his is kind of a loaded topic all around the issue of mold and the responsibility of the park owner.One of the homes in the park has a been condemned due to mold. A pipe exploded over the winter while the tenant was away. She asked for assistance from the government and when they came in, they suggested to the town that they condemn the home. They did, and since the home owner didn’t have enough money to move the home, the park owner is ultimately responsible for the removal of the home. We have negotiated this in our purchase agreement with the seller and it will be removed from the park (with the foundation set) prior to purchase. However, this is our question…There are a couple of homes that had tarps on the roof after the harsh winter due to leaks. These homes were told to remove the tarps and the tenants complied with no push back. The question is, if we already had one home condemned due to mold, and there are two others that have some likelihood of mold due to leaky roofs, is there a way for us to review these houses before we purchase the park? The last thing we would want is to buy a park and then 6 months later (or 2 years later) have two additional homes be condemned due to mold. This would not only affect the rent roll, but would also be a material cost to the park to remove the homes. Any ideas from a diligence perspective would be great.How do other prevent this?
Who owns the homes currently – the tenants or the park?
The tenants
You really don['t have any rights to inspect the tenants homes. I would not worry about it. There are probably other tenant-owned homes in the park at any given moment that have leaks. The odds are that you’ll be fine. But be sure and put plenty of fluff in your numbers to handle issues like that.