The Manufactured Housing Tenant’s Bill of Rights Act of 2025 establishes minimum consumer protections for tenants in manufactured home communities receiving loans under covered federal programs, including lease terms, rent increase notifications, and eviction protections, and incentivizes additional protections through pricing incentives.
Brittany Pettersen
Representative
CO-7
The "Manufactured Housing Tenant’s Bill of Rights Act of 2025" establishes minimum consumer protections for tenants in manufactured home communities receiving loans through specific federal programs, including one-year lease terms, advance notice for rent increases, and protections against eviction and restrictions on the sale of their homes. It incentivizes additional protections through pricing discounts on loans and mandates transparency by requiring a public list of properties covered under these protections. The Act also establishes a commission to propose enhanced consumer protection standards and directs the creation of a standard lease agreement to ensure mortgage eligibility for homes in these communities. Penalties are outlined for violations of the Act, and implementation relies on existing funds.
"Tenant Bill of Rights" Proposed for Manufactured Home Parks: Mandates 1-Year Leases, Sale Rights, and Stricter Rent Hike Notices
A new piece of legislation, the "Manufactured Housing Tenants Bill of Rights Act of 2025," is on the table, aiming to set baseline protections for residents in manufactured home communities financed through certain federal loan programs. If enacted, within 180 days, landlords using these loans (like specific FHA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac programs) would need to include several key tenant rights in their standard lease agreements. The core idea is to bring a level of standardization and fairness to leases covering pad sites or the homes themselves if rented from the community owner.
A New Lease on Stability?
So, what changes could tenants actually see? The bill mandates several specifics for leases under these covered loans. Key among them:
- Lease Terms: Tenants would generally be entitled to a one-year lease term, renewable unless the landlord has a specific, valid reason (like lease violations) for non-renewal (Sec 3(b)(1)).
- Rent & Charges: Landlords must provide written notice at least 60 days before any new charges or rent increases take effect, along with a justification (Sec 3(b)(2)). Hikes over 5% trigger even longer notice periods – an extra 30 days for every additional 2.5% increase.
- Payment Flexibility: The bill includes a 5-day grace period for rent payments (Sec 3(b)(3)) and a 15-day window for tenants to fix a late payment issue after receiving notice (Sec 3(b)(4)).
- Eviction Guardrails: Evictions must be based on specific grounds like material lease non-compliance, rule violations, or a "legitimate business reason" spelled out in the lease, and require written notice detailing the cause (Sec 3(b)(10)).
These provisions aim to give residents more predictability and buffer against sudden changes or arbitrary lease terminations.
Selling Your Home & Community Sales: More Control for Residents
The act tackles a major issue for manufactured homeowners: selling their property. Under Sec 3(b)(5), tenants owning their homes would have the right to sell without being forced to move the home out of the community – a costly and often prohibitive requirement. Even after an eviction, homeowners would get a reasonable timeframe (at least 45 days) to sell the home in place (Sec 3(b)(6)). The bill also grants the right to sublease or assign the pad lease to a qualified buyer (Sec 3(b)(7)) and post "For Sale" signs (Sec 3(b)(8)).
Beyond individual sales, if the entire community is put up for sale or closure, owners must give tenants 60 days' advance written notice, including the proposed terms (Sec 3(b)(9)). Crucially, the owner can't accept a final offer during that 60-day window and must negotiate "in good faith" with any tenant group interested in buying the community.
Making it Stick: Enforcement, Transparency, and Future Standards
To ensure these rights aren't just suggestions, the bill outlines penalties for landlords who willfully violate them (Sec 3(e)). These aren't small fines; they range from owing the tenant months of rent (e.g., 6 months for violating lease term or eviction rules) to repaying improper fees with interest plus a 25% penalty, or even forfeiting a portion of the community's sale price for failing to give proper notice. Repeat offenders could face a ban from federally backed financing for at least two years.
Transparency is another focus, requiring the government to publish a list of properties covered by these protections online (Sec 3(d)). Furthermore, the bill establishes a temporary commission (Sec 4) tasked with proposing even stronger consumer protection standards within a year, potentially leading to future enhancements. Finally, it directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to create a standard site-lease agreement within a year to help ensure mortgages on these homes qualify for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under their single-family programs (Sec 6). Importantly, the bill clarifies it won't override any state or local laws that already offer greater protections to tenants (Sec 3(b)).