Sunday, February 17, 2008
Mobile Home Statute Doesn't Apply if Eviction Before Rezoning
In Celebration Pointe Townhomes v. Rancho Margate Mobile Home Park, the Fourth District held that the owner of a mobile home park is not subject to the relocation and alternate site availability requirements of Chapter 723 do not apply where the owner of the park evicts residents for a statutorily acceptable reason and process before applying for rezoning.
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In Florida mobile home owners are second class citizens whose legal rights are ignored by the courts. The Fourth District ignored the obvious of simple english and how law is ordered into paragraphs and subsections. s723.061 subsection (3) is encapsulated applying to nothing but itself. If the legislature had wanted it to apply to s723.061 subsection (1) they would have put it in there. It was also clear Harris vs. Martin was a qualified opinion a park can change the land use to vacant land provided doing so was not to evade the resident's right of first refusal under s723.071 when a park is going to be sold. In my opinion it was clear the same court would have found closing prior to rezoning an attempt to evade s723.083
ReplyDeleteMobile home owners are not apartment renters who have a bad day moving the couch when the lease is up.
They buy their homes and are required to improve the mobile home park owner's property with landscaping, florida room, carport, driveway, patio, etc. This gives them a stake in the land.
The success of the park as a profitable enterprise all these years was dependent on the mobile home owners who kept the park nice enough others wanted to live there.
In 1984 Florida passed s723 the law that protects mobile home owners and changed it in 2001 from paying fair market value for the homes in a closing park (same as eminent domain) to paying scrap metal prices of $1,375. for a single wide and $2,750. for a double no matter what its true value while at the same time allowing local government to pass building regulations making it impossible to move these homes to other parks without bringing them up to code.
Under s723.083 the zoning authority is required to make a determination there is adequate and suitable alternative housing affordable and available to the mobile home owners within the limits of their zoning authority before the land can be rezoned. This is likely being ignored because these people are powerless.
Even some courts have chosen to misunderstand the simple meaning of this law when dealing with important politicians and developers vs people in mobile homes, even those with life time leases.
As a final indignity the IRS claims this is voluntary abandonment so the loss can't be taken off the taxes.
If you think Florida mobile home owners are renters with no rights, read Florida Statute 723. You can find 723 and other resources for mobile home owners in closing parks at www . CoralLakeMHP . com
Agreed, money talks BS walks. If you don't have the money to secure your rights with an attorney you have none in this state.
ReplyDeleteIts a known fact of life, that people living in mobilehome parks in Florida, or anywhere else for that matter, are considered as trash by most cities, most people, and the judicial system in general.
ReplyDeleteThey have no rights of anykind.
We have been brainwashed to believe we have no rights in Florida when living in a MHP. There are a lot more of us than the few Park Owners. We need to organize and take it to Politicians, Park Owners and anyone stepping on our rights. They have dollars but we have numbers. Just think how it would look 20 to 50 angry screaming MH owners with signs outside an office or court. I am a big believer in the Occupy Approach and take it to their residence or as close and personal to whom ever as we can legally get. That judge that ignored the rights of many should look outside his office or residence again as close as legally possible and feel what it is like to become a popular Mobile Home Owner's celebrity. Trust me they get it. In fact they hate it. Power is in numbers even as few as 20! Oh yeah don't forget your drums or metal trash can lids to bang and clang to make sure your presence is noticed. Call every news agency you can think of and make your motto..."We Ain't Taking It Any More".
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