LONG-TERM LEASES EXCEMPT FROM RENT CONTROL
Q Park management is telling residents they have to sign a new rental agreement for 10 years which will exempt residents from any local rent control protection. Can the management force homeowners or residents in the park to sign the long-term lease?
A. No, not if you are currently a homeowner residing in the park. If however, you are a buyer of a home in the park and not yet a resident, your right not to sign such a long lease is less clear. State law (MRL Sec. 798.17) provides that a rental agreement or lease with a term of more than 12 months (one year) is exempt from any rent control ordinance, and as a result some park owners try to encourage their residents to sign the longer term leases. However, you have the right to reject the 5-year lease after reviewing it and opt for your rights, under Section 798.18, to a 12-month rental agreement or agreement for a lesser term, such as month-to-month. If you elect to have a rental agreement for 12 months or less, the rent charges and conditions shall be the same as those offered in the longer-term lease during the first 12 months (Sec. 798.18). Not all long-term leases are bad for homeowners, and some may provide rent stability for five or 10 years that month-to-month or year-to-year tenancy does not, particularly in localities where rent control will probably never be enacted. Homeowners need to exercise their right to review the pros and cons of the lease, and obtain advice from friends or attorneys, before signing any lease. The code allows residents 30 days for such review, and retaliatory threats from park managers that rents will be raised even higher if the residents don’t sign the long-term lease should be documented.
LEASES IN LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH
Q. Many Vietnamese families have moved into our park in recent years and the management will not provide residents who don’t speak English with leases or park rules they can understand in their own language. Doesn’t the law require park leases to be provided in the lessee’s language?
A. No, not in most cases. California Civil Code Section 1632 provides that a person engaged in a trade or business who negotiates a contract or lease, including a rental agreement covering a dwelling, apartment or mobilehome, in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, shall provide the other party, if he or she requests it, with a written copy of the contract or agreement in that language prior to execution of the document. However, this provision does not apply to contracts or agreements negotiated with the use of an interpreter, or to month-to-month rental agreements. Additionally, most mobilehome parks do not ‘negotiate’ their leases with homeowners or prospective homeowners, but rather offer the lease on a “take it or leave it” basis.
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