Local state senators pushing legislation to protect mobile home owners
Hunter
4/18/19
State senators Zach Wahls and Kevin Kinney plan to introduce legislation that would protect mobile home owners.
The bill would require “good cause” for evictions and give the state’s Attorney General’s Office oversight powers.
Wahls, of Coralville, and Kinney, of Oxford, met with residents of the Midwest Country Estates in Waukee and the Golfview Mobile Home Park in North Liberty, both hit with large lot rent increases after the properties were purchased by Haven Park Capital.
The Waukee residents will see their rents go up from $295 to $500; in North Liberty, from $284 to $450. Haven Park agreed to delay the North Liberty property’s rent increase by a month to July 1.
Haven Park also closed on the purchase of the Sunrise Mobile Home Village on Scott Boulevard and the West Branch Mobile Home Village earlier this month. There is no word of announced rent increases at those properties.
The legislation Kinney and Wahls want to introduce would increase the notification period of rate increases from 60 to 180 days, and allow tenants the chance to match an offer from a buyer if their park goes up for sale.
Members of the Waukee City Council have already sent a letter to Haven Park requesting that they work more compassionately with the residents. US Representative Dave Loebsack also wrote a letter to Haven Park, saying he’s “gravely concerned” about the rate increases and adds that many residents cannot afford such a big increase in their lot rent.
