Dealing with town - park owned rental inspections

Newly bought park owned trailer was inadvertently connected to old septic line instead of sewer line. Sewer line connection was buried when prior trailer was torn down and a new pad put in. Sewer line backed up, froze, angry tenant has to move out for 3 days, calls town. I quickly get plumbers in, replace all lines, have contractor dig up frozen ground, blow out lines spend $4000 and fix.

BUT … zoning officer sent a letter saying new 2011 town ordinance: rental units have to be reinspected every time they are rented. And the floors are soft, the tenant who is now out for blood, told officer she found some mold behind a mirror in the bathroom, the floor registers have gaps so their heat bill is way up and the tenant wants me to reimburse them, and a plumber told the zoning officer he saw some mold under the home.

Note: I doubt they are inspecting every rental in town every time it is rented. Zoning officer hasn’t looked under trailer for mold, and probably doesn’t that floors flex in mobile homes. Temps are near zero. No way we can spray under home now.

What would you do?

If the floor is soft, I would fix it. If there is mold in the bathroom, I would clean it with bleach and see if the ventilation fan works.

Who connected it to the septic tank instead of the sewer line?

Leighnae Fabian

I have no issue fixing things if they truely need to be fixed. But someone from the town can be pretty capricious applying their personal standards to a mobile home. I envision inspection after inspection to perfection. If the home is hud approved, which they are, then locals can not impose their own standards.

Does anyone else have a park where the rental home has to be inspected every time it is rented?

Park manager connected to the old line. It was the only line showing after the new pad went in so I can’t be too hard on him.

Here in California there is a new law coming into effect that requires an inspection whenever a housing unit is rented. I believe it is about the new 10 year smoke alarms. There are getting to be too many such things like that in this state which is making it a good place not to do business in.

Take the inspector to lunch. Try and ‘make nice.’ Understand the rules, perhaps try and get them changed. I’ve never heard of a requirement that trailers be inspected every time they are rented, but ‘your mileage may vary.’

Good luck, and let us know how it goes,

-jl-