Hi all,
I just bought a mobile home in an Oklahoma park, at around June 15th. The seller of the home didn’t pay her lot rent, and now the manager of the park is saying that if I don’t pay the lot rent, they will place a lien on the home so (according to the manager) I won’t be able to move it. Seems like I shouldn’t have to pay lot rent for when I didn’t own the home.
My main question is, does a lien placed on a home prevent the home from being moved? I already have form 936 in oklahoma to move the home. Also - can the owner/manager of a mobile home park prevent me from taking out a mobile home which I own? The manager also wants me to put down a deposit when moving the home out, and also said I couldn’t move out on weekends, which is when the movers want to do it. Just wondering if they can legally make these rules.
The 936 is the local government giving you permission to move you home (on highways) and they have no liens on such. The manager will try to make the move difficult. They are losing lot rent and a lien is a conversation since it takes some effort on their part that should have been exerted on the former mh owner.
We have asked for a small fee for cleanup prior to mh moving move BUT you are not their resident . Generally they will try to keep any fee they request–somewhat sour grapes on their part.
Right, I imagine the $500 deposit they want I may not be seeing again. If they don’t have the legal right to stop me from moving the home, I’d honestly rather ignore their rules and just take the home out.
It strikes me that the park owner is entirely correct about their rights. Whether or not they have an enforceable lien is a matter of state law and due process, but generally speaking, the back rent must be paid before the home can be moved, and the landowner can set reasonable restrictions on moving such as specific times and requiring a deposit. So generally yes they can prevent you from moving the home until they’re happy. Sorry, I know it’s not what you wanted to hear.
So you successfully poached a home and now you’re complaining about a small lot rent and clean-up deposit? 99.9% of movers could care less if the lot is cleaned up.
Asmith4981, are you a consumer buying a home or a fellow park owner poaching homes? Seems like lately a bunch of consumers are using this forum to ask questions, and if so, you have a different motivation than the rest of us. If you are a consumer and if it were my park, I would absolutely do everything in my power to enforce your obligation to pay.
In one case, somebody bought a home without our permission (as required by the lease), so we filed for abandoned home title, which was awarded. Even though the buyer thought she owned the home because she had the seller’s title in hand, our title superseded it. We tried many times to contact the buyer, but she refused to respond. She finally learned the hard way that we owned the home when she had her mover onsite to move it only to find out that we cut off the tongue the night before. She never recovered the amount that she paid. I do not feel sorry for people who buy homes illegally and end up losing them because they did not coordinate with our office as required.
State law differs though, so you will have to research that. If you are a park owner, then you are facing the same challenges that you will face when somebody tries to poach from you, and I would not feel sorry for you in that case either.
Thanks for all for the responses. This mpark guy is intense, he also railed on me in a private message.
So what’s the definition of poaching? I need to buy homes to fill my park, this woman was a willing seller, seems fine to me. Not sure how else I would be filling my park with used homes, I suppose just buying them off private land - but that limits the selection of homes I can potentially buy.
You are taking a home/asset away from a park owner. Now he will have an empty lot to fill. Anytime I find a home for sale that is in another park I call the park manager or park owner and ask their permission to buy and remove it. Sometimes they don’t know the home was for sale - if they don’t I give them the opportunity to buy it. The definition of poaching is contacting another park owners tenants and offering to move them. What you are doing is similar to this. How would you like it if another park owner moved a home from your property?
When you buy and move a MH from another Park to your Park you’re poaching. When you’re a guy/company that watches FaceBook for MH’s FSBO and then calls them with low offers so you can pull it out and sell it to another Park owner, you’re a slimy poacher. New home prices are so high the used MH owners are being attacked by piranhas.
Sorry but you are not simply a “passive bystander” approached by a home owner. You literally started this post by asking if you really have to comply with the other park owner’s request for past rent and deposit.
How about if you take the honorable approach suggested by tmperrault and call the other park to comply with their wishes?
I’d add that as a park owner, if you want to keep the home of a tenant, you should make a reasonable offer for it. Given the home is already set there, you’ve got a $8k or so advantage on anyone that wants to uninstall it, move it and install it.
It amazes me that someone that got ripped off is now trying to rip someone else off. The park owner has every right to place a lien on that home and collect what is rightly due! Put yourself in his shoes. When you buy a home with liens it is YOUR problem now and you owe the lien. Ask any attorney. The entire rent moratorium is nothing moere than a mudskid on landlord genat rights. How can soemone think they don’t rightly have to pay for goods or services that they received. What’s next? You don’t have to pay for your groveries becaue you have a right to eat? Or pay for your car because you need it to drive to work? WAKE UP AND DO THE RIGHT THING! Pay for what you get.
Aaron,
I think you should consider how you would feel if the tables were turned.
I for one would park my BackHoe right in front of the home and prevent you from moving it until I was paid.
What you are attempting to do is poor form. You of all people should know to contact the management to see if there are any outstanding rents before you bought the place.
You are not going to get much support for trying to deprive another park owner of their back rent.
I would guess that they don’t want it done on weekends because their manager(s) have the weekends off. They’d need to be there to unhook pipes and to make sure their pipes and such aren’t ripped out of the ground (it’s been known to happen). That might also be why the manager wants a down-payment. And as long as that home sits on their land, you will owe them lot rent.
No, you shouldn’t have to pay lot rent for the time you didn’t own the home, but didn’t you check to see if there were any liens on the home before you bought it? The home owner is responsible for paying what is owed upon sale of the home. If he doesn’t, then I guess you can’t move it until that is settled. Here in NC, by law we are not allowed to put liens on homes for $ owed. I would say to just pay it and be done with it. Otherwise you’ll end up owing them for lot rent as long as it sits there.
We sold a home to a young lady some months back. She gutted the place, but stopped everything when there was a death in her family and she took custody of a surviving child. She let us know that she couldn’t continue and asked us to buy it back from her. Owner said no. She said she didn’t think it’s right that she pay lot rent if she’s not living in it. I explained to her that regardless, as long as it sits there she still has to pay it. She sold it to someone and we let the new buyer (who had bought other homes there) what was owed and that someone needed to pay it. New owner didn’t want to, but fortunately the other girl paid up and all was well again. If she hadn’t, then we’d have no recourse because we couldn’t put a lien on the home and $290. lot rent wasn’t worth going to court over.