New laws passed make selling a manufactured housing community to residents easy and advantageous for sellers, residents, and the community!
Rising interest rates, in-migration, and low housing supply have made owning a home increasingly unaffordable in New England. A large part of the solution is preserving existing affordable homes.
New laws took effect in Maine and Connecticut (ME: LD 1931/HP 1239, CT: SB 988/PA 23-125) making it easier for residents of manufactured home communities to organize and buy the land under their homes. Before the new laws, landowners were permitted to sell the land without notice to residents and without giving them an opportunity to purchase the land.
Manufactured home owners own the homes themselves, but not the land under them, making residents vulnerable to developers and bad landlords who threaten to hike land rents to unaffordable costs.
Read the Bangor Daily New story about the new Maine law here.
Read the Times Record story about the new Maine law here.
“We sold the park to the tenants. They matched the price. They were able to get help from a non-profit to get the full financing together quickly. And now they own their homes,” said Dan Nangle, a former manufactured home community owner and current Maine state senator.
“There is this feeling of stability. There is no way someone can come in and take it out from under you,” said Al Hricz, resident-owner, Ryder Woods and Vice President, CT Manufactured Homeowners Alliance.