We are purchasing a mobile home park, there are a few homes in the park owned by one individual, how do you control who moves into those homes? Do you have it in your lease agreement that you have approval over anyone moving into the park? How do you word it?Thanks,Leighnae
Talk to the sort-of-Lonnie Dealer about how he screens prospective tenants and suggest that the two of you work together when there is a vacancy in one of his homes. You guys both have the same goal – to get a long term, rent paying tenant that will not need to be kicked out and does not add to the hassle factor of your lives. Tell him that and tell him that, in a way, you are partners and you want to seem him succeed in your park. Tell him if the standards are too low, you both will lose money when you need to kick any misbehaving bums out of your park — but if any such tenants end up in his homes you will do so anyway because you have a responsibility to the park to keep it varmint free.
You are the property owner. As such, you can set the rules, and evict for rules violations. We tell our Lonnie Dealers they need to have all residents pass our background check. On the rare occasion a Lonnie Dealer tries to get around this rule and put someone in a home without telling us, we promptly evict the resident. Even if you do not know the resident(s)’ name, you can evict ‘all occupants’ of a house. They are squatters on your land. An eviction notice causes the Lonnie Dealer and residents to straighten up and come apply to live in the home. Usually the residents have checked out fine, and then we let them stay, but we have them sign a lease (which acknowledges the Rules & Regulations).But the bottom line is that it’s your property and you can set the rules to protect your property and, frankly, for the safety and enjoyment of all. Your interests align with those of your rules-following tenants. You open yourself up to liability when an ‘unknown’ person is living on your property. So don’t be afraid to put your foot down and evict a tenant or Lonnie Dealer’s home for bad behavior and rules violations. You are protecting your interests and the health and safety of your other residents by insisting on background checks and leases for all residents on your land.Good luck,-jl-