We’ve noticed that many manufactured home community landlords turn to their favorite forum to post questions. We think that’s great if you take the answers with a grain of salt. Remember that on a forum we can all be who we want to be, Donald Trump if the urge strikes us. What we’re saying is that answers from fellow forum-ers to questions you post might be entirely legitimate, or they might be the cleverly concealed ravings of a lunatic mind. Surely you wouldn’t be so silly as to base your business life on a forum answer? Would you?
Think about it like this: one lawsuit could wipe you out completely, perhaps to the financial extent that you’d never recover from. One recent scenario we saw posed – a two-year regular tenant on the run from the law disappeared with the title to her trailer, which sits in the questioner’s manufactured home community. Now he has a couple interested in buying it. What is the status of the trailer’s ownership and how can the landlord go about claiming it as abandoned property?
A local deputy told the owner that after 30 days it was his. The deputy may or may not know what he’s talking about. He could be a fine, upstanding member of the law enforcement community and he might be a crack-addled Barney Fife. Regardless, the landlord should not go to local law enforcement or a random forum to find the answer to this question. Even if a response claims to have gone through that exact same situation.
What do you do? Use your brain. For any manufactured home community issue that even slightly reeks of legal ramifications, contact a lawyer. You might even consider cultivating a working relationship with a good one – just in case. His legal opinion should take precedence over Barney or a random forum poster.
Good day.
The MHP Listings Team
Flickr / brykmantra