Home Owners' Rights Under the MHPA
Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act (the MHPA) is designed to address the relationship between home owners renting lots in mobile (manufactured) home parks and landlords of these parks.
Some highlights:*
*Nothing in what follows should be construed as legal advice. We are home owners and home owner advocates, summarizing the MHPA to the best of our abilities, not attorneys. For legal advice, please seek an attorney.
§ Right against retaliation
You have a right to complain to the MHP Oversight Program, especially if you think your rights as a home owner and lot renter have been violated. And you have a right to complain without fear of retaliation. Park owners who retaliate can face fines of up to $10,000.
§ Right to your own space
▸ You (the home owner) have a right to peaceful enjoyment of your home and lot, free from harassment and abuse.
§ Rules and regulations
▸Rules and regulations must either ensure the safety, welfare, and convenience of residents; protect and preserve the premises; or make a fair distribution of services and facilities. Rules that advance other purposes may not be valid.
▸Rule enforcement must not be arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable, and not discriminatory or retaliatory.
§ Notice of rule and rent changes
▸Both rule changes and rent increases must be communicated to you, in writing, with at least 60 days notice, before you are obligated to follow them.
§ Grandfathered rules and regulations
▸You may not have to comply with any new or changed rules and regulations from your landlord that place restrictions or requirements on your home if they were not in the rules and regulations you initially agreed to, and were implemented without your consent after you moved in. The MHPA deems these to be "prima facie unreasonable" — that is, they are presumed unreasonable unless shown to be otherwise.
§ Right to cure
▸You have a right to cure most nonviolent cases where you are out of compliance with your lease or rules, before an eviction action can be started against you.
▸For nonpayment of rent, you have 10 days to cure (that is, pay); if you don't, your landlord can demand that you quit the premises.
▸You have 30 days to cure noncompliance with rules and regulations, and 30 more days to quit if you don’t.
§ Right to adequate utility services
▸Your landlord must provide a reasonably adequate supply of water and sewage disposal at all times, barring a few exceptions for reasonable outages.
▸Your landlord is obligated to maintain and pay for maintaining all utility lines and connections they own up to the point of access (the utility pad) for your home, and to pay for any damage to your home that has resulted from failure to maintain these utility lines.
Know Your Rights
Highlights of your rights (this page)
Rights Summaries and discussions
• From Colorado Legal Services
• From CoCoMHO's 2018 Fall Forum
Summary of the Mobile Home Park Act (MHPA)
•A very readable, comprehensive summary by the City of Longmont