sb 0348

CHAPTER 150

SB 348 – FINAL VERSION

AN ACT relative to the sale of manufactured housing and the management of manufactured housing parks.

SPONSORS: Sen. Flanders, Dist 7; Sen. Barnes, Dist 17; Rep. Letourneau, Rock 77; Rep. Russell, Belk 31

This bill regulates certain practices by manufactured housing park owners, including tenant application fees, repairs and improvements required prior to sale or inside the home, compliance with an aesthetic standard, and written notice if an application for tenancy is denied. The bill also provides the circumstances in which a prior decision of the board of manufactured housing relative to the reasonableness of park rules shall be binding on the parties in a future proceeding.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT relative to the sale of manufactured housing and the management of manufactured housing parks.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

150:1 New Subparagraphs; Manufactured Housing Parks, Prohibited Practices by Park Owners Relative to Sale of Manufactured Housing. Amend RSA 205-A:2, II by inserting after subparagraph (d) the following new subparagraphs:

(e) Impose a non-refundable fee for processing an application for tenancy that exceeds $125, unless the park owner provides the applicant with an itemized breakdown of the application fee. An application fee may exceed $125, provided that it is reasonable.

(f) If the park rules require a pre-sale inspection of the home, fail to provide written notice to the park tenant, within 14 calendar days of receiving written notification from the tenant that he or she is going to attempt to sell his or her home in place, of all repairs and improvements that the park owner requires in order to approve the sale. If the park rules do not require a pre-sale inspection of the home and the tenant makes a written request for a specification of the repairs and improvements that the park owner requires for approval of an on-site sale, the park owner shall have 14 days to provide a written list of the required repairs and improvements. The park owner’s response to the tenant is valid for 90 days after which time if a sale has not been completed, the park owner may require additional improvements or repairs of any defective conditions which have arisen since the park owner’s initial response. The park owner may not require:

(1) The repair or removal of anything inside the home that does not adversely affect the infrastructure of the park.

(2) Compliance with an aesthetic standard if the standard relates to physical characteristics, such as size, original construction materials or color; provided however that nothing in this subparagraph shall prevent a park owner from requiring compliance with aesthetic standards related to maintenance or repairs of deteriorating or defective features of the home, or the removal of a structure or fixture which was added to the home by the seller without the permission of the park owner.

(g) Fail to provided written notice to the prospective buyer, within 14 calendar days of receipt of the prospective buyer’s completed application for tenancy, setting forth the reason for the park owner’s refusal to approve or indicating the park owner’s approval of the prospective buyer as a park tenant. If the prospective buyer is denied the park owner shall, upon request of the seller, send a notice of the denial to the seller that does not disclose the reason therefor.

150:2 Manufactured Housing Parks; Aesthetic Standard. RSA 205-A:2, III is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

III. Require manufactured housing at the time of sale or otherwise, which is safe, sanitary and in conformance with aesthetic standards, if any, of general applicability contained in the rules, to be removed from the park. For the purposes hereof, manufactured housing shall be presumed to be safe if it is established that the manufactured housing was constructed to any nationally recognized building or construction code or standard. Failure to meet any such standard or code, in and of itself, shall raise no presumption that the manufactured housing is unsafe; nor may such failure be used as a reason for withholding approval of an on-site sale. The park owner or operator shall have the burden of showing that manufactured housing is unsafe, unsanitary, or fails to meet the aesthetic standards of the park. No aesthetic standard shall be applied against manufactured housing if such standard relates to physical characteristics, such as size, original construction materials or color.

150:3 New Paragraphs; Board of Manufactured Housing; Decisions Pertaining to the Reasonableness of Park Rules. Amend RSA 205-A:27 by inserting after paragraph I the following new paragraphs:

I-a. The board shall have the power to issue a decision as to whether a rule of a manufactured housing park is reasonable as applied to the facts of a specific case. If the board determines that the rule is unreasonable, such ruling shall be binding on the parties in any subsequent court proceeding between the parties, unless the board’s decision is reversed on appeal under RSA 205-A:28.

I-b. If a park owner promulgates a park rule which the board finds unreasonable as applied to the facts of a specific case, but such rule does not violate any provision of RSA 205-A:2, I-X, no damages, civil penalty, or attorneys fees shall be awarded to the tenant notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 205-A:12, 205-A:12-a, 205-A:13-a, or 358-A.