A tract of land divided into rented spaces for manufactured homes, where the resident owns the home and rents the ground under it; Nevada defines one at NRS 118B.017 as land with two or more manufactured homes or lots rented or held out for rent, and gives the tenancy its own chapter of law.
The arrangement is unusual enough that it confuses people who have only ever rented an apartment or owned a house. A park resident is both. They own an asset, the home, outright or on a loan, and they are a tenant of the ground it stands on, on a lease that can be raised and, on limited grounds, ended. Almost everything that is good and bad about park living comes out of that split.
The vocabulary moves too: park, community, manufactured home community and land-lease community all describe the same thing, and the newer words are marketing rather than a different legal animal.
What you own and what you rent
You own the home. It is titled in your name, in most cases as personal property through the state, and you can sell it, insure it and improve it. You rent the space: a numbered rectangle of ground with utility connections at it, under a rental agreement with the park.
The rent, usually called lot rent, typically covers the space itself, the roads and common areas, refuse collection, and often water and sewer, plus the park's own property tax on the land. It does not cover your home, your insurance or the personal property tax the county bills you for the home. And it does not build anything: the land appreciates in the park owner's name while the home depreciates in yours. That is the trade for the low entry price.
The law that sits over it
Park tenancies are not ordinary residential tenancies, and most states legislate them separately, because a tenant who owns the building cannot simply be told to leave the way an apartment renter can. In Nevada the chapter is NRS 118B, Landlord and Tenant: Manufactured Home Parks, administered by the Manufactured Housing Division of the state's Housing Division. NRS 118B.0185 makes the definition explicit: a tenant is the owner of a manufactured home located on a lot in the park.
Four provisions come up constantly, and they are worth knowing before signing anything:
- Rent increases. Under NRS 118B.150 a tenant has to receive written notice 90 days before the first payment to be increased, and the increased rent has to be the same rent charged for homes or lots of the same size or similar location within the park, with limited exceptions for discounts given to certain groups.
- Selling your home in place. Under NRS 118B.170 the park may require approval of the buyer as an incoming tenant, must consider their rent-payment record, must not unreasonably withhold consent, must post a sign at the entrance saying approval is required, and must approve or deny a completed application within 10 business days.
- Ending the tenancy. Under NRS 118B.200 the rental agreement may only be terminated on the grounds listed there, which include failure to pay rent within 10 days after written notice of delinquency, uncured violations of the park's valid rules, conduct that is a nuisance, and a change in the use of the land by the landlord.
- Closure. Under NRS 118B.177, a landlord closing a park has to give each tenant the Division's contact details, the Division's list of licensed transporters, and its list of parks within 150 miles reporting vacant spaces, and has to pay the cost of moving a tenant's home to a new location within 150 miles if the tenant elects to move it.
What to read before you buy into one
The park rules and the rent history, in that order, and before you agree a price on the home. The rules cover pets, parking, guests, exterior appearance, sheds and carports, and often a maximum age for a home brought onto a space, which is the rule that surfaces when somebody tries to move an older home in. They are enforceable, and a rule violation you have not cured is one of the grounds a tenancy can be ended on.
The rent history tells you the direction of travel. Over a ten or fifteen year hold the rent is usually the larger of the two numbers in the deal, larger than the home cost, and it is the one you do not control. Ask what the space rents for now, what it rented for three and five years ago, and what is included.
Then make your purchase agreement conditional on the park approving you as a tenant. A home you own on a space you cannot rent is a home you have to move at your own cost, which is a five-figure problem.
Who runs them, and why that has changed
Parks used to be owned by families and small operators. A great many have been bought by investment firms and by resident-owned cooperatives, and the two produce very different rent trajectories. A resident-owned community, where the residents collectively bought the land, converts lot rent into something closer to an assessment on a co-op they control. An institutionally owned park is run to a return. Neither is disqualifying, and both are worth identifying before you buy, because the owner's model is the best predictor of where the rent goes.
Age-restricted parks are common too. A 55-plus park is exempt from the ordinary fair-housing rule against familial-status discrimination only if it meets the federal requirements for housing for older persons, so ask whether the park qualifies and how the restriction is documented rather than taking the sign at the gate for the answer.
Questions people ask
Do you own the land in a mobile home park?
No, unless the park is a resident-owned community that the residents bought collectively. In the ordinary case you own the home and rent the space under it, which is why the tenancy has its own body of law separate from ordinary residential landlord and tenant rules.
Can a mobile home park raise the rent as much as it wants?
Absent a local rent ordinance, the amount is generally not capped, but the process is regulated. In Nevada NRS 118B.150 requires 90 days written notice before the first increased payment and requires the new rent to match what is charged for comparable homes or lots in the same park.
Can a mobile home park make you leave?
Only on the grounds the law allows. In Nevada NRS 118B.200 lists them, and they include unpaid rent after written notice, uncured rule violations, nuisance conduct and a change in the use of the land. A park that changes use or closes also has obligations to the residents, including paying to move homes within a set distance.