Manufactured Home Communities and the Park Owner

Why this matters

In a manufactured home community the person who called you usually owns the house and rents the dirt under it. The water line, the sewer lateral and the electrical pedestal on that dirt often belong to the park, and the park has rules about who works on its property and when. A tech who repairs the park's pipe on the homeowner's credit card has done unpaid work on someone else's asset, possibly broken the lease, and left the homeowner arguing with management over a bill the park should have paid. Reading who owns what before you pick up a tool is the job.

The physical differences of the HUD-code home itself are covered in the related card; this one is about the land, the utilities and the landlord behind them.

The two ownership models, and the variants

Land-lease community. The most common arrangement. The resident owns the home (titled as personal property in many states, sometimes converted to real property) and pays monthly lot rent. The park owner owns the land, the roads, the common buildings and usually the utility infrastructure up to some point on each lot.

Resident-owned community. The residents, through a cooperative or nonprofit corporation, have bought the land. Lot rent becomes a share or a fee, and the "park owner" you deal with is a board of neighbors and often a hired manager. The rules and the responsibility lines still exist; the decision-maker is just slower and more local.

Home and lot both owned. A manufactured home on a fee-simple lot in a subdivision, sometimes with an HOA. Here there is no park owner at all, and the utility lines on the lot are the homeowner's, as on any house. Do not apply park logic to this case because the house looks the same.

Park-owned rental homes. Some communities own a share of the homes and rent them. Then the park is both landlord of the lot and landlord of the house, and your customer is a tenant who may have no authority to approve anything.

First intake question for any manufactured home: "Do you own the home, the lot, both, or neither?" The answer decides who can authorize work, who pays for what, and whose rules you work under.

Where the park's responsibility usually ends

Each lot has a set of handoff points where the park's system becomes the home's. The lease or the community rules should name them, and where state law addresses it, that controls over the lease. The usual pattern:

 PARK SIDE                         | HOME SIDE
-----------------------------------+------------------------
 water main -> lot shutoff/riser --+-> line under home
 sewer main -> lateral -> riser ---+-> drain under home
 power -> pedestal (meter, main) --+-> feeder to home panel
 gas main -> lot meter ------------+-> line to home
 road, common area, lot trees      | deck, shed, skirting
-----------------------------------+------------------------
 the "+" is the point to find and photograph on every job

Water. The park's line typically runs to a riser at the lot with a shutoff and often a backflow device or meter. The home side starts at the outlet of that shutoff. In cold climates the riser is wrapped in heat tape, and whether that heat tape is the park's or the resident's is a common dispute; check the rules.

Sewer. The park's lateral rises at a cleanout near the home; the drain under the home and its connection into that riser is usually the resident's. A backup that shows up in every home on a branch is the park's main; a backup in one home is usually the home side.

Electrical. Each lot usually has a pedestal holding the meter and the service disconnect. Under NFPA 70 (the NEC) Article 550 (in the edition your jurisdiction adopted), the service equipment for a mobile home in a park is located adjacent to the home, not mounted in or on it, which is why the home's own panel is fed by a feeder from the pedestal. The pedestal and the conductors up to its load side are usually the park's or the utility's. In a master-metered park the park buys power in bulk and resells it through submeters, so the meter belongs to the park, not a utility, and some states regulate how the park bills for it.

Gas. Natural gas may be utility-owned to each lot meter, or park-owned as a master system. Propane in parks is sometimes a community tank with lot meters, sometimes individual tanks. Find out which before any gas work, because the shutoff you need may be on park property.

What these handoff points are not: a universal rule. A park may own nothing past the lot line, or everything up to the home's walls, and some state laws put specific utility duties on the park regardless of the lease. California (its Mobilehome Residency Law, in the state Civil Code) and Florida (Chapter 723 of its statutes) put much of the park-resident relationship in statute; other states leave most of it to the lease. This card describes the common pattern, not anyone's legal obligation, and it is not legal advice.

Park rules for contractors

Most communities have written rules, and many have a contractor section. Expect some of these:

• Registration at the office before work starts, sometimes for every visit.
• Proof of license and a certificate of insurance, often naming the community as an additional insured. Have your agent's turnaround time for a certificate in your head; a same-day job can stall on it.
• Work hours, commonly weekdays and daytime only, with emergency exceptions.
• No work on park infrastructure by resident-hired contractors. This is the big one.
• Prior approval for exterior changes: a new deck or steps, a shed, moving or adding a condenser pad, changing skirting, a generator, anything visible from the road.
• Parking and staging: no blocking roads, no trailers left overnight, debris hauled the same day.
• Dogs, children, speed limits, and sometimes a rule against working while the resident is absent.

Ask the resident for the rules, or call the office, during intake for any job that touches the exterior or the utility connections. A ten-minute call at intake costs less than a tech turned away at the gate.

Worked example: water under the home

A plumber is dispatched to a land-lease home for "water under the house, low pressure." The resident owns the home and rents the lot.

On arrival. The tech finds the lot's water riser at the rear corner: a shutoff, a short run of pipe and an insulated jacket wrapped in heat tape. Water is pooling around the riser and running under the skirting.

The question that decides everything: which side of the shutoff is the leak on? The tech closes the lot shutoff. If the leak stops, it is downstream (the home side, or the shutoff's outlet). If it continues, it is upstream, in the park's line.

Case A, leak continues with the shutoff closed. The leak is the riser itself, below the valve. The tech does not cut into it. He photographs the riser, the pooling, and the closed valve; notes the time; and asks the resident to call the park office while he is still there. He bills a diagnostic visit, roughly one hour on site. The park's maintenance or the park's plumber repairs the riser.

Why not just fix it, given the tech is there and the repair might take 90 minutes? Three reasons. The park may have its own contractor and refuse to reimburse anyone else. The lease may prohibit residents from altering park infrastructure, and the resident, not the shop, carries that breach. And if the repair later fails, the park has a reason to blame the outside contractor for its own pipe.

The exception: water running under a home in freezing weather, or flooding near the electrical pedestal, is an emergency. The tech's job is to stop the water (the park's main or a curb valve if accessible and the office cannot be reached), keep everyone clear of the pedestal if water is near it, and document; the repair still goes to the park.

Case B, leak stops with the shutoff closed. The leak is downstream. The tech opens the skirting access and finds a split in the supply line about three feet in, at a point where the heat tape ended. That is home side. The repair is his to quote: about 1.5 hours including access, insulation and heat tape restored.

What would change Case B: the rules. In some communities the heat tape and insulation on the riser are a park responsibility through a set height, and a freeze split in the first foot of the home's line was caused by the park's failed heat tape. The tech notes where the tape ended and whether it was powered. That note is what the resident needs if they want to raise it with management; whether the park owes anything is between them and their lease.

The failure modes that cost money

Billing the resident for park work. The resident pays, then learns the park owed it, then disputes the charge with you. Even if you win, you lost the customer.

Taking the park manager's word on the phone as authorization. A manager who says "go ahead" may not be authorized to commit park money. For any park-side work the park is paying for, get a written work order or a purchase order from whoever pays its bills.

Moving the condenser or adding a pad without approval. HVAC replacements in parks often relocate the outdoor unit to a better spot. If that is visible from the road or encroaches on a setback, the park can require it moved back. Get approval, or keep it on the existing pad.

Treating a resident-owned community like a corporate park. The board meets monthly, the manager may be part-time, and a decision can take three weeks. Build that into the schedule rather than assuming the office can approve on the spot.

Assuming one park's rules apply to the next. Two communities on the same road can have opposite rules about heat tape, sheds and contractor insurance. Record the rules per community in your customer notes, not per resident, so the next tech to any home there knows them.

How to verify you got this right

• The ticket names who owns the home and who owns the lot, and which party authorized the work.
• For any utility work, the handoff point (the "+" in the diagram) is photographed and the leak, fault or repair is shown on one side of it.
• Any park-side finding was reported to the park office during the visit, with the time and the person's name.
• Exterior changes had written park approval before work started.
• The community's contractor rules are on file at the community level in your system.

References

• NFPA 70 (National Electrical Code), Article 550, in the edition your jurisdiction adopted: mobile and manufactured homes, including service equipment location in parks.
• California Civil Code, Mobilehome Residency Law; Florida Statutes, Chapter 723: examples of states that govern the park-resident relationship in statute.
• See related: Manufactured Homes: What Is Different for Every Trade.
• See related: Who Governs Repairs in a Manufactured Home.
• See related: Gated Communities and HOA Rules for Contractors.