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View Full Version : Are there any compensation laws in Utah when closing a park and forcing evacuation?


Rifleman01
Oct 12, 2014, 08:58 PM
All the trailers are to old to move. Company is going to build an apartment complex. They are forcing everyone to move. What compensation laws are there to help? I still owe the bank for my trailer. I live in Utah.

ScottGem
Oct 13, 2014, 04:50 AM
I would suggest you get all the owners together to consult an attorney or talk to your local state representative. I couldn't find any laws governing this. I would suspect that, as long as sufficient notice is provided, no compensation is required.

AK lawyer
Oct 13, 2014, 06:49 AM
OP should needs to review the state statutes (if any) regarding mobile home parks, to see what the park owner must do to close the MH park.

Also, what is meant by the statement that the MH is too old to move? If OP still owes the bank, I question how the MH can be that old. If regulations or other laws prohibit the moving of the MH because of its age, I would consult an attorney about whether this regulation constitutes an inverse condemnation, for which the government must compensate the owners.

joypulv
Oct 13, 2014, 07:23 AM
The saddest part of all this is the building of an apartment complex. They are a little late to jump on the rental market bandwagon. I predict that lenders will relax their requirements as the economy improves, and home buying will go back to the norm, the American Dream to own.
So they are fools, but heck.
Too bad you can't all buy a plot of land nearby, forming a real estate trust to all get a mortgage and put in utilities and septic.

AK lawyer
Oct 13, 2014, 07:33 AM
I disagree with your conclusion, joypulv, that single-home-ownership is the one and only way of the future. There remains a healthy place for multi-residential units. However I don't see mobile-home parks as being also suited for much of a role in the rest of the 21st Century. MHs are obsolete things from the mid-20th.

But of course that is only crystal ball stuff.

If, as you suggest, " the American Dream to own", there is condo-ownership. Structurally, there is no difference between a condominium complex and an apartment complex.

joypulv
Oct 13, 2014, 08:15 AM
When I said 'back to the norm,' I meant low 60 percents, not 100% or even the high of 69% it hit for a while.
I agree that there is plenty of good reason for multi-units, whether rental or condo.
I don't agree at all that mobile home parks are obsolete. Even in the cushy areas 100 miles north of NYC where I live, they are few and far between but entrenched and secure. They give a cheap house to all the people who can't afford a fixed in the ground house, with all the high added expense of individual utilities and septic. And if you are in some of the trades, a condo just won't do - you have lots of heavy equipment and tools.

I looked up MH sales from manufacturer data put out by the US Census, and they are half what they were in 2005 (and ONE EIGHTH of the early 70s!!), but still run 5,000 to 6,000/mo right up through the latest data, August 2014, and in fact have increased for every August since their low in 2009.

So... I dunno... can't call them dinosaurs just yet...

(I suppose some of the increase could be from parents allowing children to live on their land instead of in the house, LOL. We've all heard about the grown children coming home to live.)

AK lawyer
Oct 13, 2014, 08:40 AM
... They give a cheap house to all the people who can't afford a fixed in the ground house, with all the high added expense of individual utilities and septic. ...

Mobile homes require utilities too. I wonder if such utility expenses are materially different for mobile home parks vs. stick-built homes.

joypulv
Oct 13, 2014, 08:46 AM
Oh yes I think they are... some of the electrical cost is the line from the road... and shared sewer or septic saves tons... especially in small towns, where most trailer parks are, and city utilities aren't just tapped into.

As for the stick built home, even the basic building materials have skyrocketed in price.