A new state law expands the rights of owners of manufactured homes to remain at their property if their mobile home parks are put up for sale.
The new law stipulates that when the owner of a mobile home park decides to sell their land, the individual homeowners or homeowners association must first have a chance to make a counter-offer to match a prospective buyer’s sale price. The homeowner would then have 60 days to notify the park owner that they plan to make an offer and 140 days to deliver that offer, the bill states.
Previously, the “first right of refusal” clause could only be invoked when the new owner certified an intent to change the use of the park’s land after purchasing the property.
“By expanding when homeowners in manufactured home parks have a right of first refusal … we are helping to strengthen New York communities and continuing to provide New Yorkers with safe, stable, affordable homes,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, who signed the legislation for the law Thursday.
Assemb. Fred Thiele, a Sag Harbor Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said owners of mobile homes are at a “distinct disadvantage” in that they own their homes but don’t own the land, which is leased from the park owner.
“Mobile home parks used to be a local and largely family-owned business,” Thiele said. “And now they’re being purchased by big real estate firms and the quality of services has really declined because of that. They’re really absentee landlords.”
Currently, 21.2 million Americans live in manufactured homes, representing 6.3% of the nation’s housing stock, according to federal statistics.
Mobile homes — technically manufactured homes secured to the ground — account for about 1% of all homes in Suffolk County, Newsday reported in 2020. There are 3,624 occupied mobile home units in 40 manufactured home communities in Suffolk, including in Amityville, Bohemia, Bay Shore, Riverhead, Calverton, Flanders, East Hampton, Southampton, Hampton…
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