Many local residents will be financially impacted if California Assembly Bill AB 317, which would alter rent control in mobile home parks, passes the state Senate this year.
The bill passed the Assembly with a vote of 44 to 22. It is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee, headed for a vote by the Senate in May or June. Assemblymember Julia Brownley, representing the 41st Assembly that includes Malibu, voted against this bill. The members of the Malibu City Council to oppose this bill last month.
It’s time to send letters to the Judiciary Committee members and state Senators to voice your opinion.
Many residents who own mobile homes in and would be impacted if this bill becomes law. The bill would end rent control for homeowners in a mobile home park that also own any other property. The full text of AB 317 can be read online.
The Mobile Home Residency Law, the existing law, governs tenancies in mobilehome parks, and imposes various fees on the owners of mobile home parks and the representatives who act on their behalf. The City of Malibu has a rent stabilization ordinance. It’s a regulation, better known as rent control. It offers rent protection to the individual mobile home owners.
According to Around the Capital, AB317 targets mobile home owners who also own other property by requiring management to identify the owners and give them 90 days notice of any change in rent.
AB 317 would either force residents to divest themselves of all real property they have an interest in, or force them out of their park spaces due to increased rent. For example, under current law, a retiree who downsized to a mobile home but rents out their former home rather than sell at a loss would now be forced to sell the other property at a loss, face a huge space rent increase, or move out of the park.
As a real estate professional, I strongly support private property rights. Those rights are best protected when government regulations don’t restrict what owners can do with their property. Rights are also restricted when regulations are placed on others. In this case, a law could cause financial harm to those that have invested in mobile homes as their source for housing for retirement or their purchase to serve as an investment in their future.
Legislators can be influenced. In our legislative process, it is the people of this state that can make the difference. The people’s voices need to be heard loud and clear. I encourage all to speak up and out now, don’t wait till the law passes.
Beverly Taki is a California-licensed real estate broker who has represented clients in Malibu for 22 years. She is a Malibu resident and president/broker of . Taki has earned a certificate in dispute resolution from Pepperdine University, specializing in mediation. She can be reached at beverly@beverlytaki.com or 310-456-4843. Her website is beverlytaki.com.
It is amazing to many of us that in tough economic times lower income citizens would be targeted by a bill that could hurt so many. Assembly Leader Charles Calderon goes after rent control laws every years (after receiving donations from the mobile home park owners association). But together we can defeat AB 317.
To "constitutionalist", I get your point, but you are off mark or this one. Malibu's current rent control came out of several law suits that also involved over a decade of Paradise Cove sewage spills & park maintenance negligence. But the real issue for thousands of mobile home owners around the state, including in Malibu, is that it changes the rent structure with no limits if you have any ownership interest in any other residence and the effect of that will be to lower mobile home values state wide. Malibu rent control already allows for higher rents for non-primary mobile home owners. That means it effectively changes the playing field in mid game. This certainly affects Malibu, but also Palm Springs, Escondido, Santa Cruz and many other places. And John M, this is far from a uniquely Malibu problem. Certainly there might be some who benefit ("scam" in your words) from rent control that don't really need it, but for the vast majority that is not the case and this would hurt them greatly, which obviously doesn't concern you in anyway apparently. This bill was not introduced to go after Malibu, it was introduced because the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association donates to Charles Calderon, the Assembly Majority leader.
Sen. Leno: Phone: (916) 651-4003 Fax: (916) 445-4722 State Capitol, Room 5100 Sacramento, CA 95814 Sen. Corbett: State Capitol, Room 313 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone:(916) 651-4010 Fax: (916) 327-2433 Sen. Blakeslee: State Capitol, Room 4070 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4015 Fax: (916) 445-8081 Sen. Harman: State Capitol, Room 5094 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4035 Fax: (916) 445-9263 Sen. Evans: State Capitol, 1303 10th Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-651-4002 Fax: 916-323-6958
Obviously, I am not an advocate for government regulation of rent, certainly not for those who live steps from the sand, have a surfboard locker and a million dollar view. What will be next, rent control of the condos, beach homes, commercial properties? Maybe we can even limit the price for which homes are sold. We are required to have low income housing, but we don't have to support part time vacation homes, nor should we worry about lowering the value of mobile homes that benefit from government largess. AB 317 is a modest proposal, to fix a loophole. You do not have to fear the loss of rent. control, the Malibu mobile home political block will ensure no one will ever be elected to the City Council that would threaten this entitlement.
And while I respect your opinion, obviously I disagree. The very nature of the "owner/owner" relationship in mobile home park living, in my opinion, requires protection for owners of mobile homes (which are very difficult or impossible to move) from the owners of the land. Overall mobile home owners are lower income and that is why they live in a mobile home. And in the case of Malibu the park owners are allowed to charge more if it is not a primary residence, so this issue is at least somewhat addressed. But in my opinion, losing you rent control rights completely because your primary mobile home residence is not your sole residence is a prescription for disaster for many. That means if you helped your parents or kids buy a residence, you lose rent control. If you own (by any means, including inheritence, partnership etc) an interest in another property, you lose rent control. So all of the snowbirds that saved up to own a place in Palm Desert as a retreat from midwest winters...lose rent control. In my own case I own a 1/3 share in a Mammoth condo that is already hurting us financially. If this bill passes I would probably have no choice but to walk from it.
Our legislators should follow the lead of their Hawaiian peers and either vote down AB 317 or rewrite it to be fair for all parties. Thanks Paige for including the contacts in Sacramento. We need to contact them and express our concern for this potential legislation.
Thank you Paige Smith, here I repeat your thoughtfully-supplied contact info for these critical judiciary committee members: Sen. Leno: Phone: (916) 651-4003 Fax: (916) 445-4722 State Capitol, Room 5100 Sacramento, CA 95814 Sen. Corbett: State Capitol, Room 313 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone:(916) 651-4010 Fax: (916) 327-2433 Sen. Blakeslee: State Capitol, Room 4070 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4015 Fax: (916) 445-8081 Sen. Harman: State Capitol, Room 5094 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4035 Fax: (916) 445-9263 Sen. Evans: State Capitol, 1303 10th Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-651-4002 Fax: 916-323-6958
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