Tenancy and Manufactured Homes (Formerly "Mobile Homes") (19:XV)

A. General

In 2004, the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, SBC 2002, c 77 [MHPTA] was given effect in order to meet the unique needs of landlords of manufactured home parks and owners of manufactured homes who rent the site on which their homes sit. If one rents both the manufactured home and the pad it sits on, the tenant is covered by the RTA, and therefore has the same legal rights as other tenants in British Columbia.

A landlord may authorize assignment or sublease of a manufactured home park site in a tenancy agreement. The agreement should also include information about the proportionate amount of increases to regulated utilities and local government levies. The inflation rate for each calendar year is available on the RTB website. See the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Regulations, BC Reg 481/2003 [MHPTR].

B.Definitions

1. Common Area

A Common Area is defined as any part of a manufactured home park the use of which is shared by tenants or by a landlord and one or more tenants.

2. Landlord

Includes the owner of the manufactured home site; the owner’s agent or another person who permits occupation of the manufactured home site under a tenancy agreement on the landlord’s behalf; the owner’s heirs, assignees, personal representatives and successors in title; a person, other than a tenant whose manufactured home occupies the manufactured home site, who is entitled to possession of the manufactured home site and exercises any of a landlord’s rights under a tenancy agreement or the MHPTA in relation to the manufactured home site.

3. Manufactured Home

Means a structure, whether or not ordinarily equipped with wheels, that is designed, constructed or manufactured to be moved from one place to another by being towed or carried, and used or intended to be used as living accommodation.

4. Manufactured Home Site

This is a site in a manufactured home park, rented or intended to be rented to a tenant for the purpose of being occupied by a manufactured home.

C. Moving In

Landlords may require a tenant to provide proof of third party liability insurance held by the mover as security against damages caused by the move of a home into a park (MHPTA, s 29). Prior to a person’s entering into a tenancy agreement with a landlord, the landlord must disclose in writing to that person all rules in effect at the time of his or her entering into the tenancy agreement.

D. Deposits

1. Security Deposits

A landlord cannot require or accept a security deposit in respect of a manufactured home site tenancy. If a landlord accepts a security deposit from a tenant, the tenant may deduct the amount of the security deposit from rent or otherwise recover the amount (MHPTA, s 17). Security deposits held by landlords before the effective date of the MHPTA may be retained until the end of the tenancy. A landlord who does not return or file a claim against the deposit at the end of tenancy could be required to pay the tenant double the amount of the deposit.

2. Pets

Landlords may not charge pet damage deposits.

3. Fees

a) Prohibited Fees (MHPTA , s 89(2)(k); MHPTR, s 3)

A landlord must not charge:

• a guest fee, whether or not the guest stays overnight; or
• a fee for replacement keys or other access devices if the replacement is required because the landlord changed the locks or other means of access.

b) Refundable Fees

So long as an access device is not a tenant’s sole means of access to the manufactured home park, a landlord may charge a refundable fee for that device. The fee cannot be greater than the direct cost of replacing the access device. Some non-refundable fees are permissible (e.g. a $25 charge for late payment of rent or NSF cheques) as long as the fees are identified in the tenancy agreement.

E. During the Tenancy

1. Rent Increases

a) Amount

Landlords are able to increase rent annually by a percentage equal to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 2 percent plus the proportionate increase in local government levies and regulated utilities (MHPTA, s 36(1)(a) and see MHPTR). A landlord may apply to an Arbitrator for approval of a rent increase in an amount that is greater than the amount calculated under the regulations.

NOTE: A landlord may apply under s 36 of the MHPTA for an additional rent increase above the rent increase formula, but can only do so under certain circumstances: see MHPTR, s 33(1).

b) Notice

A landlord must give a tenant notice of a rent increase at least three months before the effective date of the increase, the notice of increase must also be in the approved form. If the increase does not meet these two requirements, the notice takes effect on the earliest date that it does comply (MHPTA, s 35(2)).

c) Timing

A rent increase cannot be imposed for at least 12 months after whichever of the following applies (MHPTA, s 35(1)):

• if the tenant’s rent increase has not previously been increased, the date on which the tenant’s rent was first established; or
• if the tenant’s rent has previously been increased, the effective date of the last rent increase made in accordance with this MHPTA.