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By:  Kurt Plaster, MAI
        Director BBG   VALUATION + ADVISORY + ASSESSMENT
         1220 SW Morrison, Suite 800
         Portland, OR 97205
         P 503-478-1014   C 503-593-7726
         KPlaster@bbgres.com

Most of an owner's or manager's experience with an appraiser corresponds with purchase, sale, or refinancing of a park. However, appraiser's do not only work for the bank. They can also help in estate planning or valuation services surrounding tax issues (among other things). 

As objective market participants, an appraiser can provide insightful consultation services as well. Whether it is insight to market rental rates, trends in rental increases, or expense structures (to name a few), an appraiser's understanding of valuation can potentially help improve a park's cash flow or operating margins. Further, they can provide relevant data to support you during the sale negotiation process.

Range of Services

• Appraisals and consulting for financial institutions, attorneys, accountants, private individuals, etc.
• Market and Feasibility Analysis
• Portfolio Valuation
• Arbitration/Dispute Resolution
• Private estate planning/filing

Critical Valuation Issues

• In-Depth Market Analysis: Market supply/demand analysis. Surveying current rental and occupancy rates. Forecasting occupancy and potential rental increases.
• In-Depth Operating Income/Expense Analysis

We focus on providing superior communication with our clients to offer the best possible solutions to their appraisal or other valuation related needs. We provide appraisal, advisory and consulting services on the full spectrum of mobile home park and RV park related facilities.

Contact Kurt Plaster, MAI or Alex Annand for more information.

The owners and managers of a single-family rental home in Idaho recently agreed to pay $15,000 to settle allegations that they violated fair housing law by refusing to rent the large home to a married couple because they have more than four children.

The federal Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to deny or limit housing because a family has children under the age of 18, make statements that discriminate against families with children, and impose different rules, restrictions, or policies on them.

The settlement resolves a HUD charge, alleging that the homeowners discriminated against a family attempting to lease their 2,600 square foot, four-bedroom rental home because they have seven minor children. Specifically, HUD’s charge alleges that when the couple met with the property manager about renting the home, he told them that the owners had set a limit of four children for the home. The charge also alleges a policy restricting the number of children was written in the rental contract.

“Persons attempting to provide a home for their family should not have their housing options limited because they have children,” Anna María Farías, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said in a statement. “Today’s action will hopefully serve as a reminder to all housing providers of the importance of meeting their obligations to comply with the requirements of the Fair Housing Act.”

Before any tenant moves into your community the tenant's file should contain the following information:

1. Completed Application
2. Signed Rental Agreement. (Resident is to receive a copy)
3. Signed Rules and Regulations (Resident is to receive a copy)
4. Signed Statement of Policy including Rent History Addendum. (Tenant is to have received a copy of the Statement of Policy prior to signing rental agreement.)
5. Copy of Homeowner's insurance policy with community named as an interested party (for the purpose of being notified of cancellation of insurance. (This is for pets only.)
6. Credit check results
7. Rental check results
8. Criminal check results
9. Application screening fee receipt
10. Pet Agreement - Identify type of pet, name, size. You might consider taking a picture of the pet to include in your file in case you need to identify the pet in the future. Resident must sign the pet agreement. (Resident is to receive a copy)
11. Proof of Age if 55 and older community (photo ID, driver's license)
12. RV Storage Agreement. Identify type of RV (i.e. boat, camper, trailer, etc.) and include license number and description of recreational vehicle. (Resident is to receive a copy)

Any and all notices/correspondence between landlord/manager and resident 

Is your entrance neat and welcoming with well landscaped signage projecting the property's IDEAL image to Residents and future Residents?

• Are your common "green" areas free of weeds, edged, fertilized and looking crisp and clean? We must always lead by example!!!!
• Do all of your buildings have a neat appearance with exposed wood painted, and windows washed? REMEMBER: If you expect this of your Residents, then as Owner/Manager you must set the standard...no one respects a hypocrite!!!!
• If your streets have speed bumps, are they freshly painted so they are not trip hazards?
• When was the last time your catch-basins were cleaned of debris?
• If your MHC is on a private septic system, how current is your pumping schedule and have YOU physically inspected each tank and field for possible shed, fence,
• deck or landscape encroachments?
• Have you reviewed your vacant space inventory and matched it with available
• homes on various web sites/local realtors multiple listing sites/Craig's lists etc? Have you made an offer on any homes and have you contacted any movers to get bids on hauling/setting the home at/to your MHC?
• Is your MHC's business Information Center (aka "Office") the jewel in your crown as a neat, clean and available place to conduct business according to posted hours for Residents?
• Have you or your attorney reviewed lease files space by space to be assured that each Resident's documents are current with legislative and/or "case law" changes?

This very abbreviated list only begins to scratch the surface of what you must do to conquer all the obstacles that stand in your way of being exemplary MHC administrators. Let us be fierce in the desire and follow-through to make MHCs the best they can be for our Residents. In so doing they will provide security for our families' future income!

Joel Erlitz, President
First Commercial Property Corp.
Jserlitz@aol.com
206-985-7275(PARK)

Answer: No

In this case from 2021, the Kentucky court dismissed the tenant’s failure-to-accommodate lawsuit without a trial. The tenant’s disability wasn’t obvious, and the board had a legitimate right to request additional information about its impact on her ability to engage in “major life activities” in making an accommodations decision [Commonwealth Comm'n on Human Rights v. Fincastle Heights Mut. Ownership Corp., 633 S.W.3d 808, 2021 Ky. App. LEXIS 104, 2021 WL 4484981].

Takeaway: Although you’re not allowed to ask privacy-invasive questions about a person’s disabilities, HUD guidelines give landlords leeway to gather limited information in response to a reasonable accommodations request to the extent the information is necessary to determine three things:

1. The person meets the FHA definition of disability—that is, has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities;
2. Exactly what accommodation is being requested; and
3. Whether there’s a “nexus” or relationship between the disability and the need for the requested accommodation.

Answer: The basic rule is that a landlord is required to provide an RV park that is "kept in every part safe for normal and reasonably foreseeable uses." Practically speaking, this means that if you know about a particular danger or threat of danger, as a landlord you must take reasonable steps to reduce or eliminate that danger.

The real question of course is what are the "reasonable steps" to take? At the basic level, you should make sure that you have adequate lighting that is well-maintained to illuminate the park streets at night (i.e., replace those burned out bulbs). Your resident manager should also conduct several walk-throughs throughout the day, preferably in the early morning and evening hours to note any problems. If you have a perimeter fence around your park, make sure that it is kept in good repair and that entrance gates are working and secure.

Part of the obligation to keep your park safe is to also promptly enforce all park rules with written warnings and/or eviction notices if necessary. A good example would be an unauthorized occupant staying with one of your tenants who you have reason to suspect is involved in park thefts. Even if you don't have solid proof of the thefts, you can rely on the fact that the person is not an authorized tenant and evict on that basis alone. You should also immediately evict any particular tenant who is causing trouble. (Hint: Consider a simple no-cause eviction notice.)

If you've done all these things and are still having problems, do you have to hire a security guard? Probably not, but it all depends on the circumstances. The test is what is reasonable to eliminate or reduce the danger. In some cases, that might mean installing security cameras if it would reduce thefts and it is financially reasonable (and in this day and age, security cameras are relatively inexpensive and easy to install). In other cases, it might be reasonable to install a perimeter fence to keep out pedestrians cutting through the park (and helping themselves to tenants' personal property).

In the end, you will be held to the standard of providing a reasonably safe park for your tenants. If you know about a particular danger or potential danger, take immediate steps to reduce that danger. While you can't eliminate every threat, you can reduce your risk of liability by addressing foreseeable threats.

You Make the Call: Did the tenant have a valid claim for refusing to make reasonable accommodations?

Answer: Yes

Ruling: The Pennsylvania federal court denied the landlord’s motion for summary judgment. To qualify for punitive damages, a plaintiff must show that a landlord’s denial of a reasonable accommodation “involves malicious intent or reckless or callous indifference” to the rights of others. The court concluded that the facts the tenant alleged were enough to allow a court to reach that conclusion and gave her the green light to try to prove those claims at trial [United States v. Dorchester Owners Ass’n, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12432].

Takeaway: HUD Guidelines expressly state that you can’t make individuals with disabilities pay extra fees or deposits as a condition for receiving a requested accommodation. That includes charges for an assistance animal necessary to assist a person with a disability. In other words, if it’s reasonable for the applicant or tenant to have the animal, you must allow it without any additional charges. However, what you can do is hold the tenant responsible for any actual damage the animal does to the apartment after the lease ends. You can also hold the tenant accountable if the animal violates building rules, such as by creating a danger or nuisance to others in the building.

Answer: You should discuss this with the applicant. Reasonable cause for rejection includes the failure of their references to respond to your request for verification within the time allowed for acceptance or rejection. If your rental application provides that it must be rejected within the 7-day statutory approval period (or it is deemed accepted), you may need to terminate first and then ask questions. If you carry on a dialogue with the applicant and let the 7-day period expire without rejection, the law provides that you will have automatically accepted them. So the best approach is to issue the rejection first and then find out the nature of the problem. You can always rescind your rejection once you are satisfied. Additionally, in the future, if you feel that the statutory 7-day period is too short, you may increase it, so long as the applicant agrees. The 7-day statutory period only applies in the absence of the landlord and applicant agreeing to a longer time. Subject to your attorney's approval, I suggest you consider inserting a provision in your applications expressly stating that the approval time will be 10, 12, or some other number of days that you feel is reasonably necessary. Once it is in writing and on the application, then have the applicant sign and agree.

HUD recently announced that it has charged a landlord and its property managers in Manchester, N.H. with violating the Fair Housing Act by retaliating, threatening, or interfering with a tenant’s fair housing rights. The charge alleges that, after the tenant filed a Fair Housing complaint with HUD, the landlord and property manager conducted a background check on the tenant, contrary to their usual practice of not running background checks on existing tenants, and then sought to evict the tenant based on a long-ago event that the background check turned up.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from retaliating against tenants because they exercised their rights under the Fair Housing Act. “Today’s charge sends a strong message that HUD is committed to ensuring that tenants who exercise their fair housing rights are protected from retaliatory evictions,” Diane M. Shelley, HUD’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said in a statement.

An administrative law judge will hear HUD’s charge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds, after a hearing, that discrimination has occurred, they may award damages to the individuals for their losses as a result of the discrimination. The judge may also order injunctive relief and other equitable relief, to deter further discrimination, as well as payment of attorney fees. In addition, the judge may impose civil penalties to vindicate the public interest. If the federal court hears the case, the judge may also award punitive damages to the complainant.