Proof my new owner letter please

This is just a rough draft of the new ownership letter. Any input is appreciated.

Dear Tenant,

As you probably already know, the park has been purchased. It is our goal to make this one of the best, safest places to live in the area. The name will be changed to Cocoa Estates and will be a place where anyone will be proud to live in.

In the coming months you will be noticing big changes in the neighborhood. Streets will be repaired, almost every home in the park will be renovated, beginning with the exteriors. I’m sure you’ve already noticed that the exterior of homes are being cleaned, painted and repaired. Landscaping is being improved throughout the park.

A complete park overhaul cannot happen overnight, but it will happen.

The best news of all is that all good tenants will have the opportunity to significantly lower their cost of living. If you are a good tenant, your home will be renovated as needed, then sold to you on a rent to own basis. Your rent will be at market, no more. After a short period of time (typically about 3 years depending on the home) you will own it free and clear. You will then revert to lot rent only, currently $350 a month. We will even provide amenities such as decks if desired.

All homes will be sold, all bad tenants will be evicted.

New rules will be issued on the first of the month, as will new leases.

Cable TV: Brighthouse has continued to raise rates to astronomical levels. It now is the 2nd largest expense the park has and can no longer be provided. Unfortunately, cable TV service will be terminated as of October 30th. This will give you ample time to make other arrangements. Brighthouse will be permitted to provide service on an individual basis, or you can choose your own service. Satellite service will be permitted as long as it is not affixed to the home and is installed at the back of the lot out of sight.

Small breed dogs will now be permitted within the rules that will be provided later, as long as they are under 35 lbs fully grown and no viscous breeds. All vaccinations will have to be up to date.

In summary, Cocoa Estates will be one of the best places to live in the area. Substantial investments will be made to improve the park making it a neighborhood we call all be proud of.

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should be ‘vicious’.

Oops, that’s what I get for typing late while tired. Thanks

I would replace references to"tenant" with Resident and “park” with Community.

The best news of all is that
 I would remove this paragraph entirely and simply state that the plans for the community are to convert to all “resident owned homes” and that individual residents will be contacted directly with the details.

At this point in time you do not know exactly how the plans will ultimately roll out and you want to be flexible. Do not make promises or commitments in a open letter.

All homes will be sold, all bad tenants will be evicted. I do not see this line as being necessary and view it as adding more stress to the situation by threatening evictions. The eviction process will go along with the individual contact regarding sale of the homes.

I would not use the cost as a argument to justify the cancelation of TV services. Residents will only view this as you putting money in your pocket. I would simply state that "Community provided cable TV services will be cancelled as of Oct 30th. Residents will be responsible for contracting their own service provider


Lastly: I would change “in summery
” and simply say

“Our goal is to insure that Cocoa Estates will be a community that all residents will be proud to call home.”

It is not necessary to change anything you have written and my suggestions only reflect my personal approach to communicating with residents.
My policy is always strictly business and keeping details to a minimum without including any apologies for my decisions.

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In addition to those changes and suggestions, I would also add:

  1. Remove “the safest” reference, as you do not want to be suggesting that your park is “safe” so you don’t get sued if there is a crime by a tenant that said you warranted that it was “safe”.

  2. Remove the concept of “good tenant” and “bad tenant” as that will call into question if you are mentally stereotyping tenants into two piles which might trigger a Fair Housing complaint.

  3. Remove the “rent to own” language, as that’s in violation of the SAFE Act. You can either get SAFE Act licensed and sell and carry paper, or you can rent and offer credits for customer retention. Many states (if not all) consider “rent to own” a “disguised mortgage”.

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Thanks, all great suggestions. It’s really appreciated.

My only reason for using the “rent to own” statement is that people understand what that means. Any suggestions as to what I could replace it with?

I understand that rent to own is a violation of the SAFE Act, I just don’t have any ideas how to communicate the same concept in a few words in ways the people will understand.

Any suggestions what I could replace that with?

“Path to Home Ownership Program”, “Home Ownership Program”, or something similar should get the point across without implying anything other than they will own the home at some point.

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In full agreement with Frank - you are courting disaster using rent to own in conversation or in print. In print, you might as well just gut yourself now and save the trouble later on.

There are solutions, but none of them are as easy as any of us would like them to be. Most of those legal solutions require a one on one conversation with the resident. I would also suggest that you may not want to make the opportunity available to every resident.

Further, what you can do in one state, you may not be able to do in another state without risk. Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and New York are states to be especially careful in. In a number of other states, you need to make sure you are handling sales tax correctly and paying it when it is due.

Is PA really comparable to CA and NY? I was under the impression it wasn’t a horrible state in which to operate.

I would probably make sure I spell ENSURE correctly as well.