Committee advances memorial to study oversight and rent practices in mobile-home parks

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted to give a do-pass recommendation on a committee substitute for House Memorial 35, a measure that would assemble a state working group to study oversight and recurring rent increases at mobile-home parks.

Representative Matthews, sponsor of the memorial, told the committee: "This is a memorial relating to, mobile home parks. There's been a lot of difficulty with frequent rent increases, with utilities that aren't being provided." He said state oversight largely stops after installation and that the working group would examine a regulatory framework, rent-increase practices and other issues affecting parks.

The memorial asks the working group, to be headed by Clay Bailey, head of Regulation and Licensing, to produce specific recommendations. "One is just looking at a regulatory framework," Matthews said, and the memorial requests recommendations on how to handle problems that arise after homes are installed. The text notes that under the Mobile Home Act landlords must give a 60-day notice for rent increases; proponents said in many parks residents face multiple increases a year for the lot rent, forcing some to face relocation costs they estimated at about $10,000 to $20,000 per home.

Clay Bailey, head of Regulation and Licensing, told the committee he would be willing to lead a multi‑stakeholder group including landlords, tenants and the attorney general's office: "We're just regulatory on installation. I don't know where this should be housed ultimately, but I told the representative Matthews, I think it's enough of an issue ... I'd be willing to sit down and try to run a group and bring them from all sides." Bailey described recurring service and safety complaints — including water and gas supply problems — that can take weeks or months to resolve.

Representative Borrego, speaking from prior city experience, described a Delray Mobile Home Park displacement where many homes were too old to move and residents received little compensation. "Many of their mobile homes were very old, and they could not be moved because they were so old," she said, urging the committee to consider residents' long-term investments in their homes.

The memorial sets reporting deadlines for the working group: a first report by Dec. 1, 2025, and a second report by Sept. 1, 2026, to allow the Legislature to consider whether additional laws are needed before the next sessions. The committee recorded a do-pass recommendation; no roll-call totals were included in the transcript for the committee vote.

The measure will move to the next committee for further consideration, with the working group's scope and any statutory changes to be defined in follow-up work.