No home smaller than 950 sqft can be moved in! That's what the city say!

During due diligence process, I encounter the issue with zoning/planning department in Indiana.
The park is legal non conforming and they are ok using old setback however they say if I want to move a mobile home into this park, it has be be bigger than 950 sqft as state in current zoning ordinance. This park can’t accommodate a home bigger than 14x56

Under grandfather law, Can the city do something like that?

That’s clever. Is that a city wide ordinance or mobile home park zoning ordinance?

Would basically force you to conform or shut down. As it basically does not let you use your property according to the grandfathered usage I’d say it’s illegal but that’s for attorneys to work out and potentially a court to decide.

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That’s in their MHP zoning ordinance. Do you suggest to lawyer up?

I heard Frank on a recent Bigger Pockets podcast. He recommended taking questions to your state mobile home park owners’ association. This sounds like a great question for them. They may either have good advice for you, or they may be able to refer you to someone knowledgeable.

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The entire premise of being grandfathered is that you don’t have to comply with the MHP ordinance because the park was being operated differently before the ordinance existed.

If they are saying your Park is not grandfathered you need to get details why they think that or why they believe certain parts of the ordinance apply to your park.

Make a decision from there.

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You will need to go to your state park owners association to see if there is a precedence. Although grandfathering may be a factor this is a specific situation. Grandfathering would apply if they were trying to prevent you from bringing in any mobile homes. In this case when minimum living space codes are changed, that may apply to all housing, you may not be grandfathered.
Building codes are constantly changing and new homes must apply to new codes. Used homes brought into a jurisdiction where the code applies would also likely need to conform to those same codes.

I’m not aware of any states where grandfathering has been struck down, but agree that this is a good step to speak with the MHA - they can at least give you specific case where precedent has been set.

Grandfathering applies to more than just moving homes in and out - it applies to lot sizes, setbacks, roads, literally all the things in the city’s MHP ordinance. The city is being clever to find an indirect means to control some of these aspects of the park…which ultimately infringes on the use of older grandfathered properties that mostly have smaller lots. What would happen if a city stated, “we only allow 6,000 square foot mobile homes in our city” - they basically just outlawed mobile home parks with that statement using the same logic. It’s not something they can arbitrarily dictate on non-conforming properties.

That aside, get the fully story, do your homework, then seek advise from an attorney if you’re not able to align with the city on resolving this.

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It doesn’t matter if it is home size, setback requirements, foundation requirements, one or two story restriction, or any other issue. My opinion and that of my attorney is that it is all is illegal in Indiana. You are not obligated to follow the new ordinance. In Indiana, there is a law that says you can modify the foundation and utility connections to accommodate a new home, but the modification would not be considered “new work,” thus you are still grandfathered as of the prior ordinance (or likely the lack thereof). Interesting thing is that this law is not in the mobile home park requirements, but it is buried in the code under Professional Licensing specifically for mobile home park installers. Of, course, a law has to be followed by all though. Other than the foundation and utility connections, there is no other “construction” that would trigger a reset of your grandfathering. FYI, it cost me about $5,000 in legal fees to understand this issue and help convince the city to permit installation of homes or face embarrassing legal action.

This sounds like Steuben County IN…? I’ve got 2 parks in Steuben and have wondered if their laws are actually illegal. I’d be curious to hear from you if the parks in in Steuben Co.

What can the city do if they come to inspect a home and it doesn’t meet the current zoning ordinance requirement?

Can they shut down city water or utilities?

Not sure about that. If you need a permit to get power turned on, they can refuse the permit, which means your tenant’s won’t have electricity. Power company won’t turn on power in some jurisdictions until it passes inspection.

So I guess the city is anti-tiny home as well? In this day and age!! I suggest you build some allies with the local work force development groups, affordable housing groups, etc.