At issue was the inability of seniors living on fixed incomes to move if rent was raised beyond their means. The proposed lease agreement would allow a rent increase once a year. Without the agreement, landlords can hike rent as long as they give tenants 90 days notice. The agreement would also allow residents to terminate a lease with 60 days notice.
Gregory Cavness, a mobile home park resident, said he spoke on behalf of homeowners when he said changes were needed to the proposed lease in order for residents to support it. He said a mediator was needed to settle disputes between park owners and residents.
“That would be a viable alternative to the regulatory approach you said you wanted to avoid. Without that we will oppose this,” Cavness said.
The discussion was continued to Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m. at the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport. The proposed lease agreement will come back before the board at that time after minor changes to its language are made and typos are fixed, according to Chairman Ed Robey.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
