My park recently had it’s annual inspection by the state, and the inspector cited two tenant owned homes in the park for windows that were in need of repair or replacement.I’m expecting that the tenants won’t be very happy about me hassling them about their homes. How would you handle this situation? Have the tenant schedule an appointment with my maintenance guy to have the repairs done, and then bill the tenant back for the work? I’m thinking it might be easier to just absorb the cost of this. Any insights on this would be appreciated.
So… I get these notices all the time in one State. Here is how I address this. I have a letter that saysDear Tenant: we all must follow rules and regulations. So I have rules, my insurance company has rules, the city has rules, the county has rules and so does the State. The states rules are set in the mobile home park act which governs both what I can and can not do as a owner, and also what the tenants can and can not do. For instance- there can be no fire pits, and trash cans must have lids, and no plastic trash bags can be outside of a trash container where they can let water pool and breed insects. All that said- the state gave us a violation- that I need to give to you. Here is a copy of the violation, and I have highlighted the part that says you must correct these issues. If they are not corrected the state has the power to make life difficult for you, so I am trying to give you lots of notice to get this fixed. If you want to contact me I can be reached at … blah blah blah…
Follow Jim’s lead. If the tenant ownes the home it is there responsibility to get it up to code. There is no reason for you to offer services to the tenants to do repairs.
The exception is if they refuse to renew your license until the issues are resolved, or even fine you, the park owner, until the issues are resolved. In that case, you are going to have to fix them immediately, and then either bill the repairs back to the tenant in one lump sum, or in several easy payments, or write them off. You cannot jeopardize your good standing while waiting for the tenants to address the issues (which they rarely do, and certainly not in a timely manner). If it was a city citation, then I would request the city present it to the homeowner directly. But a state issue can screw up your license, potentially, so it’s much more important to proactively solve.