Friends -
I’ve had to evict a family for non-payment of rent. They have friends in our community and come back on-site and often yell obscenities at my manager and repair crew (who handled their eviction and home repair).
The police say there is nothing they can do to keep these people off our property because mobile home parks are ‘public lands’ and anyone can go in/out. The police say it would be different if these people were actually getting into a mobile home, but because they are ‘just’ on the land, there is nothing they can do.
Thoughts?
-jl-
I had a problem with people driving through and doing the same type of thing with some of my tenants. I got their vehicle license numbers, and their names, and gave the local police department a letter that they could not come on my property for any reason at all. The local police here (Oregon) will arrest them for trespassing if anyone in the park calls about them being on the property or my streets. Who owns your streets? I own mine. If your local police say it is public, maybe they will come and clean and repair the street. I would go have a nice talk with the Sheriff or Chief of Police.
Jefferson all we have to do is post a no trespassing sign at the entrance so long as the park owns the roads and it becomes a whole different ball game. I concur with mobileguy that you need to go have lunch with the Sheriff to find out how to prevent harassment of your people on your land in your state.
In Indiana, we can get a ‘no trespass’ order from the police against specific individuals to keep them out. We also send out a newsletter letting tenants know that if ‘such and such who was evicted last month’ comes to visit, they should get rid of such-and-such or face eviction themselves. They tend to take us seriously, because we have evicted for various other ‘minor’ violations. Took my occupancy from 50 percent at purchase to 35 percent in spring, but vastly improved quality of tenants. We are almost back up to 50 pecent, which is my break-even point on 100 percent debt-financed parks, with far less hassle due to a much better quality of residents. My long winded point - I have some ability to enforce strictures privately, and have been known to use that power.
I think that the cops ‘do not want to get involved’. It’s funny, some of them near me used the argument that since the park’s are private property, they could not come on it and enforce the law. I and a partner both talked to some officers and roundabout/politely asked if a private home getting robbed meant that the cops had to wait until the burglar was on the street before they could act. Was very polite, expressed how important and hard their job was, and how much the residents appreciated the protection from thugs and also mentioned how multiple visits from officers would get someone evicted if they were living in the park. So far, so good, much better responsiveness. And I agree with the post that says disorderly conduct is enough to get someone removed from public property. I also very much doubt that your property is really public, that simply screams ‘excuse not to do my job’ for the cop in question. I would have a friendly talk with chief of police. And tell him that Professor Gates does not live in your community…
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in Pa. we can call the sherriff’s office and have trespassers removed. we have a great relationship with the sherriff’s office and they are constantly making their rounds through the park and are on top of problems. it sounds like you just need to develop a better relationship with local authorities. I am in total agreement with the gentleman that said about evicting the tenants that they are coming in to visit also. IMHO it is my property, my name is on the deed, and i will not be strong armed on my own piece of dirt.
good luck hopefully the human garbage is off your property soon.
matt